"When
Nai decommitted, it was at the urging of my wife and I. We wanted him
to look at the Ivy League schools because he has a 3.9 grade point
average and a high SAT score. SJSU was never out of the picture and
continued to correspond. We were grateful they thought enough of Nai to
do so."
"Nai wants to go to California and really likes Coach Wojcik who is a straightshooter. He laid out a plan and was very, very professional. Nai has an excellent relationship with Coach Wojcik and Coach Lepore and SJSU is going to be a contender at some point."
As for selection criteria, "we were looking at who offers a great education, who has the resources for Nai to be the best player he can be and it was important to us for Nai to have a strong relationship with the coaching staff."
"We're really connected to the Bay Area. We lived there for six years and have a lot of ties. As a parent, we would love to see him play and we'll make it out there to see him."
Nai is looking at majoring in engineering.
Carlisle also noted that Purdue was recruiting his son up until his first commitment.
About his son's skill set, Carlisle said, "Nai is a gym rat with a great work ethic. He has spent a ton of time honing his craft. He's high character with a high achiever mindset in both the classroom and court and a really good teammate. Nai is a high level defender, really committed to defense. He takes it as a challenge to beat his guy on offense and stop him on defense. He runs a team well but, on his high school team, he scored 19.6 points a game because he has to be a scoring guard. Nai will adapt to what his team needs. He can get to the rack and has a really good mid-range game but he'll continue to work on his shot. At 6-foot-1 and 205, he has a college body, big and strong and he'll probably end up at 210-215. His best [basketball] years will be in college."
Carlisle also talked about basketball in Indiana and the competition Nai faces daily with his Indiana Elite travel team and the high level opponents they face in tournaments. "Nai's playing with and against high major guys" as the Elite have recently gone up against prospects like 6-foot-1 Dennis Smith Jr. (ESPN's #4 player in the 2016 class) and 6-foot-4 Rawle Atkins (#17 in 2016) and some of Nai's teammates have already committed to schools such as Louisville, Virginia and Syracuse. As for in-state competition, "the players are so well-coached and play with a high collective IQ. Indiana is a basketball state and what basketball means in the Midwest is so different than the West Coast. The gyms here are full of nostalgia and character like the one where "Hoosiers" was filmed and 2,500 to 3,000 fans show up to games."
Important points to note about Nai Carlisle:
* He was named a Indiana Junior All-Star which is a prestigious honor in the state of Indiana
* He was also named to the Indiana Underclass All State "Supreme Team"
* A three-year starter, he enters his senior year 25 points shy of 1,000 career points
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