BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – It has no doubt been said before, but still worth noting, that one of the best traits Indiana women’s basketball coach Teri Moren has in building her teams is the versatility of each player.

This really comes into focus in the comparison series when you see just how skilled today’s Indiana players are versus their predecessors.

That’s not meant to be a knock on Indiana players of the past. They did what they were asked to do. Roles were more defined in pre-2010s basketball.

When you have a player like Sydney Parrish – the subject of today’s comparison series – and try to compare her scoring, rebounding, passing and defensive skills? You realize what kind of golden age Indiana’s women’s basketball finds itself in given her diverse talents.

What’s fascinating about Parrish is that if you expand her criteria to include forwards who were 6-foot-2 or shorter, Parrish has characteristics that match both her listed guard spot and forward. She matches quite a few former Hoosiers. Twenty-two in all fit the bill.

When you get into the finer details? That’s when the sheer across-board excellence of the current players like Parrish can really be appreciated. There may be a lot of matches for her scoring and win shares, but not many that match everything she can do.

Here’s our stab at finding Indiana players of the past who produced like Parrish.

Tale of the tape

Parrish’s traditional statistics: 10.8 points, 6 rebounds and 2.3 assists. She converted 45.3% of her shots and 40% of her 3-point attempts. She is listed at 6-foot-2.

Parrish’s advanced statistics, as used by sports-reference.com: Parrish had 3.3 win shares and a 21.6 Player Efficiency Rating. She had a 19.6% usage percentage, a 14.1% assist percentage, a 13% total rebounding percentage and a 4.4 defensive box plus-minute rating.

Some of the advanced statistics are explained below.

Honorable mention

Worth naming in this space is Rainey Alting ’01. It’s a shame advanced statistics aren’t available for her season. Her scoring stats (8.8 ppg) are barely in-range of Parrish, but when you look at her shooting (45.5%, 40% 3-point) and assist (2.5 apg) numbers? You wonder. However, Alting was 5-foot-5, so that’s one disqualifier to make the top three.

Dawn Douglas ’93 is a close match for Parrish’s traditional stats at 10.1 points, 5.1 rebounds and 2.3 assists, but she did not shoot threes, a glaring difference.

Jamie Braun ’10, Whitney Lindsay ’11, Hope Elam ’11 and Alexis Gassion ’17 all have certain numbers that line up well, but not enough to make the top three.

Same for the recent Moren players. Al Patberg ’22 and the inevitable Grace Berger ’23. Both close, but none quite there to make the top three.

3. Tabitha Gerardot ‘14

Gerardot was a 6-foot-1 forward on Curt Miller’s last Indiana team, a transfer from Valparaiso. Her scoring would seem to disqualify her. Gerardot averaged just 8.7 points in her only Indiana season.

However, advanced stats demonstrate how close their games were.

Gerardot had 3.1 win shares, a 13.4% rebounding percentage and a 19.8% usage percentage, all within a fraction of Parrish’s numbers. She’s also close to Parrish in size, so she made the cut.

2. Nicole Cardaño-Hillary ‘22

Given the interchangeable traits that Moren players tend to have, a recent player needed to be included, so we went with the Spanish standout.

Her traditional numbers line up closely. She averaged 11.6 points, 4.9 rebounds and 3.1 assists during her senior season. Parrish is a better shooter, but not by a wide margin. Cardaño -Hillary converted 40.7% overall and 35.7% from 3-point range.

The pair are close in advanced stats, too. Cardaño-Hillary had 3.8 win shares and a close usage rate of 21.4%.

Cardaño-Hillary was also one of the few players who had a superior defensive box plus-minus rating than Parrish’s stout 4.4 as Cardaño -Hillary reached 5.5 in 2022.

1. Lisa Eckart ‘03

The Greenwood, Ind., native only played one year at Indiana after she transferred from Evansville, but her numbers are very close to what Parrish produced.

