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View Full Version : Bolden invited to tryout for U-19 team.



jimsumner
06-08-2017, 01:00 PM
http://www.goduke.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_LANG=C&ATCLID=211620898&DB_OEM_ID=4200

Billy Dat
06-08-2017, 02:44 PM
If he makes it and plays great D in 2017-18, Cal gets the credit.
If he gets cut, Cal did it to keep Duke from getting better.
If Knox makes it and Bolden gets Cut, Cal sends a message to the undecided recruits about where their bread is buttered.

In all seriousness, I really hope he makes it.

cato
06-08-2017, 03:08 PM
This tidbit caught my eye:


Invitations for the training camp were issued by the USA Basketball Men's Junior National Team committee, of which Duke legend Shane Battier is in his first year as player representative.

An interesting move for Shane. We have joked about Battier's post-basketball career for years (I'm looking forward to the "Battier mispronounces Bush" thread during Shane's turn in the Oval Office); I look forward to seeing where this goes.

As for Bolden, I assume he will get a look as a pure C. For a 12 man team, I assume they will take at most 2 centers (with 1 or 2 PFs that could slide over).

Do we know the list of invites? I wonder what his competition is.

I would love to see Marques grab a spot on the team.

Bob Green
06-08-2017, 03:30 PM
Do we know the list of invites? I wonder what his competition is.

I would love to see Marques grab a spot on the team.

Twenty eight players were invited to try out:

https://www.usab.com/news-events/news/2017/06/mu19-invitees.aspx

cato
06-08-2017, 04:04 PM
Twenty eight players were invited to try out:

https://www.usab.com/news-events/news/2017/06/mu19-invitees.aspx

There's a kid from Cathedral on the list? "Brandon McCoy (Cathedral Catholic H.S/San Diego, Calif.)"

And yet they still lost to St. Augustine (66-44) in the matchup of local catholic schools.

BD80
06-08-2017, 06:04 PM
http://www.goduke.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_LANG=C&ATCLID=211620898&DB_OEM_ID=4200

Hmmm.

Colorado in June.

Egypt in July.

DR in August.

Well traveled young man.

Wonder how many of the 28 invitees are being recruited by calipari?

awhom111
06-09-2017, 12:57 AM
Hmmm.

Colorado in June.

Egypt in July.

DR in August.

Well traveled young man.

Wonder how many of the 28 invitees are being recruited by calipari?

This was the most anticipated invite list for me this summer in part due to this reason. There are five recruitable kids on the list. Reddish and Quickly appear to be targets for lots of people with intrigue around Bol Bol. Langford and King also appear to be being recruited.

Calipari will have a lot of hard work ahead of him. As expected, there is plenty of turnover from the squad that qualified. Fultz and Allen are in the draft. The Texas trio is skipping and it would interesting to see if Shaka Smart not being the coach again was a factor. Green will be missing, which I am guessing his coach would understand. Porter and Walker are also not on the list. Fortunately for him, Diallo left the draft along with Washington returning and Knox adding to the Kentucky contingent. The other returnees are Huerter and Young. Depending on how strong Canada's squad is, they should be considered the main competition with the European powers likely to be weaker than some past editions. It will be interesting to see if Calipari coaches against his players with Shai Alexander figuring to be involved along with Tai Wynyard.

Bolden should have the edge when it comes to experience. Mitchell Robinson is very talented though and Brandon McCoy and Jeremiah Tilmon figure to also be in competition with Bol Bol as the wild card. Austin Wiley is also a center even though he is shorter than some of the others.

rthomas
06-09-2017, 08:55 AM
Bolden is under 19?

MChambers
06-09-2017, 09:09 AM
Bolden is under 19?

U19 is 19 and under. I don't know why it isn't 19U. Probably the metric system or something like that.

fraggler
06-09-2017, 09:12 AM
Bolden is under 19?

