Garrett Green is headed to San Diego State for his final season of college basketball.

Edward Lewis from the San Diego State Rivals affiliate, AztecSportsReport, was the first to report the news and Green confirmed his decision with Inside the Hall on Saturday evening.

“This decision was so hard,” Green said. “It was so hard on me. But I had to base everything off of grad school. That’s the reason why I left (LSU) was for my education.”

Green, who graduated from LSU on Friday, chose San Diego State over Indiana, Long Beach State and Wichita State.

The 6-foot-11 center averaged 6.3 points and 5.1 rebounds in 18 minutes per game last year for the Tigers.

Green said his visit to Bloomington on July 22 and 23 was almost enough to sway him towards the Hoosiers.

“Coach (Tom) Crean absolutely blew me away,” he said. “I think he’s an amazing coach. He’s a really, really good guy. When I came down there on my visit, he was helping me out so much. I couldn’t ask for more.”

Green will join a San Diego State program that finished 34-3 a season ago but will be tasked with replacing four starters, including the No. 15 pick in the 2011 NBA Draft, Kawhi Leonard.

While the Hoosiers finished as his runner-up, the California native had nothing but positive remarks for the IU program.

“I still believe in Indiana. I know how bad they want it,” he said. “From playing pick up and talking with them, just talking basketball, they all want it.”

Related:

– Garrett Green commits to San Diego State (Hoosier Scoop)
– SDSU basketball lands 6-11 LSU transfer (San Diego Union-Tribune)
– Garrett Green takes final visit to Wichita State (August 3, 2011)
– The latest on LSU transfer Garrett Green (July 28, 2011)
– Q & A: Garrett Green talks about Indiana visit (July 23, 2011)
– A look at Garrett Green’s potential impact at Indiana (July 22, 2011)
– LSU transfer Garrett Green will visit Indiana (July 19, 2011)

In the 16 days since that announcement it’s been a whirlwind for Green, who is now on his fourth visit in a little over two weeks. The 6-foot-11 center, who averaged 6.3 points and 5.1 rebounds in 18 minutes per game last year at LSU, confirmed this morning via Twitter that his current trip to Wichita State will be his final visit.

Green visited Indiana from July 22-23, Long Beach State on July 29, San Diego State from July 31-Aug. 1 and started his Wichita State visit today.

According to his recruiting profile on ESPN.com, Green originally considered Wyoming back in 2006, where current IU assistant Steve McClain served as head coach from 1998 through 2007. Green’s high school coach, Derrick Taylor, told Dustin Dopirak of The Herald-Times that he knows McClain well.

The ties to both Long Beach State and San Diego State are likely proximity to Green’s hometown of Woodland Hills, California. The Long Beach State campus is roughly 50 miles from his home and the San Diego State campus is about 100 miles south.

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Decision day is looming for LSU transfer Garrett Green, who visited Indiana this past weekend. The 6-foot-11 center said that he’d like to have a decision before Friday, August 5, which is the date he’ll graduate in Baton Rouge.

Green told Inside the Hall he also planned to visit Long Beach State, San Diego State and Wichita State and a report in yesterday’s San Diego Union-Tribune has shed some light on a timeline for a couple of those visits:

With just eight scholarship players currently on the roster for next season, the San Diego State men’s basketball coaches aren’t turning blue.

But they might go Green.

Garrett Green, a 6-foot-11 center from Louisiana State, announced last week that he is transferring for his final season and has SDSU among his finalists. He is expected to visit campus Sunday.

According to the Union-Tribune’s report, a big part of San Diego State’s pitch to Green could be playing time:

He reportedly has been on campus at Indiana and is expected to visit Long Beach State later this week. But one thing the Aztecs can offer that others maybe can’t is ample playing time, especially given the uncertainty of 6-11 center Brian Carlwell’s application for a sixth year of eligibility. Carlwell’s case was forwarded to a secondary committee, pushing the decision into August.

While the lack of personnel on the Aztec roster may very well be a pitch their staff uses, it would come as no surprise if Green was able to unseat Tom Pritchard and slide right in at the five if he opts for Indiana. And based on his comments in his interview with Inside the Hall over the weekend, Green’s decision appears to be coming down to the graduate programs available to him first and then basketball.

Indiana welcomed 6-11, 230-pound LSU transfer Garrett Green to Bloomington this weekend for a visit and Inside the Hall caught up with the potential 2011-2012 roster addition for a Q & A on Saturday afternoon:

On the visit to Bloomington:

“It was fun. It was a really good experience and I liked the guys. I played with them a little bit in some pickup and toured the facilities and the town. It was good. I liked it all.”

On what he learned going through the recruiting process the first time that he’s applying now:

“Just making the best decision for your future. I guess not getting caught up in the excitement of things and just focus on what your main goal is and what you’re trying to accomplish. And for me it’s an education and grad school so I’m just trying to not lose sight of that and that’s what I’m focusing on.”

On what he learned about the academic programs at Indiana:

“We went to a couple of the grad schools and we narrowed it down to two that really struck my interest and that I was pretty excited about. I haven’t decided which one yet, but IU has a lot of academic support and we spent close to 45 minutes to a hour just going over different grad schools and programs.”

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