No. 5 Brian Carlwell
Illinois was just coming off a national title run the year before and needed to continue reloading for the future. With James Augustine departing, another big man in the mix was a good idea.
Someone like Brian Carlwell would have been perfect. He was a 6-foot-10, 235-pound center from Proviso East High School in Illinois. Carlwell was rated as a four-star recruit and ranked as the No. 53 player in the class of 2006. He was also the No. 7 center in the country and the No. 3 player coming out of Illinois.
I still remember to this day when Illinois landed Carlwell. I thought the great run of Illinois basketball was going to continue on for years. Sadly, that didn’t happen.
Carlwell spent two seasons with Illinois where he averaged 1.5 points and 1.2 rebounds per game. His short stint with the program was marred by a drunk driving incident that left Carlwell in the hospital for nearly a week in critical condition. He was the passenger in the vehicle.
After trying to make a run of it with the Illini, Carlwell entered the transfer portal and picked San Diego State as his landing spot. He sat out 2008-09 but then suited up for the Aztecs the next two seasons. With San Diego State, Carlwell averaged 4.2 points and 2.7 rebounds per game.
Carlwell never panned out with either program he attended. The potential was there, but I imagine he wasn’t the same after nearly dying in a car wreck.