Poking around google, apparently your age on Dec 31 determines which group you are in for the following year. Got this from a FAQ for Team USA Field Hockey as I couldn't readily find one on mobile specific to basketball.

yancem
06-09-2017, 09:59 AM
Of note, Duke is heavily recruiting Cam Reddish and Tre Jones (of the Stones family) which are on the list of invitees. Reddish has long been a top 10 recruit and Jones has had a spectacular EYBL season. Scout has moved him into their top 10.

tbyers11
06-09-2017, 10:07 AM
Of note, Duke is heavily recruiting Cam Reddish and Tre Jones (of the Stones family) which are on the list of invitees. Reddish has long been a top 10 recruit and Jones has had a spectacular EYBL season. Scout has moved him into their top 10.

We are heavily recruiting Tre Jones. But he is not on the roster linked above by Bob Green.

Confusion with Trae Young, who will be a freshman at Oklahoma this fall? He is on the tryout roster

Troublemaker
06-09-2017, 10:09 AM
Of note, Duke is heavily recruiting Cam Reddish and Tre Jones (of the Stones family) which are on the list of invitees. Reddish has long been a top 10 recruit and Jones has had a spectacular EYBL season. Scout has moved him into their top 10.

I think you mean Romeo Langford instead of Tre Jones.

Here's the list: https://www.usab.com/mens/u19/roster.aspx

yancem
06-09-2017, 01:42 PM
We are heavily recruiting Tre Jones. But he is not on the roster linked above by Bob Green.

Confusion with Trae Young, who will be a freshman at Oklahoma this fall? He is on the tryout roster

Yeah I should definitely read more carefully, I saw Trae, thought I saw Tre and assumed Jones. Need to get more sleep!

awhom111
06-17-2017, 01:49 AM
A late change is made before Sunday's tryouts. Jordan Brown steps in as Trae Young and Jeremiah Tilmon bow out:
https://www.usab.com/news-events/news/2017/06/mu19-roster-add.aspx

Troublemaker
06-19-2017, 08:04 PM
Hopefully it's nothing or a minor injury.


Luke Winn‏Verified account @lukewinn (https://twitter.com/lukewinn) 10m10 minutes ago (https://twitter.com/lukewinn/status/876950564709556225)
Seems that Duke's Marques Bolden is hurting at U19s. Didn't look serious, but disappeared to training rm during PM session after struggling

mattman91
06-19-2017, 08:13 PM
Hopefully it's nothing or a minor injury.


Luke Winn‏Verified account @lukewinn (https://twitter.com/lukewinn) 10m10 minutes ago (https://twitter.com/lukewinn/status/876950564709556225)
Seems that Duke's Marques Bolden is hurting at U19s. Didn't look serious, but disappeared to training rm during PM session after struggling


Wait for it...
















It's over.

Troublemaker
06-19-2017, 08:31 PM
Wait for it...

It's over.

We need to check Cameron's floor.

All kidding aside, though, hopefully Marques is okay.

The cutdown from 27 to 16 is tomorrow. He's unlikely to make the cut, but if he leaves Colorado healthy, I'm good.

Troublemaker
06-19-2017, 09:06 PM
Hopefully a minor "hip issue." As for being cut, meh. After we found out that Duke was going to take our own little foreign trip, I don't mind having Marques back at Duke in July bonding with his teammates, preparing for the DR trip, instead of going to Egypt.


Kyle Tucker‏ @KyleTucker_SEC (https://twitter.com/KyleTucker_SEC) 7m7 minutes ago (https://twitter.com/KyleTucker_SEC/status/876966142534860800)
Calipari said Marques Bolden had a hip issue tonight. I suspect he ain't long for this USA camp.

wsb3
06-19-2017, 09:30 PM
Wait for it...
















It's over.

Now it is to early to be over but I came here fully expecting a vigil. I think it would have been the earliest ever.

