Kanaan Carlyle is officially a member of the Indiana basketball team.
On Wednesday morning, the Hoosiers announced the signing of Stanford transfer Kanaan Carlyle. The 6-foot-3 combo guard committed to IU this past weekend following his official visit to Bloomington.
“Kanaan is a dynamic player with the ball in his hands with the length and skillset to create scoring chances for himself and others,” IU coach Mike Woodson said in a statement. “His ability off 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. We are really excited to welcome him and his family to IU.”
Carlyle is ranked the No. 7 overall transfer and No. 1 combo guard transfer according to 247Sports. The 6-foot-3, 185-pounder has three seasons of eligibility remaining.
Carlyle is the fourth overall commit this offseason for the Hoosiers, who currently has the No. 1-ranked transfer class in the nation. Indiana has gained transfer commitments from Carlyle, former Arizona center Oumar Ballo (No. 1-ranked) and former Washington State point guard Myles Rice (No. 18-ranked), along with 2024 McDonald’s All-American Bryson Tucker.
Indiana has three open scholarships left to fill.
Carlyle, a former top-60 recruit in the 2023 class, averaged 11.5 points, 2.7 rebounds and 2.7 assists in his freshman season with the Cardinal. He shot 38.6 percent from the field, 32.0 percent from 3-point range and 77.6 percent at the free throw line.
A native of Atlanta, Ga., Carlyle finished his prep career playing at Overtime Elite. Indiana associated head coach Yasir Rosemond has extensive ties to the state of Georgia and Overtime Elite.
As a Class of 2023 recruit, Carlyle was ranked No. 59 nationally, No. 9 shooting guard and No. 5 prospect from Georgia according to 247Sports. The 247Sports Composite rankings were slightly higher on Carlyle, tabbing him as the No. 52 national recruit and No. 6 shooting guard.
Carlyle committed and signed with Stanford over offers from Alabama, Auburn, Baylor, Cincinnati, Florida, Georgia Tech, Kansas and Tennessee, plus interest from several more schools.
Peegs.com’s Trevor Andershock evaluated Carlyle:
“Carlyle possesses vision and natural passing ability but is not an elite playmaker. His negative assist-to-turnover ratio reflects this. He does not have the extra gear to consistently blow by high-major defenders to force opponents to help. That means Carlyle’s primary defender contains him one-on-one and limits his ability to get teammates open shots.
As a freshman, he had a 22.8 percent turnover rate, which is way too high. It is impossible to overlook Carlyle’s turnover rate because he lacks the dynamic playmaking ability to offset it. For example, Xavier Johnson had a 23.6 percent turnover rate for his career, but his assist rate nearly doubled Carlyle’s.
From a ball-handling perspective, Carlyle’s best skill is hit-ahead passes. He is willing to throw the ball ahead on the break or after rebounds to push the tempo, which helps the flow of the offense a lot. Johnson was the only Indiana player who has done that in recent years.
As a freshman, Carlyle scored well in the Pac-12, but his efficiency was not strong. He shot 32.0 percent from three and 44.3 percent inside the arc. Throughout high school, Carlyle was not an efficient three-point shooter. Cerebrosports.com tracked 476 three-point attempts by Carlyle in high school, AAU, OTE, and college, and he made 27.1 percent of his threes during that span.
There is a bit more upside to his shooting than his percentage indicates. His shot is not broken; he made four of five threes late in the season against the University of California. Plus, he made 77.6 percent of his free throws; Cerebrosports has a similar number on Carlyle for his career. So, his three-point percentage could improve down the road.”
Mike Woodson and the Indiana Hoosiers program needed a strong portal class coming off the rather disappointing 2023-24 campaign that resulted in them missing the NCAA Tournament.
The pressure has been put on the Hoosiers to correct course. And since the portal opened, they have done everything in their power to do just that. Indiana has been the most aggressive in the portal so far and it’s paid off. The Hoosiers have secured three big-time commitments — one of which being the top-ranked transfer, Oumar Ballo.
Woodson helped turn the career of Kel’el Ware around and are replacing him with a double-double machine in Ballo. They also needed to upgrade their backcourt. They’ve done that with the addition of two dynamic guards, Myles Rice and Kanaan Carlyle. Both of these players could be building blocks for the Hoosiers since they have three years of eligibility remaining.
The next thing they need to add is some shooting. But that could to be on the way by week’s end.
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