Who Compares? Top Three Ex-Indiana Players Who Produced Like Yarden Garzon

Hoosiers On SI examines past Hoosiers whose stats or style were similar to current players.

Todd Golden | Aug 30, 2024

Indiana's Yarden Garzon (12) drives during the first half of the Indiana versus Lipscomb women's basketball game at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall on Sunday, Nov. 19, 2023. / Rich Janzaruk/Herald-Times / USA TODAY NETWORK

In this story:

Indiana Hoosiers

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – First? Let’s tell all of you something you probably already know about Indiana guard Yarden Garzon.

There are very few players like her. Certainly not historically, and very few in the contemporary game, either.

Garzon has been a standout from the time of her arrival for the 2022-23 season. She has started all 64 games she’s played. Her production was remarkably consistent from her freshman to her sophomore year, but most of all? At 6-foot-3, she has a skill set where she can play almost anywhere on the floor for the Hoosiers.

This was illustrated when Mackenzie Holmes and Lilly Meister were hurt at the end of the 2024 regular season. While both ended up playing in both the Big Ten and NCAA Tournaments, Garzon started in the post in the Big Ten Tournament game against Michigan and had eight rebounds.

This from a player listed as a guard on Indiana’s official roster.

Finding a comparison for Garzon and her skill set is a considerable challenge. Guards were part of her field of candidates, but so were forwards listed at her size to create a fair comparison.

One thing that had to be ruled out as a comparison point? No one who fit her criteria as a “comp” came close to her 42.2% shooting from 3-point range. She’s a category all her own in that respect, so it had to be removed from consideration.

Tale of the tape

Garzon’s traditional statistics: 11.7 points, 4.4 rebounds and 3.1 assists. She converted 44.9% of her shots and 42.2% of her 3-point attempts. She is listed at 6-foot-3.

Garzon’s advanced statistics, as used by sports-reference.com: Garzon had 3.5 win shares and an 18.2 Player Efficiency Rating. She had a 21.9% usage percentage, a 17.8% assist percentage, an 8.9% total rebounding percentage and a 2.8 defensive box plus-minute rating.

Some of the advanced statistics are explained below.

Honorable mention

If you take 3-point shooting out of it, and the fact that most players before 2010 don’t have a full complement of advanced stats, you’re left with traditional statistical comparisons to Indiana sophomores of the past.

One player in her ballpark is Jamie Braun ’08. Braun averaged 14.5 points and 6.1 rebounds, more than Garzon, but she was close in assists (3.5) and she’s near Garzon in win shares (3.9) and rebounding percentage (9.1%).

Another player near Garzon’s production level as a sophomore is Alexis Gassion ’15. Gassion wasn’t the same level in scoring (8 ppg), but she shot an identical 44.9%. They also have an identical Player Efficiency Rating at 18.2 and a near-identical defensive box plus-minus rating as Gassion was a percentage point behind Garzon at 2.7.

3. Jori Davis ‘09

Dec 2, 2010; Clemson, SC, USA; Indiana Hoosiers guard Jori Davis (32) drives to the basket past Clemson Tigers foward Jasmine Tate (24) during the first half at Littlejohn Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Joshua S. Kelly-USA TODAY Sports / Joshua S. Kelly-USA TODAY Sports

Jori Davis, a 5-foot-9 guard who played at Indiana from 2007-11, just edges Gassion thanks to being a similar level scorer during her sophomore season.

Davis averaged 11.8 points, just a percentage point more than Garzon averaged.

They also had advanced stat similarities. Davis had 3 win shares, not too far off of Garzon’s 3.5. Their usage rate was similar as Davis was at 22.5%, just a shade more than Garzon at 21.9%.

2. Grace Berger ‘20

Indiana Hoosiers guard Grace Berger (34) searches to pass the ball against Rutgers Scarlet Knights guard Arella Guirantes (24) during the Big Ten women's basketball tournament at Bankers Life Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, Friday, March 6, 2020. Indiana Hoosiers defeated Rutgers Scarlet Knights, 78-60. / Grace Hollars/IndyStar, Indianapolis Star via Imagn Content Services, LLC

It’s a mark of what an impressive player Berger was that she’s been comparable to two different players with differing styles so far in this series.

As a sophomore for Indiana’s 26-6 team in 2020, Berger did a little bit of everything. Her 13.1 points, 5.2 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 45.6% shooting are all in the ballpark of Garzon’s production, though Berger had the edge in all of those categories.

Their usage rates were similar (22.3 to 21.9% in favor of Berger) and so was their assist percentage (19.6 to 17.8% in favor of Berger). They would later play together, but if Garzon ends up being as good as Berger was after her sophomore season? It will be special for the Hoosiers.

1. Jenny DeMuth ‘03

Jenny DeMuth, shown here in a file shot from her Indiana career, was a 1,542-point scorer for the Hoosiers. / Indiana athletics

The Highland, Ind., native had an impressive sophomore year in 2003 for the Kathi Bennett-coached Hoosiers.

DeMuth, a 5-foot-10 guard, averaged 12 points and 4.8 rebounds, both numbers that are very close to Garzon. While Garzon has the edge in assists, DeMuth’s 40.1% shooting isn’t that far behind Garzon’s 44.9%.

There’s scant difference between the two in all of the advanced categories tracked in 2003. DeMuth had the edge in usage (23.3 to 21.9%) and assist percentage (19.5 to 17.8%), but Garzon had the slight edge in win shares (3.5 to 3.3) and rebounding percentage (8.9 to 8.4).

DeMuth’s career was later affected by knee injuries, but she finished with 1,542 career points in an Indiana career that lasted from 2001-06.

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.