😃😃😃😎

awhom111
06-20-2017, 12:31 AM
Proof that he was actually there:
https://www.usab.com/~/media/6a4144f13d52476dba567901c3c44f29.ashx?as=1&iar=1

gep
06-20-2017, 03:05 AM
Proof that he was actually there:
https://www.usab.com/~/media/6a4144f13d52476dba567901c3c44f29.ashx?as=1&iar=1

He looks pretty comfortable... not even really extended :cool:

stillcrazie
06-20-2017, 09:31 AM
http://thespun.com/acc/duke/report-duke-c-marques-bolden-injured-during-usa-basketball-trials

Hope it's not serious.

Natty_B
06-20-2017, 09:57 AM
Just a bizarre (long recruitment featuring a Duke/UK proxy war, transfer rumors) and snake-bit (injuries and illness) run for the kid so far - hope this is the last of it. Should be noted that Tucker (a paid UK propagandist) and Winn who tweeted about the injury were also tweeting that Bolden wasn't very impressive in camp (of course that could be because of the injury). Duke doesn't need a dominant Bolden next year but they do need one who is a solid contributor.

CDu
06-20-2017, 10:37 AM
Just a bizarre (long recruitment featuring a Duke/UK proxy war, transfer rumors) and snake-bit (injuries and illness) run for the kid so far - hope this is the last of it. Should be noted that Tucker (a paid UK propagandist) and Winn who tweeted about the injury were also tweeting that Bolden wasn't very impressive in camp (of course that could be because of the injury). Duke doesn't need a dominant Bolden next year but they do need one who is a solid contributor.

Yeah, I'm less concerned (right now at least) about the injury and more concerned that he didn't look good at the tryouts. We can certainly hope that his play was a result of the injury, but it is somewhat concerning that we haven't seen him look good since last October against wildly overmatched competition.

Troublemaker
06-20-2017, 11:53 AM
Luke Winn‏Verified account @lukewinn (https://twitter.com/lukewinn) 1h1 hour ago (https://twitter.com/lukewinn/status/877174105837109248)
Duke's Marques Bolden back participating at U19s on Tuesday. Calipari said it was a sore hip that kept Bolden out last night.

English
06-20-2017, 12:03 PM
Yeah, I'm less concerned (right now at least) about the injury and more concerned that he didn't look good at the tryouts. We can certainly hope that his play was a result of the injury, but it is somewhat concerning that we haven't seen him look good since last October against wildly overmatched competition.

Agree with this--a minor ding in mid-June doesn't really move the needle, but Bolden struggling against this level of competition is concerning. He's one of the older guys among the prospective players, and has had a year of high-level college hoops practice, weight training, and coaching under his belt. Something like half the competition is coming from HS/AAU ball.

It's too early to make snap judgments based on parsing a few tweets, but I'm comfortable saying it's slightly disappointing that the second-hand accounts aren't more positive.

Natty_B
06-20-2017, 12:20 PM
In the first round of cuts.

https://twitter.com/lukewinn/status/877198576346116096

Ultrarunner
06-20-2017, 12:24 PM
Yeah, I'm less concerned (right now at least) about the injury and more concerned that he didn't look good at the tryouts. We can certainly hope that his play was a result of the injury, but it is somewhat concerning that we haven't seen him look good since last October against wildly overmatched competition.

I thought he looked pretty good against Miami in January.

Troublemaker
06-20-2017, 12:26 PM
The 18 finalists, courtesy of Luke Winn's twitter:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DCxuqI4UMAIYhbS.jpg

Natty_B
06-20-2017, 12:33 PM
Another interesting tidbit from Winn - all the still in high school guys made the first cut (all of the cuts except one, Wilkes, were guys who had already played 1 year of college ball). I'm sure Cal isn't using this opportunity to help his recruiting at all.

https://twitter.com/lukewinn/status/877200666548195329

Rich
06-20-2017, 12:36 PM
In the first round of cuts.

https://twitter.com/lukewinn/status/877198576346116096

How many of those are Kentucky guys? :rolleyes:

Troublemaker
06-20-2017, 01:37 PM
Agree with this--a minor ding in mid-June doesn't really move the needle, but Bolden struggling against this level of competition is concerning. He's one of the older guys among the prospective players, and has had a year of high-level college hoops practice, weight training, and coaching under his belt. Something like half the competition is coming from HS/AAU ball.

