We ran a story today on IU's latest commit, sophomore Matt Carlino from Phoenix. Here's a bit more from Carlino, as well as a lot more from his father/high school coach, Mark:
Matt Carlino:
On selling points of IU: "Well, Indiana as a school, he (Crean) didn't have to convince me on that..."
His greatest basketball accomplishment: "Committing to Indiana University"
What he does in his free time: "Usually when I'm not playing basketball I am trying to beat people in NCAA 09 football (video game), usually my cousins or my brother or my friends. Most of the time I'm working out but on the weekends sometimes I'll be beating people on that....I go with the Texas Longhorns."
On what else he's involved with: "I used to play every sport. I think I'm going to pitch this season in baseball. I'm not sure yet."
Favorite TV show: "Seinfeld is probably my favorite show."
Mark Carlino:
On Matt coming to IU and committing: "I don't think it was an impulse decision. He had talked about it all summer, actually, and I think he just decided (to commit) after having a chance to really interact with the coaches in a basketball setting and having a chance to see some of the famous alumni who had come through there."
On Coach Crean: "What I like most about Coach Crean is he's an extremely hard worker and through his hard work he's an incredible motivator from what I can see in him. Matt's always been a pretty good self motivator, but I think it's always important to have coaches who can motivate you to actually bring the best out of you. Coach Crean walks the walk everyday. Every time he just works so hard. I don't believe there's anybody in the industry who can outwork him. There may be some that work as hard as him, but no one's going to work harder than him. I also like the fact that his system is conducive to developing kids who may have the opportunity to play at the next level and certainly any kid who's going to Indiana in their mind and hopefully in their heart have that dream to play at the highest level."
On his excitement for Matt joining the team in a few years: "I'm extremely happy for him and I think it's a great choice. I think Coach Crean is going to do a great job there. The one nice thing about Matt committing and not being able to play there for three more years is that Matt will be arriving when things are probably back on track. Not that they're off the track, I just think that with what's happened in the past year, I think everyone knows it's just not going to be an overnight fix. Matt's certainly excited about having the opportunity to be a part of Indiana basketball and I couldn't be more excited for him."
On getting Matt ready to play at IU: Certainly as his high school coach, we're going to be a lot of things that he will be doing at Indiana. I'll be in communication a lot with the coaches there...incorporate (their drills) in to what we do. He can really start to zero in on those things, so by the time he arrives at Indiana, he's ready to go."
On Bob Knight: "I loved Coach Knight. I was a huge fan of Coach Knight. Coach Knight is why I became such a huge fan of Indiana basketball through the years. I think Coach Knight was probably, and probably is the best coach ever. I can't say enough about what my feeling from a coaching standpoint is (about Knight). Watching him and trying to learn as much as I can as a coach from the things that Coach Knight does and did...Indiana is just an easy place and an easy school to root for. Coach Knight was just one of those guys that if you loved it like I did, it made it even better. That's what got me involved with Indiana..."
On Matt choosing IU over Pac-10 schools like Arizona (Wildcats were the first to offer him): "Matt just liked Indiana that much. It's not that he doesn't like the schools in the Pac-10, and it's not that he doesn't have some really good relationships with some of the coaches in the Pac-10. It's just that he liked Indiana that much and he likes the culture there that much more than he does (at) the schools that were recruiting him in the Pac-10. The Pac-10 is a great conference, but so is the Big Ten. From what I can tell from him, he just fell in love with everything about Indiana: the school, obviously the basketball program, he loved the coaches there and more than anything I think he just loved the people: the fans and the people that support IU basketball."