One of three double-digit scorers on the 2003 team (which also produced the top comparable for Yarden Garzon – Jenny DeMuth), Eckart averaged 11.1 points, 6.4 rebounds and 1.6 assists. The scoring is very close to Parrish. Eckart enjoys the rebounding advantage; Parrish has the edge in assists.

Eckart, a 6-foot forward, also converted 38.1% of her 3-point shots, a rare forward from that era who had that skill set.

The advanced stats also show similarities. Eckart’s rebounding percentage is 11% to Parrish’s 13%, and their assist percentage (14.1 % for Parrish, 13.4% for Eckart) also makes the two a good comparison.

Rules

First, the basic rules. Players will only be compared to those who played roughly the same position.

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.

SHELDON, Ill. (WLS) — A suspect was killed and an Indiana sheriff’s deputy was critically injured in a shootout in Illinois on Sunday evening, police said.

Illinois State Police said Iroquois County Sheriff’s Department officers chased an armed suspect with a suspected hostage into Indiana just before 9 p.m. That’s when the Newton County Sheriff’s Department engaged with the pursuit.

The chase went back into Illinois, and the suspect crashed in Sheldon, ISP said. The suspect got out of his vehicle and exchanged gunfire with police.

An officer shot the suspect, 37-year-old Andrew Roselius of Clifton, Illinois. He was pronounced dead on the scene.

Roselius shot Newton County Sheriff’s Department deputy, who was to Iroquois Memorial Hospital before being flown to the Carle Trauma Center.

The Newton County Sheriff’s Department identified the deputy as Corporal Brandon Schreiber.

Schreiber, a five-year veteran with the Newton County Sheriff’s Department, remains in critical condition.

Police did not find a hostage inside the vehicle.

ISP will investigate the shooting before turning its investigation over to the Iroquois County State’s Attorney’s Office.

Curt Cignetti had his weekly press conference on Monday as Indiana transitioned out of its 31-7 season-opening victory over Florida International and into a short prep week for Friday’s home game against Western Illinois.

Here is everything Cignetti had to say to the media.

Opening statement …

Cignetti: Good solid performance in the opener, did a lot of positive things. I like the way our defense swarmed to the ball, put pressure on the quarterback, TFLs.

Offensively strung together four straight drives that averaged 75 yards, 11-plus plays, three straight touchdowns, and then a field goal. We hit that halfback pass, which we normally do in practice, then we’re looking at four TDs.

Had a couple of clunker drives there at the end of the third quarter, fourth quarter. Offensively, penalties obviously, too many on offense. Got to cut those out. I think we had seven second and 11 pluses and six third and 11 pluses, some were 17, 21. Things we can teach off tape obviously, all correctible.

Last drive of the second quarter, crucial missed assignment on third and five. We should have had that play nailed. Guy didn’t do what he was supposed to do.

We didn’t finish the second half the way we want to finish the second half. That’s always a point of emphasis. We did start the third quarter by stopping them and driving down the field. We ended up kicking a field goal, should have scored a touchdown.

Special teams was solid, and I thought the effort was good. We’re excited to play again Friday.

On different guys getting involved defensively …

Cignetti: That’s what I’m used to seeing. We like to pride ourselves on playing defense. We pride ourselves on being fast and physical and disruptive up front and creating a lot of different looks for the defense and being really good against the run. I think we gave up 53 yards rushing, less than 200 total yards.

And we’ve always been really good against the run and had TFLs and sacks. So it was nice to see that carry over with this group. We’ve added faces to the defense, and a lot of guys did get involved, like you said.

On Indiana’s tackling …

Cignetti: We did tackle well, we swarmed and had multiple hats. We didn’t tackle in fall camp and only once in the spring. There you go. So a lot to build on.

On safety Josh Sanguinetti and linebacker Isaiah Jones …

Cignetti: I think everybody on this team sort of starts with a clean slate and evaluated daily, in season or out of season. Once we start practice, typically fall camp, day in, day out practice and who earns the right to be on the field.

Those guys have done well and earned that right. We need them to play well throughout the whole season.