It's too early to make snap judgments based on parsing a few tweets, but I'm comfortable saying it's slightly disappointing that the second-hand accounts aren't more positive.

Slightly disappointing, sure, but I also wouldn't get overly concerned. There is a huge amount of space between "cut from U-19" and "bad player," as you know. I think Marques could be a very good college basketball player for Duke next season AND not good enough to make U-19.

Bol Bol is apparently a freak of nature, and Mitchell Robinson and Brandon McCoy are centers listed as late lottery / mid-first round picks in the very early 2018 mock drafts. It's not shameful to lose to this level of competition.

Plus, it's possible the injury was bothering him.

English
06-20-2017, 01:47 PM
Slightly disappointing, sure, but I also wouldn't get overly concerned. There is a huge amount of space between "cut from U-19" and "bad player," as you know. I think Marques could be a very good college basketball player for Duke next season AND not good enough to make U-19.

Bol Bol is apparently a freak of nature, and Mitchell Robinson and Brandon McCoy are centers listed as late lottery / mid-first round picks in the very early 2018 mock drafts. It's not shameful to lose to this level of competition.

Plus, it's possible the injury was bothering him.

Right, slightly disappointing was an intentional phrase to emphasize not getting overly concerned.

The disappointing part isn't really so much Marques missing out on the final roster, or even getting swept up in first cuts. Rather, it's that those around the practices weren't exactly saying things like "the center competition is fierce and unfortunately someone had to miss out," or "despite playing some very impressive ball in the initial sessions, Calipari couldn't keep four 5's around, and Bolden was a casualty of roster building."

Instead, accounts are of the "among the bigger names at the practices, Marques Bolden has been awfully quiet" variety. Again, not overly concerned, merely slightly disappointed. Perhaps it was the hip slowing him down...hopefully that doesn't linger into July and beyond.

Billy Dat
06-20-2017, 01:50 PM
I was hoping he'd make the team thinking it would be a huge plus for him. But, Team USA isn't a make or break for everyone. I'd say that maybe this cut would put a chip on his shoulder but (A) I hate that cliche and (B) I don't feel like he's that kind of kid. Bring on the Dominicans!

Troublemaker
06-20-2017, 02:00 PM
Right, slightly disappointing was an intentional phrase to emphasize not getting overly concerned.

The disappointing part isn't really so much Marques missing out on the final roster, or even getting swept up in first cuts. Rather, it's that those around the practices weren't exactly saying things like "the center competition is fierce and unfortunately someone had to miss out," or "despite playing some very impressive ball in the initial sessions, Calipari couldn't keep four 5's around, and Bolden was a casualty of roster building."

Instead, accounts are of the "among the bigger names at the practices, Marques Bolden has been awfully quiet" variety. Again, not overly concerned, merely slightly disappointed. Perhaps it was the hip slowing him down...hopefully that doesn't linger into July and beyond.

Gotcha, I know you were calm about it.

As far as twitter accounts of the practices, I think Kentucky has more beat writers there than everybody else combined. I don't think praise would come easily from those guys. All I saw was lots and lots of talk about UK's players and recruits.

Here's one neutral recruiting guru mentioning Bolden positively, in case anyone's interested. But yeah, clearly not enough to make the team.


Dinos Trigonis‏Verified account @trigonis30 (https://twitter.com/trigonis30) 14h14 hours ago (https://twitter.com/trigonis30/status/877005027033976833)
he looked good too as did Quinton Rose (Temple), Shamorie Ponds (St. John's), Marques Bolden (Duke), Austin Wiley (Auburn)

Troublemaker
06-20-2017, 02:15 PM
I was hoping he'd make the team thinking it would be a huge plus for him. But, Team USA isn't a make or break for everyone. I'd say that maybe this cut would put a chip on his shoulder but (A) I hate that cliche and (B) I don't feel like he's that kind of kid. Bring on the Dominicans!

