BB RECRUITING

Indiana basketball has hit a home run in the transfer portal thus far — What’s next and who to keep tabs on?

Published

2 weeks ago

April 24, 2024

Diving in and breaking down the current portal situation for Indiana basketball, how it impacts the roster and what still needs to be done. (Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports)

The Indiana basketball program has been one of the most active schools in the transfer portal — not only in reaching out and securing visits from top prospects, but also landing commitments.

Indiana entered this week with the No. 1 overall transfer portal class with three commitments from top-rated transfer Oumar Ballo, 10th rated transfer Kanaan Carlyle and 18th rated transfer Myles Rice.

Still, Indiana basketball has three open scholarship spots and specific skillsets it still needs to bring on board.

So, let’s dive in and break down Indiana’s current portal situation, how it impacts the rest of the roster and what still needs to be done.

Backcourt help is on the way — in a major way …: This is no secret, Indiana’s backcourt was abysmal last season, even when healthy. So to target and land its top two transfers in Myles Rice and Kanaan Carlyle is a terrific haul. The best parts of their games also pair well together. Indiana struggled with making plays off of the dribble and that’s exactly where Rice comes in handy. He was in the 89th percentile in isolation plays, scoring 1.15 points per possession. Even better, 37 percent of his field goal attempts came at the rim last year, finishing with a 63 percent rate. There’s no question that Indiana struggled in a half court setting on numerous occasions last year — Rice is a significant upgrade with the ball in his hands with his ability to create off of the dribble.

“Myles is a savvy, downhill guard that really succeeds in pick-and-roll situations,” Mike Woodson said of Rice. “He is a three-level scorer that makes the right play consistently, whether that is getting to the rim or finding the open man. He is going to be a huge help for our ballclub, and we are very excited to welcome him and his family to Bloomington.”

Pairing nicely with Rice is Carlyle who despite shooting 32.2 percent from three last year, excelled in spot up opportunities. He ranked in the 81st percentile in spot up shots, scoring 1.11 points per possession. The issue was, he only did so with 20 percent of his touches last year since he was needed on the ball. He had a 54 percent effective field goal rate when he was off the ball.

“Kanaan is a dynamic player with the ball in his hands with the length and skillset to create scoring chances for himself and others,” Woodson added of Carlyle. “His ability of the bounce pairs nicely with his shooting stroke. His length, quickness, and mentality give him the capability to be a high-impact defender for our ballclub”

Both players are also very effective passer and ball movers, each having assist rates of greater than 20 percent. For reference, Indiana had just one player — Trey Galloway — with a rate above 20 percent.

Oumar Ballo is a massive — literally — addition: Indiana basketball needed a big time replacement up front after the departure of Kel’el Ware and did so by landing the top overall transfer in Arizona center Oumar Ballo. Ballo is a tremendous asset to what Indiana had returning and now what it has in the backcourt. With two guards who excel getting downhill, having a dominant centerpiece in the paint on pick and rolls or offensive rebounds is a signifiant addition.

Ballo has averaged at least two offensive rebounds per game in each of the last three year and had an offensive rebound rate of 15.1 percent last year, top-15 in the country and atop the Pac-12 stats. For reference, Ware had just a 7.9 offensive rebound percent and Trayce Jackson-Davis never saw above an 11.8 percent rebound rate. Ballo turned those offensive rebounds into points, scoring 1.24 points per possession last year on put backs, something he likely feast on again this season. With Indiana’s guards excelling attacking the basket, you need a 5 who also excels in pick and roll sets and Ballo ranked in the 84th percentile scoring 1.30 points per possession.

Shooting, shooting, shooting: It’s still a clear need, even with the additions of Rice and Carlyle. While neither are excellent three-point shooters, it was pointed out how Carlyle excels in spot up opportunities and for Rice, his sub-30 percent wasn’t all that low. Rice was shooting 33 percent on 1.3 makes per game in the first 26 games of the year before an 0-of-22 spurt in the final seven Pac-12 games of the year. He likely won’t have that poor of a run again. Expect both of those guards to see nice increases playing alongside each other and the rest of the talent around them, and see 34-35 percent rates next year.

But, a true knockdown shooter on the perimeter is the next move for Indiana. Mackenzie Mgbako turned into that player last season, finishing the last 28 games of the season shooting 35 percent from there on 1.8 makes per game. He was the only shooter, however. So expanding that on the perimeter is a must. Two names on the radar are Luke Goode and Zach Anderson. Goode is the more notable of the two and likely fits exactly what Indiana needs better than Anderson. Goode is a 6-foot-7 wing who saw 87.7 percent of his shot attempts this season came from three. He only attempted 22 twos. He made 61 3s and shot 38.9 percent. In his three years at Illinois, he shot 38.8 percent from three. Goode scored 1.08 points per possession on spot up 3s last year and ranked in the 77th percentile. He visits Indiana basketball later this week and keep an eye out for a quick decision.

Anderson, also 6-foot-7, is known as a shooter. He had 19 points and five 3s against Indiana last year. He shot 45.9 percent from three last year and hit 51 3s. He is a terrific catch and shoot player, finishing last year with a 72 percent effective field goal rate on catch and shoot 3s. That was in the 99th percentile. He averaged 1.18 points per possession on spot up shots — which made up 30 percent of his total shot attempts last year — which ranked in the 86th percentile.

The question is will — or can — Indiana take both? Likely, IU takes just one and typically you would lean towards the player who has performed consistently at the power five level like Goode has.

Size, depth up front is a must still: Indiana has two really good pieces in the front court but that’s it. There are only two. Oumar Ballo and Malik Reneau are a tremendous starting point, but Indiana needs depth there. Ballo has averaged 26.8 minutes a game as a starter over the past two years. There’s already the foul issues with Reneau as well, so it’s a total necessity for Indiana to land a big body. Up to this point, the main name involved as been Grace College big Elijah Malone. He took a visit last week and is decision-making mode, sources tell HoosierIllustrated.com. Indiana appears to be one of the top programs involved with him, along with Colorado and Notre Dame. Will he want a larger role elsewhere or be fine playing more limited minutes behind two clear All-Big Ten players?

Most likely, there will be another name or two that pop up for the Malone type of role. This is the one position that still is a question moving forward and needs to be a priority with the shooting role(s) all but locked down.

Regardless of Malone’s decision, Indiana needs to find another backup big who can — and is willing — to play 10-12 minutes per game and likely have inconsistent minutes game-to-game. Unless Mike Woodson is going to play more lineups with Mgbako at the four — which he has been very reluctant to do — you can’t go into the season with two ‘bigs’. Just can’t happen.