Who Compares? Top Three Ex-Indiana Players Who Produced Like Myles Rice

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Of the three transfers Indiana lured from former Pac-12 schools in the offseason, the best known is undoubtedly center Oumar Ballo. He played at high-profile Arizona, and he played against the Hoosiers during the 2022-23 season.

The other two players – guards Myles Rice and Kanaan Carlyle – weren’t as visible. Carlyle, at least, played at Stanford, which tends to get more regular season national television appearances than Rice’s former school, Washington State.

The Cougars, left behind in the demise of the Pac-12 along with Oregon State, rarely get TV time, even when they’re good. That was the case last season when Wazzu went 25-10 and finished second in the final season of the Pac-12. Washington State made it to the second round of the NCAA Tournament before losing to Iowa State.

Some Indiana fans might have seen Rice play, but not many. So comparisons to past Indiana players come in handy.

The only problem? Rice, anticipated to be a point guard for the Hoosiers, played that position as his main role at Washington State, but he didn’t play it exclusively. While he led the Cougars at 3.8 assists per game, Washington State did not hesitate, at times, to let one of its other guards initiate action.

That skews the statistics slightly to bring some combo guards from Indiana’s past into the candidate pool. Which makes this comparison a little bit more fun.

One way in which Rice doesn’t compare to anyone else coming off their freshman season? He is 21. Before his college career began, he had to recover from cancer. Rice underwent chemotherapy after he was diagnosed with a form of Hodgkin lymphoma.

But here are some freshmen from Indiana’s past who produced like Rice did for the Cougars last season.

Tale of the tapeRice’s traditional statistics: 14.8 points, 2.7 rebounds and 3.8 assists at Washington State. He converted 43.9% of his shots and 27.5% of his 3-point attempts. He is listed at 6-foot-2 and 175 pounds.

Rice’s advanced statistics, as used by sports-reference.com: Rice had 3.8 win shares and a 17 Player Efficiency Rating. He had a 25.9% usage percentage, a 22.7% assist percentage, a 5.4% total rebounding percentage and a 2.4 defensive box plus-minute rating.

Some of the advanced statistics are explained below.

Honorable mentionA total of 11 former Hoosiers qualified as statistical comparisons for Rice, but only a few of them are worthy of mention.

Steve Alford ’84 is close in traditional stats to Rice. The Indiana legend averaged 15.5 points, 3.2 assists and 2.6 rebounds in his first Indiana season. However, the comparison falls apart when shooting is taken into account. Alford converted 59.2% of his two-point shots and was a deadly 3-point shooter when he played in games where it existed. Rice struggled in that department.

Luke Recker ’98 isn’t far off in production, either. Recker averaged 12.8 points, 3.9 rebounds and 3.7 assists in his first of two seasons in an Indiana uniform, but like Alford, Recker was a far superior shooter. He made 49.8% of his shots and 43.9% from 3-point range. Recker was also much bigger at 6-foot-6.

In Win Shares, James Blackmon ’15 was an exact fit for Rice at 3.8 and they were close in usage, too, with Blackmon at 26.9% and Rice at 25.9%. Blackmon also converted 42% in comparison to Rice’s 43.9%, but their games weren’t alike in many other meaningful ways.

3. Bracey Wright ‘03Bracey Wright was a freshman for Indiana during the 2002-03 season. / Hoosiers On SI file photo

One of the mainstays of the Mike Davis era, Wright started all 30 games he played during his freshman season. Wright scored and rebounded (16.2 ppg, 5 rpg) at a higher clip than Rice (14.8 ppg, 2.7 rpg). Rice dished out more assists (3.8 to 2.1).

Where they’re similar is shooting. They each made 43% of their shots. They’re also almost dead even in Win Shares as Wright had 3.9 to Rice’s 3.8. Their usage rate is nearly identical as well – Rice at 25.9% and Wright at 25.8%. Wright was only an inch taller than Rice, though he was 25 pounds heavier.

One major issue with this comparison? Wright was not the point guard in 2003. Tom Coverdale led the Hoosiers in assists with 4.5 per game to Wright’s 2.1. Wright was never the primary distributor for the Hoosiers, but he was a passer, as he was second on the Hoosiers in assists in each of his three seasons.

