NEW YORK — Marques Bolden will appear on ESPNU in the 5:30 p.m. hour on Wednesday — as will Duke commits Jayson Tatum and Harry Giles — but says he doesn’t plan on making a college announcement then.
Bolden is down to Duke and Kentucky.
“I don’t have a set date but it’s sometime soon because it’s getting kind of close to the end,” the 6-foot-10 Bolden out of DeSoto (TX) said Wednesday in Brooklyn at the Jordan Brand Classic practice.
Asked if he might announce this week while in the Big Apple, he said, “That could possibly happen, I don’t know.”
Bolden, playing here on the West Team alongside Duke-bound point guard Frank Jackson and Kentucky bound-guard Malik Monk and forward Wenyen Gabriel, said 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 on Sunday 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 on Tuesday.
“Actually, yesterday,” he said of when he heard from Cal. 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.”
Ah, yes, the commits.
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 IO 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.”
NMarques Bolden will appear on ESPNU in the 5:30 p.m. hour on Wednesday — as will Duke commits Jayson Tatum and Harry Giles — but says he doesn’t plan on making a college announcement then.
