Commitment is in for Carlino
It has been a whirlwind for Matt Carlino lately. The Arizona native moved to Bloomington, Indiana after picking the Indiana Hoosiers, but after spending one year at South High School, Carlino decided to open things up with his recruitment. Now he is headed back west to his roots and will enroll immediately.
After de-committing from Indiana, things began to heat up for Carlino. He made a visit to Florida, and also had interest from California and UNLV, but at the end of the day the UCLA Bruins were the best fit for him.
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"I took an unofficial visit last weekend and decided to commit," said Carlino of UCLA. "I really like Coach Howland and all the players there at UCLA."
For Carlino everything about the visit just felt right.
"I like everything about the situation," Carlino explained. "The campus and the tradition, the visit was just an amazing experience."
Originally a 2011 prospect, Carlino was viewed as the No. 122 player in the nation, but now that is all changing. Carlino has decided to enroll early and become a member of the 2010 group headed to Westwood.
"A lot of schools asked me about it," said Carlino of graduating early. "I hadn't really thought about it even thought I had put myself in a position to do this. Coach Howland was actually the first to bring it up with me."
As a member of the 2010 class, the 6-foot-2 and 175-pound Carlino knows he has a great chance to come in and play right away for the Bruins.
"I'm hoping to contribute," said Carlino. "Coach Howland recruited me to play point guard and I'm going to work my hardest and do everything coach asks me to do."
Though some view Carlino as a shooting guard, he says that the plan is to run the team, and he feels Coach Howland will do an excellent job of preparing him to do so.
"He's had a lot of success developing point guards," said Carlino.
With the addition of Carlino the Bruins will now bring in four players in their 2010 class. Along with Carlino, Josh Smith, Tyler Lamb, and Lazeric Jones will try to lift UCLA back up to the top of the Pac 10.