Marques Bolden’s coach: ‘He wants to make sure it’s the right decision’

Five-star center Marques Bolden still doesn’t have a firm date for his college announcement, but that could change very soon.

DeSoto (Texas) Coach Chris Dyer told the Herald-Leader on Monday afternoon that he and Bolden will discuss the player’s recruitment Tuesday morning and hopefully set up an announcement for later this week.

“We’re going to sit down and talk about it in the morning, see if he’s ready to make a commitment and go from there,” Dyer said.

The coach added that Bolden wants to announce at the high school in front of his teammates and classmates, and timing the event around a national TV schedule won’t necessarily be a consideration.

Bolden’s recruitment has been a hot topic among many UK and Duke basketball fans over the past couple of weeks. Whichever school he picks will almost certainly end up with this year’s No. 1 recruiting class, and his college choice could also decide which program starts next season as the No. 1 team in the preseason rankings.

Texas Christian is also still on Bolden’s list, but UK and Duke are seen as the co-favorites. The 6-foot-11 prospect is considered the No. 1 center in the 2016 class.

Bolden was the only uncommitted player at last week’s Jordan Brand Classic all-star event in Brooklyn, and his self-imposed decision deadline of Sunday came and went without a resolution.

A hectic schedule over the past few weeks hasn’t given Bolden much downtime to think seriously about his college choice. He’s played in all-star events in Chicago, Portland, Ore., and Brooklyn over a span of 16 days

“He sees it as a very important step in his life, and he just wants to be very careful,” Dyer said. “He wants to make sure it’s the right decision. He’s very family oriented, and he wants to make sure that the college he goes to helps him grow as a young man, not just as an athlete but as a student also.

“He wants to have a very good relationship with the coaching staff. He’s very in tune to what the coaching staff will say. Every day, he’ll come in the office and just want to talk.”

Whether he ends playing for UK or Duke next season, Bolden will be sharing the court with several McDonald’s All-Americans. Both teams will have multiple players in the frontcourt that will be expected to play in the NBA down the road.

Bolden’s coach doesn’t see his star player having any problem sharing the limelight in Lexington or Durham.

“There were a lot of times this year that he wasn’t ‘the guy,’ but he had to be the player on the defensive end,” Dyer said. “He did not get MVP at the state championship, but he one of his teammates did, and (Marques) was the first one up clapping and jumping around and high-fiving him.

“There’s no ego involved.”

This story was originally published April 18, 2016 at 5:29 PM with the headline "Marques Bolden’s coach: ‘He wants to make sure it’s the right decision’."