MSU Hoops' Richardson Named Among 'Most Impactful Sixth Men'
Evan Miyakawa is a PhD statistician who has worked with ESPN, CBS Sports, The Athletic and SI Now. Miyakawa recently composed a ranking of the "most impactful sixth men" in the country, based upon BPR, or Bayesian Performance Rating, which he defines as a metric that "measures overall player value using box score stats, advanced on-off plus-minus data, and historical information."
Michigan State freshman guard Jase Richardson slotted in at No. 6 on the list, with a BPR of 6.10, an offensive BPR of 3.88 and a defensive BPR of 2.23.
Richardson has averaged 9.6 points, 2.6 rebounds and 2.1 assists in 22 minutes on the court through 19 appearances. On a Spartans team that is deep at all positions, he has shown out as a former four-star guard who was ranked the No. 37 overall prospect per 247Sports in 2024.
"Richardson is a southpaw combo-guard who has been known for his upside since he was younger, but is now turning potential into production at an increasing consistent rate," 247Sports director of scouting Adam Finkelstein had written in his evaluation. "He’s highly versatile and legitimately able to impact the game in a multitude of ways on both ends of the floor. ... While he still has to fill-out his frame and develop his body, he also has multiple finishing moves in his bag. Richardson has also made notable strides as a shooting threat from behind the arc, which opens up the rest of his game. Defensively, he can move his feet, has quick reactions, and can be a playmaker both on and off the ball. Again, though, the progression of his frame and ability to play through contact will take his game to new levels."
Of his freshman impact player, Coach Tom Izzo told Fox Sports' John Fanta said he was "as good as it gets."
"He works on his game tirelessly, and he cares about everybody in our program," the Hall-of-Fame coach said. "Everybody. He's incredibly intelligent and can speak more than a couple of languages. We went over to Spain, and he could do anything that you wanted him to do. But as a player, I think the word would be incredibly ‘efficient.' He knows how to pass the ball so wel,l and he gives it up early -- sometimes too early ... we've got to get him more shots, and he has to take more shots because he's a very good shooter. But he's very good with the ball. He can distribute it. He has a wonderful sense of things, and I think his second half of the season will be a lot better than his first half.
"Some of that is us getting a full feel for him and some of it is him getting a feel for college basketball. He's been an exciting kid to have here because I think his ceiling is extremely high, and I think he's going to be a great player at Michigan State."
Michael France is Sports Illustrated's Michigan State recruiting beat writer, covering all things Big Ten recruiting for Spartan Nation. Be sure to follow him on Twitter/X@michaelfrancesi for exclusive Spartans recruiting coverage.
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