Well, he says a lot of the right things here in an interview with TSN at the practices (http://www.sportingnews.com/au/ncaa-basketball/news/usa-basketball-fiba-u-19-world-cup-marques-bolden-duke-coach-k-injury/3z89pnldpthj16d2d3ibn1xap). In time, we will see if it's just talk. I'm optimistic.

Snippets:

“I really grew up a lot from my senior year to the end of my freshman year in college — just the maturity, how I approach the game now,” Bolden said. “It’s being in attack mode 100 percent of the time. Sometimes playing in high school, it would be really easy to take plays off because you were one of the top players. Coming into college, my coaches preached every day about playing hard, all the time.”

Bolden said one of the issues coaches have mentioned with his play is standing around too much, but with an opportunity Monday night to make a loud statement of his worth to the U19s that mostly what he was doing: standing. He was bothered by a sore hip and appeared in only one sequence in 90 minutes of scrimmage. He also worked for a short period to loosen the hip with a series of stretching exercises.
...

“I understand how important I am to the group this year,” Bolden said. “I look forward to filling that big role. I’m looking forward to taking this journey with the freshmen that are coming in, helping them with the transition from HS to college. “I want to start off strong: no injuries, no setbacks or anything. I need to get past last year and get ready for a better start.”

Furniture
06-20-2017, 05:25 PM
Another interview

http://duke.247sports.com/Article/One-On-One-With-Dukes-Marques-Bolden-53255986

MChambers
06-20-2017, 08:52 PM
We can't really evaluate Bolden until we get the summer pickup game reports.

Seriously, I'm sorry he got hurt, but it doesn't sound serious, and I'm sure the experience was good for him.

rsvman
06-20-2017, 09:13 PM
We can't really evaluate Bolden until we get the summer pickup game reports.

Are you kidding me? He's going to be dominated by Horvath in the summer pickup games.

devilsince1977
06-21-2017, 01:36 PM
I believe all he needs is a true PG to get him the ball in places he can be effective. There was no one like that at Duke last year. He will have it with Trevon this year. He did not seem to me to be the kind of player that can create his own shot. He needs the ball on the low block where he can take advantage of his size and strength. I am not upset he did not make the U-19 team. Time playing with Trevon, Grayson, GTJ, Wendell, and the rest of the gang is more important that playing with a bunch of Kentucky flunkies for a slimy crook like Calipari.

MChambers
06-21-2017, 01:50 PM
Are you kidding me? He's going to be dominated by Horvath in the summer pickup games.

That's typical for our players. Many of them have gone on to have All-American seasons after getting punked by Nick in the summer.

Truth&Justise
06-22-2017, 05:12 PM
Final roster announced:


Hamidou Diallo (Kentucky)
Carsen Edwards (Purdue)
Kevin Huerter (Maryland)
Louis King (HS)
Romeo Langford (HS)
Brandon McCoy (UNLV)
Josh Okogie (Ga. Tech)
Payton Pritchard (Oregon)
Immanuel Quickly (HS)
Cameron Reddish (HS)
PJ Washington (Kentucky)
Austin Wiley (Auburn)


Kevin Knox withdrew because of injury. The final five cut were WKU's Mitchell Robinson, Temple's Quinton Rose, Auburn's Chuma Okeke and high-schoolers Bol Bol and Jordan Brown.

drummerdevil
06-22-2017, 05:18 PM
Final roster announced:


Hamidou Diallo (Kentucky)
Carsen Edwards (Purdue)
Kevin Huerter (Maryland)
Louis King (HS)
Romeo Langford (HS)
Brandon McCoy (UNLV)
Josh Okogie (Ga. Tech)
Payton Pritchard (Oregon)
Immanuel Quickly (HS)
Cameron Reddish (HS)
PJ Washington (Kentucky)
Austin Wiley (Auburn)


Kevin Knox withdrew because of injury. The final five cut were WKU's Mitchell Robinson, Temple's Quinton Rose, Auburn's Chuma Okeke and high-schoolers Bol Bol and Jordan Brown.