2. Jalen Hood-Schifino ‘23Mar 5, 2023; Bloomington, Indiana, USA; Indiana Hoosiers guard Jalen Hood-Schifino (1) dribbles the ball while Michigan Wolverines guard Kobe Bufkin (2) defends in the first half at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. Mandatory Credit: Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports / Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports

The second appearance for the Pittsburgh native in the comparison series. Hood-Schifino averaged 13.5 points, 4.1 rebounds and 3.7 assists in 2023. The assist average is almost identical.

The shooting isn’t far off, either – in good and bad ways. Hood-Schifino canned 41.7% of his shots, just a shade off of Rice’s 43.9%. Both were and are inconsistent 3-point threats. Hood-Schifino made 33.3% from long range in 2023. Rice made just 27.5% at Washington State.

Role-wise, Hood-Schifino handled the ball frequently in 2023 with Xavier Johnson injured, but he didn’t do so exclusively. By defensive box plus-minus, Rice is a far superior defender with a 2.4 rating to Hood-Schifino’s 0.3. One major difference is that Hood-Schifino is 6-6, four inches taller than Rice.

1. A.J. Guyton ‘97Unknown location 1997; USA; FILE PHOTO; Indiana Hoosiers guard A.J. Guyton (25) reacts on the court during the 1997 season. Mandatory Credit: RVR Photos-USA TODAY Sports / RVR Photos-USA TODAY Sports

To be in the same conversation as Guyton is a pretty good thing for Rice. Guyton’s freshman campaign in 1997 lines up relatively well with Rice’s one season with Washington State.

Guyton averaged 13.6 points, 3.3 rebounds and 3.9 assists in his first Indiana season, all within range of Rice’s production. They shot almost exactly the same – Rice at 43.9% and Guyton at 43.5%. They both struggled from 3-point range with Rice having the edge at 27.5% to Guyton’s 25.6%.

Guyton played at the dawn of advanced statistics, but his 3.6 win shares – the only advanced stat available – aligns closely with Rice.

Finally, they’re almost the same size. Guyton was 6-1 and 175 pounds, a near dead-ringer for Rice.

Guyton went on to have a brilliant four-year career for Indiana and a three-year NBA career. If Rice can chart a similar path? Indiana will be all the better for it.

Next: Kanaan Carlyle.

RulesFirst, the basic rules. Players will only be compared to those who played roughly the same position. There’s little point in comparing Malik Reneau to Yogi Ferrell, for example.

There’s some leeway granted to shooting guards, whether they also handled the ball or whether they were big and could play small forward. Same for power forwards, some of whom are stretch forwards, others have manned the post.

This rule is important: players are only compared to those who were the same class. Seniors-to-seniors, juniors-to-juniors, etc.

With redshirt seasons, and particularly as it relates to current players, COVID-19 amnesty seasons, some current seniors can only be compared to seniors who exhausted their eligibility in their own period of time. Xavier Johnson had three senior seasons thanks to his injury waiver season – a true man of the times.

CriteriaCurrent Indiana players were compared to players of the past in three different categories – traditional statistics, advanced statistics and role.

One fundamental issue is that advanced statistics are only available starting in the mid-1990s – and that’s only the most basic ones. The full menu of advanced statistics we have today were only tracked starting in the 2009-10 season.

Even the full menu of traditional statistics weren’t accurately tracked until the 1980s.

Traditional counting stats and advanced stats create differences in comps. Traditional stats are subject to minutes played.

Players were considered a “comp” if they were within two points per game in scoring or within one win share in advanced statistics.

After that, the other statistics were used to form a close comparison. A good comp also needs to be roughly the same size, though that is difficult as players have steadily grown over time. Bill Garrett was a 6-foot-3 post player in the early 1950s, for example.

Ratings explainedWin shares: An estimate of the number of wins contributed by a player via their offense and defense. The higher the number, the better.

Player Efficiency Rating: A rating created by John Hollinger in an attempt to quantify a player’s overall contribution. An average rating is 15.

Usage Percentage: An estimate of the percentage of team plays used by a player when they’re on the floor.

Assist percentage: An estimate of the percentage of teammate field goals a player assisted on where they were on the floor.

Total rebounding percentage: An estimate of the available rebounds a player grabbed when they were on the floor.

Defensive box plus-minus: A box score estimate of the defensive points per 100 possessions a player contributed to above a league-average player. The higher the number, the better.