On play-calling when the game is in Indiana’s hands …

Cignetti: Yeah, we were still in attack mode. At that point we weren’t really satisfied with how we had played since really our last touchdown drive. Even the one we went down and kicked the field goal, we weren’t pleased we had to settle for the field goal.

There were some missed opportunities out there, and sometimes we got behind the sticks because of penalties. So we wanted to keep attacking.

On college football games on Friday nights when high schools play …

Cignetti: I’ve played Thursday. I’ve played Friday. I’ve played Saturday. We just get ready to play them when we’re asked to play them.

On having flexible role players …

Cignetti: It’s real important, and Bryant does a great job, along with the defensive staff, of creating different packages and week to week based on team’s tendencies, what they think puts us in the best position to be successful. Those guys have to be versatile, but part of being a safety is being able to play low, run for it, play deep, and stop the pass.

That’s where it helps to have intelligent guys defensively because it is a heavy plate, where they’ve got to learn some things and there’s checks built into formations, et cetera.

On the passing game and whether it was intentionally conservative in the passes attempted …

Cignetti: No, we should have had two post touchdowns. The one we hit Cooper on the deep cross, probably should have gone to the post. He’s open. We didn’t throw it. We did throw the post later in the game to Andison Coby, who’s open. We got to use the field and lay it out there. That should have been a touchdown too.

We had some other down the field opportunity chunks that we just didn’t convert on.

On who may have stuck to him from guys who got playing time …

Cignetti: I thought they all played hard. Overall, Aiden Fisher, we thought really played well. A number of guys played well on defense. I like the way the running backs ran the ball on offense, and Carter Smith played well up front, Zach Horton did a good job.

I like the way we kicked off. McCormick, I thought was excellent on kickoffs.

We got some young guys in there at the end. Landino saw some action, and Hardy saw some action at linebacker. That was good to see. Continue to try to build some depth.

Thoughts on the offensive line …

Cignetti: Did a nice job, rushed for 240 yards. I thought we ran the ball effectively, averaged about six yards a rush.

Pass pro, we had a couple issues, but nothing that’s not correctible there. We’re not real deep there on the offensive line. We can go probably six deep with veteran guys, seven. So got to keep progressing.

On wide receiver Donaven McCulley and his Saturday performance …

Cignetti: Well, I don’t get frustrated when a guy gets hurt because it’s next man up. I don’t have time to think about that.

We got him in there, and he was playing fast, doing a nice job, and took a hit and was ruled out. He’ll be anxious to get back, and I’ll be anxious to get him back.

On the process of evaluating Kurtis Rourke and quarterback play …

Cignetti: I always come in early and look at ODK, and then when we come in as a staff Sunday morning, the offensive staff will watch it together, defensive staff will watch teams together. I may cut out a few plays I watch with the defense. This past week I didn’t.

But in terms of the quarterback coach, and Tino will coach — tonight Kurtis will review the tape with Tino, and that’s how we did it. I thought he did a nice job. He made some plays when he was under pressure, getting out of the pocket, and made a throw or two and threw the ball fairly well.

He missed a couple reads, but I thought it was a good first time out for him.

On correcting penalties …

Cignetti: Now you can teach it off tape and the consequence of having a holding penalty and how it puts you behind the chains. We’ve got to get better with our hand placement, got to get our hands inside, they can’t be outside. It’s always a concern going into the first game.

We don’t have officials at every practice like some people do. So you harp on it during fall camp. Sometimes it takes a consequence to get the result.

On what goes into the offensive gameplan …

Cignetti: Well, I mean, every week we’re going to put our best run game plan together based on the opponent, what we’re seeing schematically. Then we’ve always tried to play three backs, keep them fresh.

And I thought Elijah Green did a nice job because Kaelon Black, you know, ham was a little tight. So we held him precautionary after he ran down on kickoff and I think had one carry. I thought all those guys did a nice job.

More detail on Donaven McCulley injury …

Cignetti: I think we’ll have him back soon. Right now I would say it’s more day to day.