All three centers on Indiana’s 2024-25 roster will be utilizing their final season of eligibility this upcoming season.
That means Mike Woodson and his staff will have a lot of heavy lifting ahead of them to add big men to the team by next summer.
IU has been after Georgetown, Ky. 7-footer Malachi Moreno for well over two years.
Ranked No. 25 overall and the No. 1 center in the 2025 class by the On3 Industry Average, Moreno named a top-eight and has visits set to Arkansas, North Carolina, Kentucky, Indiana, and Ohio State in the weeks to come.
But most who cover his recruitment have known for a while that Kentucky was always going to be hard to beat if they pushed hard, and the coaching change in Lexington has seemingly only enhanced that variable.
Rivals national reporter Rob Cassidy opined this week Kentucky is the presumed leader with Moreno.
“Moreno has been incredibly receptive to (new coach Mark) Pope since the new leader of Big Blue Nation took the reins of the program,” Cassidy wrote. “Moreno has been on campus to meet with the new staff on multiple occasions and seems especially focused on the hometown school as of late.
“Moreno has fall visits officially scheduled to Ohio State, North Carolina, Indiana and Arkansas but has granted Pope and the Wildcats his final trip, which is slated for Oct. 11. The pecking order can obviously change, but Kentucky likes where it stands at this juncture.”
Cassidy isn’t the first national-type to suggest Kentucky is the favorite.
Moreno is still scheduled to be on the IU campus Sept. 20 with his Indiana Elite AAU teammates Trent Sisley and Braylon Mullins. If any school has a chance to pull the upset right now, it seems to be the Hoosiers.
Meanwhile, Indiana never gained any real traction with 2025 big man Chris Cenacafter offering early in the summer. He announced a final-12 on Friday that did not include the Hoosiers.
The other high school center on the 2025 board for IU is Washington D.C. metro area 7-footer Eric Reibe. He included Indiana in his final 11 a few weeks ago, and the staff is trying to get him on campus in the coming months for an official visit. That’s the next milestone to watch for with Reibe. He has already taken official visits to Harvard, Iowa, and Creighton and Oregon.
The No. 34 overall player in the 2025 class and No. 2 center, Reibe is expected to announce more visits very soon. If Indiana can get the native of Germany to Bloomington, he’ll immediately become a prospect to watch more closely.
One other 2025 target worth mentioning on this topic is Bryson Tiller. Indiana is a strong contender in his recruitment, and at around 6-foot-9 and around 230 pounds with ability on the block and away from the paint, he has some clear potential as a small-ball center.
To be sure, missing on all of Moreno, Reibe and Cenac wouldn’t be a complete disaster if that’s how things turn out.
If IU fans have learned nothing else this offseason, they should now be comfortable with building the bulk of the roster — and even landing players with several years of eligibility remaining — via the transfer portal.
After all, Woodson has landed arguably the top center in each of the last two portal classes in Kel’el Ware and Oumar Ballo. And with Ware and Trayce Jackson-Davis showing a lot of promise in the NBA, landing a third elite big in three years via the portal doesn’t seem out of the question.
But with Langdon Hatton and Dallas James also out of eligibility after this season, IU will likely need to bring on a couple centers between now and next June.
One other player to mention is Malik Reneau, if he comes back for the 2025-26 season. Some of his strengths make Reneau a player who can bring value at the five.
But even if Reneau returns, with at least eight openings on the roster for 2025-26, adding multiple big men will continue to be a clear need.
For complete coverage of IU basketball recruiting, GO HERE.
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