Marques Bolden Drops 36 In Opening Round of Whataburger Tournament
Where in the world will Marques Bolden go, and what do the Kentucky Wildcats do if they don"t land the five-star center?
At this point, all indications are that the Cats are going all-or-nothing in terms of Bolden to finish off the 2016 class. He"s the only guy they view as someone worth adding to an already-loaded "16 class that has five-star forwards Bam Adebayo, Wenyen Gabriel and Sacha Killeya-Jones in the frontcourt.
But Bolden is the kind of true banger at the 5 spot that UK badly missed last season, making him even more important to a team looking to contender for a title next season.
Ahead of Bolden"s Thursday decision, Scout.com recruiting director Evan Daniels talked with the cn2 gang about the big man"s recruitment and what to know prior to Thursday"s decision. Daniels also talked about John Calipari"s latest recruiting manifesto and his rivalry with Duke head coach MikeKrzyzewski.
Daniels also talks about some of the top 2017 prospects on the rise, including UK targets P.J. Washington, Gary Trent Jr. and Trae Young.
Marques Bolden Drops 36 In Opening Round of Whataburger Tournament
Marques Bolden is finally set to announce his college choice on Thursday at 2:30 ET, one day after the NCAA late signing period ends on Wednesday.
Bolden is expected to choose between Duke and Kentucky, with multiple sources saying they don"t know which school he will pick.
The 6-foot-10 DeSoto (TX) said last month at the Jordan Brand Classic that he"s looking forward to getting the decision over with.
"Big time," he said. "I can"t wait to make this decision. It"s been a long time. I"ve been recruited since my junior year and now it"s April. I"m about to be 18 and I still haven"t picked a school yet, so I"m really looking forward to picking this."
Bolden had a home visit with the Duke staff just before the Jordan Game but head coach Mike Krzyzewski did not attend.
"Coach K couldn"t make it but I talked to all four of the other assistants," he said. "They said really just to trust them. I"ve known them for a while. I talked to a couple of the current and former players. [They said] really just to trust them and believe that it will work."
As for Kentucky, he heard from Coach John Calipari then too.
Asked what Calipari said, Bolden said, "The same thing, we"d love to have you. And I"ve been talking to the commits out here, too."
Kentucky-bound point guard De"Aaron Fox has been particularly aggressive in a joking fashion.
"I"ve been threatened a couple times by Fox so that"s pretty funny," Bolden said. "He was just like, "You make that wrong decision I might have to just break your legs or something like that. It"s funny, though.""
What about the Duke guys?
"Nah, they ain"t threatened to break my legs," Bolden said. "Just talking it over with me."
Bolden said he sees positives at both schools and isn"t worried about who else is coming in.
"I see myself fitting in perfeclty with both teams," he said. "I try not to really look at the other guys [coming in]. There"s going to be competition everywhere. You"re not going to be the only guy there, so I try not to let other guys run me away. I look forward to the competition."
He added: "I know Im going to get better wherever I go but the way Kentucky develops their guys is unbelievable and then the way Duke guys have come out so successfull, they"re both positive."
