Nolan Narain and Ben Perez have been on campus for several weeks, taking classes and participating in workouts, but it wasn’t until Thursday that San Diego State formally announced their addition to the basketball roster. Which means, under NCAA rules, coach Steve Fisher can finally comment about two freshmen many didn’t expect to be here so soon or at all.

Narain gave an oral commitment last spring, a four-star post who was technically in the class of 2016 and thus wouldn’t arrive at SDSU for another year. But being from the Canadian province of Ontario (where students often attend five years of high school) and having already completed his fourth year, he filed paperwork this summer to reclassify to the class of 2015 and became a college freshman.

Fisher said he’s good enough to compete for minutes on the 2015-16 team, even with senior posts Skylar Spencer and Angelo Chol. But the 6-foot-10 Narian, who turned 18 last month, reclassified not so he could play sooner but so he could redshirt and develop sooner.

Fisher notes, and appreciates, the difference.


“He’s not the first guy to reclassify, but most reclassify thinking it’s going to be a quicker way to get themselves to the NBA,” Fisher said, referring to the NBA rule that high school players must wait a year after graduation before entering the draft. “Nolan and his family wanted him to reclassify because they thought he would be better served to spend a year as a redshirt. That doesn’t happen very often. Ego gets in the way.

“This was: What’s in my best long-term interest? He’s good now. I close my eyes and think how good he’s going to be when he plays in his first game a year from now.”

Already, Fisher envisions a pick-and-pop post, a big man who instead of automatically rolling to the basket off ball screens can also flare behind the 3-point line. It’s a rare commodity in college basketball and, coaches will tell you, extremely hard to defend.

“He can stretch the defense and make you come out to guard him,” Fisher said. “He’s not going to be a guy where you say, ‘Why is he shooting the ball?’ You’re going to say, ‘How can we get him more shots from the perimeter?’ He’s pretty skilled.”


Perez had a shorter trip to campus. He grew up in the county and attended San Marcos High.

The 6-4 shooting guard, in a sense, has always been on SDSU’s radar; it’s just that his ping grew louder and larger in July. He enrolled as an invited or “preferred” walk-on, meaning he is essentially treated the same as scholarship players minus the tuition check.

Perez initially committed to Air Force and attended the academy’s prep school, as most freshmen athletes do. After deciding he wasn’t suited for military life, he returned home and reclassified to the class of 2015, which made him eligible to play in the summer AAU circuit. The club he chose, Dream Vision, also has Brendan Bailey – a reported SDSU recruiting target from the class of 2016.

“We saw Ben all summer long as he played on that Dream Vision team,” Fisher said. “The more you watched him, the more you said: ‘He’s pretty good, he can play.’ I like his competitive spirit. He had opportunities to go Division I on scholarship but didn’t feel like it was truly what he wanted. It makes me feel good that he really wanted to come here. I like his brain power, and he’s a better athlete than a lot of people think, and he can shoot the ball.”


That might be enough to get him on the floor as a freshman, or at least enhance his chances. The Aztecs are down to nine healthy scholarship players for 2015-16 after junior Matt Shrigley, arguably their best perimeter marksman, had ACL surgery this summer.

Said Fisher: “We laid out the scenario: No promises, but we’ve had others in the past who have come on their own nickel and have turned out to be pretty good players. It’s not a situation where you have 15 guys out there and he’ll have a limited amount of practice time. He’s going to practice every day, and he’ll practice against the guys who will be starting. That will give him a chance.”