By CHIP MILLER
BENTON, Ky. — Carlton Bragg will wait to see who stays on campus and who heads to the NBA before making his college decision.
“I was going to do it in December but stuff got changed,” Bragg said at the Marshall County Hoop Fest on Friday, one day before he is expected to be seen by Kentucky’s John Calipari, Kansas’ Bill Self and Illinois’ John Groce .
Asked if who will return to campus will have an impact on his decision, Bragg said, “Who I am going to play with [has an impact], yes sir.”
The 6-foot-8 forward from Villa Angela-St. Joseph is considering Kentucky, Kansas, UCLA and Illinois, but the Ohio native said Texas had been a favorite at one point.
“One of my schools was Texas,” he said. “I love Texas because Kevin Durant went there. That was one of my top schools.”
Asked why Texas wasn’t involved now, Bragg said distance was the main factor.
“It was too far,” he said. “It was a little bit too far.”
UCLA is also far away, but Bragg said that’s not a disadvantage to the Bruins.
“I still love UCLA,” Bragg said. “They are the Bruins. The weather, their style of play, I feel like I can play with those guys.”
To date, Bragg has taken one official visit, that was to Kansas for Late Night at the Phog. Officials to the other three are coming but dates have yet to be set.
“We are still working on it,” he said. “It’s kind of hard because of the schedule. It will probably be during the season.”
Bragg did attend Kentucky’s Big Blue Madness in October and said he loved his visit.
“That was an amazing trip,” he said. “That was amazing. I loved my visit there. Of course, Drake was there and that made it even more exciting. Being able to see the guys, how they act and the lifestyle around them. The campus was beautiful. I liked the Coal Lodge.”
Kentucky has been straightforward with Bragg, telling him “they want me” and that “the best place for me is there.”
“I like to work hard and all they do is work,” Bragg added.
Bragg is also working on a possible package deal with 2015 stars Jaylen Brown out of Marietta (GA) High and Brandon Ingram from Kinston (N.C.) High.
“We talk like every other day,” he said. “See how practice is going and stuff. Give each other tips.”
When asked about a package deal, Bragg confirmed that a deal is possible, but it’s not something they discuss often.
“Not very often because we don’t want to look into the future,” he said. “We want to focus on high school basketball.”
