Caitlin Clark and the 13-15 Indiana Fever visit the Minnesota Lynx for a WNBA clash at Target Center on Saturday, August 24 (8/24/2024).

How to watch: Stream the WNBA on DirecTV Stream (free trial).

Here’s what you need to know:

What: WNBA Regular Season game

Who: Fever @ Lynx

When: Saturday, August 24, 2024

Time: 8 p.m. EDT

Where: Target Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota

TV: NBA TV, Bally Sports (in market)

Channel finder: Verizon Fios, Xfinity, Spectrum, Optimum/Altice, Cox, DirecTV

Live stream: fuboTV (free trial), DirecTV Stream (free trial), Sling (half off first month)

After being left out of the U.S. Olympic women’s basketball team, Caitlin Clark used the time off to rejuvenate her game. The Indiana Fever point guard quickly regained attention by setting a WNBA record for assists in a season by a rookie, and is on track to break the overall record of 316 assists set by Alyssa Thomas last year.

Clark has also been making headlines due to her, let’s say, competitive spirit. She punched the base of the basket after missing a shot on Sunday against the Storm, and drew her fifth technical foul of the season as a result. The Fever won 92-75.

Next up, the Fever will face the Lynx looking to build on their recent successes with just about a quarter of the season left to play. The Lynx are 19-8 and leading the Western Conference. Known for their strong defense, Minnesota will aim to counter Clark’s offensive prowess.

What is DirecTV Stream?

DirecTV Stream is a comprehensive internet TV service that offers your favorite entertainment, news and sports channels, as well as local TV stations and regional sports networks. It’s the only choice for fans who want full access to local, televised sports. DirecTV Stream Choice includes 125+ channels, unlimited DVR storage and thousands of on-demand titles starting at just $69.99 per month for a limited time.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Incoming guard Kanaan Carlyle just barely qualified for inclusion in this series. To qualify, a player had to have played at least 25 minutes per game in the 2023-24 season. Carlyle played 25.1 for Stanford.

The smaller the sample size, the harder it is to find some comparisons. Add in the fact that Carlyle didn’t play in Mike Woodson’s system and with the same caliber of teammates in 2024, and that’s another degree of difficulty.

However, Carlyle plays a common position as an off-guard, and he also has a common body type for a guard at 6-foot-3 and 185 pounds.

His role at Indiana is still to be determined. He’ll be fighting for minutes in a crowded backcourt with Myles Rice, Trey Galloway, Gabe Cupps, Jakai Newton and Anthony Leal.

So we’re going to keep our minds open on comparisons.

Tale of the tape

Carlyle’s traditional statistics: 11.5 points, 2.7 rebounds and 2.7 assists at Stanford. He converted 38.6% of his shots and 32% of his 3-point attempts. He is listed at 6-foot-3 and 185 pounds.

Carlyle’s advanced statistics, as used by sports-reference.com: Carlyle had 0.5 win shares and an 11.5 Player Efficiency Rating. He had a 27.7% usage percentage, a 19.5% assist percentage, a 6% total rebounding percentage and a minus-0.5 defensive box plus-minute rating.

Some of the advanced statistics are explained below.

Honorable mention

The traditional statistics brought a lot more “comps” than the advanced statistics did. Carlyle’s low 0.5 win share total dragged him below most of the players he compared to otherwise.

By traditional stats, Quinn Buckner ’73 is in range at 10.8 points, 2.9 assists and a 40.9% shooting percentage and he is also 6-3. Buckner was a far more effective rebounder, however.

Robert Vaden ’05 is much like Buckner in that sense. Vaden averaged 10.2 points, 2.1 assists and converted 37.6% of his shots. The freshman did average 4.3 boards per game and was two inches taller than Carlyle.

Armon Bassett ’07 was 6-foot-2 and 180 pounds, relatively close to Carlyle. Bassett and Carlyle shot an identical 38.6% from the field and were close in rebounds (2.7 for Carlyle, 2.4 for Bassett) and assists (3 for Bassett, 2.7 for Carlyle). Bassett was a better 3-point shooter (40.9%), however.

3. Verdell Jones III ‘09

Jones makes another appearance in the comparison series. Purely by statistics, Jones is a very good match. He averaged 11 points, 3.1 rebounds and 3.6 assists for Tom Crean’s 2009 Hoosiers. They also shot an almost identical 3-point percentage – Jones at 32.8%, Carlyle at 32%.

Jones is closest in win shares too at 1.1. They have a similar usage rate at 27.7% for Carlyle and 25.7% for Jones.

So why isn’t Jones higher on the list? For one thing, he’s 6-5. For another, Jones shot six percentage points better than Carlyle at 44.5% and was a much more prolific distributor. Jones had a 31.5% assist percentage. Carlyle was 19.5% at Stanford.

2. Robert Johnson ‘15

Unlike Jones and our top choice, Johnson is not a good match via traditional statistics, at least in terms of scoring. Johnson averaged 8.9 points. However, Johnson did average 2.9 rebounds and 2.3 assists, both of which are close to Carlyle’s numbers.

Advanced stats paint a closer portrait. Johnson had 1.6 win shares, a 6.3% rebounding percentage and wasn’t too far off at 15.5% assist percentage. Johnson is also nearly the same frame at 6-3 and 195 pounds and he averaged just two minutes more than Carlyle did.

