Recruiting: Tom Crean has seen best, worst of Musa Jallow

MOORESVILLE – If there’s any basketball coach in the country who already has an up-to-date evaluation of Musa Jallow, it is Indiana’s Tom Crean.

Crean’s son, Riley, plays on the Bloomington North High School team with Jallow, a 6-5 sophomore. Which means Crean is in attendance for every game that his schedule allows.

“He’s definitely seen me at my best and my worst,” Jallow said.

Crean saw enough of the best – and the potential for better – to offer Jallow a scholarship in December. Jallow also has offers from Toledo and IUPUI.

Jallow is averaging 15.5 points and a team-high 8.4 rebounds for 6-11 Bloomington North. Outside of senior leading scorer Malik Laffoon (17.2 ppg), the rest of the team has not shot well from the 3-point line, which means Jallow is often surrounded by two or three players.

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“He’s definitely a marked man for us,” Bloomington North coach Andy Hodson said. “Night in and night out, every defense is focused on him to not let him get loose and get to the basket. He’s handling that better and finding his teammates. He’s not trying to force things.”

Jallow figures to pick up more offers in time. He’ll visit Purdue for the Maryland game on Feb. 27 and visited Kentucky last weekend for the Florida game, where he met with coach John Calipari and toured the practice facility.

Other schools showing interest in Jallow include Butler, Michigan, Ohio State, Virginia and Xavier.

“I’m definitely early in the process,” he said.

Despite his school’s location and the connection to Crean, Jallow said he’s keeping an open mind.

“If there’s anybody who’s seen him, it’s (Crean),” Hodson said. “He gets to sit in there almost every game and watch. He’s always around and was at pretty much every game last year, too. He’s watched him develop. He watched him hit the wall a little bit as a freshman. We’ve tried to knock that wall down this year.”

Jallow said his Kentucky visit over the weekend “was cool.”

Recruiting profile: Bloomington North's Musa Jallow

“They are supposed to be coming to a game soon,” he said. “I’m only a sophomore, so it’s kind of hard for them at such a top tier to recruit people (my age).”

Hodson said Jallow’s maturity level is high for a kid who recently turned 16.

“As a sophomore, he commands the leadership role pretty well,” Hodson said. “Sometimes we need him to be a little more selfish, but that will come with time. He’s not even driving yet, so he’s got a long way to go.”

Call IndyStar reporter Kyle Neddenriep at (317) 444-6649.