Sept. 2, 2008
SAN DIEGO - San Diego State head coach Steve Fisher announced Tuesday the addition of Brian Carlwell and Bryce Smith to the Aztec men's basketball program. Carlwell comes to Montezuma Mesa after spending the last two seasons at the University of Illinois. He will have two years of eligibility remaining beginning in 2009-10. Smith, meanwhile, is freshman shooting guard who will be eligible to play immediately.
While competing for the Fighting Illini, Carlwell, a 6-11, 265-pound center out of Maywood, Ill., played in 29 career games and averaged 1.5 points and 1.2 rebounds during his two seasons.
As a true freshman, Carlwell appeared in 26 games, averaging 7.0 minutes per contest on a team that finished 23-12 (9-7 Big Ten) and advanced to the NCAA Tournament. Against perennial power Maryland, Carlwell scored a career-high eight points on 2-for-4 shooting and collected four rebounds. In the 2006-07 season opener against Austin Peay, Carlwell led the team with six rebounds in front of a sell-out home crowd and then added a personal-best three blocked shots in 12 minutes of action vs. Ohio State in the second game of the conference campaign.
In his second season at Illinois, Carlwell played in three games before suffering an injury early in the year forcing him to miss the majority of 2007-08. Carlwell saw action at the EA Sports Maui Invitational where he logged three minutes in wins over Arizona State and Oklahoma State. After returning to the mainland, Carlwell played two minutes on the road at Maryland.
Prior to attending the Champaign, Ill., school, Carlwell was a standout prep player at Proviso East (Ill.) High School. As a senior, he was a first-team all-state selection by the Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, Associated Press, Campaign-Urbana News-Gazette and Illinois Basketball Coaches Association after he averaged 18.8 points, 12.4 rebounds and 5.4 blocks. He was also named the Suburban Gold Conference most valuable player after leading Proviso East to its second straight IHSA Supersectional appearance. In his junior campaign, Carlwell averaged 15 points, 12 rebounds and six blocks, while being named to the all-state squad. During his high school career, Carlwell was selected to play in the 42nd annual Roundball Classic and the IBCA and City-Suburban All-Star games.
Coming out of high school, Carlwell was a four-star recruit by both Rivals.com and Scout.com. He was rated as the No. 6 center and No. 37 player overall by Scout.com and the 10th-best center and 77th-best player overall by Rivals.com.
An excellent athlete, Carlwell also played football where he earned all-conference and team MVP honors after catching 11 touchdowns as a senior and competed in the triple jump during the track and field season.
Smith, a 6-4 guard, comes to Montezuma Mesa after playing his high-school basketball at Taft High School in Woodland Hills, Calif., where he helped the Toreadors to a 27-4 overall record and a perfect 10-0 mark in the West Valley League during his senior season. Taft won the Los Angeles City championship and made an appearance in the CIF Division I regional semifinals before finishing the season ranked No. 4 in The Los Angeles Times top 25 and the MaxPreps.com California state rankings.
As a senior, Smith completed his final year as the West Valley's seventh leading scorer (11.4 ppg) and top three-point shooter (2.4 3FG) in 2007-08. He also produced averages of 2.8 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.1 steals. For the season, Smith posted 13 double-figure scoring games, including four 20-plus point performances.
This season San Diego State is expected to return all five starters and its top eight scorers from a year ago, including all-conference performers Lorrenzo Wade (first team), Ryan Amoroso (third team) and Billy White (third team and freshman of the year). When returning at least four starters off a team he coached the season before, Steve Fisher-led clubs have advanced to the postseason and won at least 21 games the previous eight times.