Is this truly the best roster that could be assembled? This roster doesn't wow me. Only two or three from major schools. I think Bolden, without the injury, could have been a 20+ ppg scorer on this team.

MartyClark
06-22-2017, 05:33 PM
Is this truly the best roster that could be assembled? This roster doesn't wow me. Only two or three from major schools. I think Bolden, without the injury, could have been a 20+ ppg scorer on this team.

Bolden remains a mystery to me. He didn't play much last year, when he did he was usually ineffective. He had undisclosed injuries early and equally undisclosed injuries or illnesses late. He seemed unhappy at the end of last year but maybe I just read his facial expressions and body language incorrectly.

Hopefully he recovers from this injury and is able to work hard with his teammates in preparation for the Dominican Republic. I get the feeling that he needs a little success and he may show the skills and effectiveness we anticipated.

ricks68
06-22-2017, 06:41 PM
Bolden remains a mystery to me. He didn't play much last year, when he did he was usually ineffective. He had undisclosed injuries early and equally undisclosed injuries or illnesses late. He seemed unhappy at the end of last year but maybe I just read his facial expressions and body language incorrectly.

Hopefully he recovers from this injury and is able to work hard with his teammates in preparation for the Dominican Republic. I get the feeling that he needs a little success and he may show the skills and effectiveness we anticipated.

Totally agree with your first paragraph above, but almost always keep those kind of evaluations about our players off the boards to avoid getting hammered by the "rose colored glasses" crowd we have around here. Consequently, I unfortunately think your second paragraph may be wishful thinking by us all.:(

ricks

Olympic Fan
06-22-2017, 06:49 PM
Final roster announced:


Hamidou Diallo (Kentucky)
Carsen Edwards (Purdue)
Kevin Huerter (Maryland)
Louis King (HS)
Romeo Langford (HS)
Brandon McCoy (UNLV)
Josh Okogie (Ga. Tech)
Payton Pritchard (Oregon)
Immanuel Quickly (HS)
Cameron Reddish (HS)
PJ Washington (Kentucky)
Austin Wiley (Auburn)


Kevin Knox withdrew because of injury. The final five cut were WKU's Mitchell Robinson, Temple's Quinton Rose, Auburn's Chuma Okeke and high-schoolers Bol Bol and Jordan Brown.

Interesting because Bol Bol, who is a major 2018 target for Kentucky, got cut. On the other hand, Immanuel Quickly, also major Kentucky recruiting target for 2018, did make the team. Also, Ham Diallo and PJ Washington, who will be freshmen at Kentucky, made the team. Calipari's got a lot of homegrown talent.

I like this team. Reddish and Langford are great 2018 players. Austin Wiley and Carson Edwards are VERY underrated great players.

The most interesting player to me is Diallo. He blew everybody away at the NBA draft combine with his athleticism ... but there are serious questions about his skills (especially when it comes to shooting). Is he a great player or just a great athlete? This competition should give us a clue.

Troublemaker
06-22-2017, 06:54 PM
Oh man, I just hope Cam Reddish doesn't get seduced by the dark side. Good luck to the kid, though -- hope he performs well.

JasonEvans
06-22-2017, 06:56 PM
Final roster announced:


Josh Okogie (Ga. Tech)


What a great story this kid is. Coming out of Shiloh high school in Snellville, GA, Josh was the #13 best player in his class... in the state of Georgia. 24/7 had him rated as the 210th best player in the country. Snellville is only about 30 miles from Athens, GA, but UGA didn't even offer him a scholarship. East Carolina and Tulsa did though. He eventually picked another home state team, Ga Tech, a school going through a coaching change and with what many regarded as the worst high school class of anyone in the ACC (not a single player ranked in the 24/7 top 200).

