Carson was way better than "pretty dang solid." Coming to Purdue was not to Carson's benefit from a basketball standpoint, at least personally/individually...like so many other PGs, Gene handcuffed the guy...assuming he even got to play (as that did not happen near enough early on).
Smith is a better athlete than Carson...does have some other similarities, but, Carson was off the charts when it came to acumen and understanding of the game...feel for the game...and, he was a virtual wizard with ballhandling and passing.
I can see where there are some similarities, and, hopefully Smith has some of the same success, but, Carson was SO much better than most ever got to see even, just because he was not able/allowed to show it unfortunately.