1. Damon Bailey ‘91

This one surprised us. Bailey was, after all, the 1991 Big Ten Freshman of the Year. He would later be first-team All-Big Ten, but purely based on the numbers? The first seasons for Carlyle and Bailey are really tight.

Bailey averaged 11.4 points, 2.9 rebounds and 2.9 assists for the 1991 Hoosiers. Those are all within a percentage point or two off of Carlyle’s averages.

Bailey was also 6-3, though he was a bit heavier at 201 pounds.

If you think Carlyle had a larger role? The numbers don’t back that up. Carlyle and Bailey played almost an identical amount of minutes – Bailey averaged 26 minutes in 1991. Bailey was Indiana’s third-leading scorer in 1991. Carlyle was Stanford’s fourth-leading scorer last year.

There are no advanced statistics available for Bailey, but there is one important difference between him and Carlyle. Bailey was a far better shooter at 50.6% from the field and 43.4% from 3-point range. That’s a major category to separate them, but as freshmen? They were much closer than one might think.

Rules

First, 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.

Criteria

Current 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 explained

Win 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.

ST. LOUIS – The Indiana men’s soccer team has high hopes for the 2024 season, but its opening match of the season was a false start in terms of proving their ambitions wit.

Host Saint Louis scored in each half and held down the Hoosiers’ potent attack in 2-0 victory in front of 5,763 fans at Robert R. Herrmann Stadium on the campus of Saint Louis on Friday night.

The Billikens, a traditional men’s soccer power, but unranked entering the match, out-shot the Hoosiers 8-7, though shots on goal were even at 3-3. The Billikens doubled the Hoosiers’ output in corner kicks 6-3.

Indiana, blessed with attacking options, started all four of its primary attackers – Sam Sarver, Collins Oduro, Tommy Mihalic and Northwestern transfer Justin Weiss.

Weiss had two shots on goal and Sarver one, but those were the only shots on target from the above quintet and they only had five total shots in all. A bright spot was substitute Michael Nesci, who had two shots.

Sarver started on the right wing, with Weiss and Mihalic playing centrally, and Oduro playing on the left wing. They had support from left back Alex Barger and right back Quinton Elliot, a transfer from Louisville.

Patrick McDonald and Jack Wagoner manned the midfield, dropped several yards behind the forward line, with center backs Jansen Miller and freshman Jack Lindimore behind them. J.T. Harms was Indiana’s goalkeeper.

Saint Louis had a familiar name in its starting lineup – former Indiana central defender Joey Maher. His brother, freshman Josh Maher, is on Indiana’s roster, but the younger Maher did not play on Friday.

Saint Louis placed its defenders at the top of the 18-yard box and the Hoosiers had trouble finding the pass to penetrate their line for decent opportunities.

The Billikens earned their breakthrough in the 16th minute. After over a minute of sustained possession, including 15 consecutive passes, Saint Louis attacker Luis Lara beat Lindemore, who had been pulled out of position, one-on-one on the left side. Lara got to the goal line, drew out Harms, and then centered a pass to Seth Anderson in the 6-yard box.

Anderson’s shot was parried by Barger in a collision, but forward Matthew Wrobel trailed the play, beat Miller and Wagoner to the ball, and he placed his shot with his left foot low and on the left side from 10 yards out to put the Billikens in front.

Saint Louis continued to control possession after it scored. Indiana would not muster a response until Mihalic had a shot blocked in the 30th minute. It was the only shot for the Hoosiers in the first half. Meanwhile, Harms was forced to make a pair of fingertip saves on each side of the 44th minute.

In the second half, Indiana coach Todd Yeagley moved Oduro into central attack and started Nesci in place of Weiss, and put Clay Murador on the left wing in place of Mihalic. Indiana’s attack had more bite with six shots, but there was no breakthrough.

The only shot the Hoosiers had when it had the chance to equalize was a 53rd minute shot by Nesci that was blocked.

In the 60th minute, the Billikens doubled their lead. Anderson sent a free kick from the right side into the six-yard box. Former Hoosier Maher back-heeled out of the 6-yard box back towards Indiana defender Miller. He put his foot up to try to clear it, but it deflected directly into the left side of the net. Harms had no play on it as Indiana conceded the own goal to make it 2-0.

Indiana’s forgettable evening was capped by a missed penalty in the 82nd minute. Miller was pulled down on a in the 18-yard box to set up the penalty kick, but the penalty kick.

Weiss took it, but his shot, low to the left, was pushed away by Saint Louis keeper Jeremi Abonnel, who also parried a subsequent centering blast by Murador from the goal line just after his penalty save. Abonnel also punched away a blistering free kick headed goal-ward by Sarver in the 85th minute.

Going into the match, Indiana had won seven in a row over Saint Louis. It was the Billikens first victory in the series since 2007. The matchup featured programs responsible for 18 national championships – 10 for SLU and eight for the Hoosiers.

Indiana will try to rebound in its home opener at Bill Armstrong Stadium next Thursday when No. 2 Notre Dame visits. Kickoff is 8 p.m. and the match will be broadcast on BTN+.