So, what has Okogie done in his first year in college basketball? Well, he averaged 16.1 points per game for Tech, scoring 596 points, the 3rd most points of any freshman in that school's history. He scored more points than Dennis Scott or Mark Price or Tom Hammonds or John Salley or Jarrett Jack did their freshman campaigns. He made the All-ACC Freshman team and finsihed 3rd to Jayson Tatum and Dennis Smith in balloting for ACC freshman of the year... that's right, he finished well ahead of Jonathan Issac, Frank Jackson, Harry Giles, and Tony Bradley... all of whom will hear their names called in tonight's NBA Draft.

And now, facing off against the best U19 players in the country, he made Team USA.

-Jason "Kid is a gamer. Wish he was on our team" Evans

awhom111
06-23-2017, 12:50 AM
Is this truly the best roster that could be assembled? This roster doesn't wow me. Only two or three from major schools. I think Bolden, without the injury, could have been a 20+ ppg scorer on this team.

This feels like a pretty weak roster at this point compared to recent editions. I think we need to see the team in action to draw more conclusions.

Does anyone think it was bad optics for Calipari to jet back and forth between this and the draft? I would assume the rest of the staff is working on scouting and stuff, but honestly it seems like the head coach should be with the team full time from now through the end of the tournament.

Spanarkel
06-23-2017, 07:53 AM
What a great story this kid is. Coming out of Shiloh high school in Snellville, GA, Josh was the #13 best player in his class... in the state of Georgia. 24/7 had him rated as the 210th best player in the country. Snellville is only about 30 miles from Athens, GA, but UGA didn't even offer him a scholarship. East Carolina and Tulsa did though. He eventually picked another home state team, Ga Tech, a school going through a coaching change and with what many regarded as the worst high school class of anyone in the ACC (not a single player ranked in the 24/7 top 200).

So, what has Okogie done in his first year in college basketball? Well, he averaged 16.1 points per game for Tech, scoring 596 points, the 3rd most points of any freshman in that school's history. He scored more points than Dennis Scott or Mark Price or Tom Hammonds or John Salley or Jarrett Jack did their freshman campaigns. He made the All-ACC Freshman team and finsihed 3rd to Jayson Tatum and Dennis Smith in balloting for ACC freshman of the year... that's right, he finished well ahead of Jonathan Issac, Frank Jackson, Harry Giles, and Tony Bradley... all of whom will hear their names called in tonight's NBA Draft.

And now, facing off against the best U19 players in the country, he made Team USA.

-Jason "Kid is a gamer. Wish he was on our team" Evans

The same state of Georgia that has 4 Duke commits for the class of '17?

The same Josh Okogie that was the two-time Gwinnett County Player of the Year?

BTW, Shiloh HS and UGA's Stegeman Coliseum are 48 miles apart.

Dr. Rosenrosen
06-23-2017, 08:32 AM
Oh man, I just hope Cam Reddish doesn't get seduced by the dark side. Good luck to the kid, though -- hope he performs well.
Yeah, where's the Wojnarski article about the unfair recruiting advantage that Cal now has?

Billy Dat
06-23-2017, 09:34 AM
Does anyone think it was bad optics for Calipari to jet back and forth between this and the draft? I would assume the rest of the staff is working on scouting and stuff, but honestly it seems like the head coach should be with the team full time from now through the end of the tournament.


Yeah, where's the Wojnarski article about the unfair recruiting advantage that Cal now has?

I don't think there is such a thing as bad optics when it comes to recruiting. The ONLY reason Cal is coaching the USA team is for recruiting. While I think he genuinely loves his players and wants them to be successful in the NBA, a primary reason he was at the draft is recruiting. ESPN gave him a 5 minute infomercial in the middle of the draft when he sat down for an interview with their panel and Jalen Rose (who he tried to hire as an assistant) t'ed up the question, "Is it more important for you to win games at Kentucky or help these young men make their NBA dreams come true?" and he essentially answered the later. A look at twitter during this interview was full of pundits saying, "Cal wins again!", "Cal so far ahead of the recruiting curve it's not even funny!", "Cal a genius at leveraging ESPN to help his recruiting"....which was buffered by the ESPN 30 for 30 which also essentially played as a 60 minute recruiting tool. The guy is working it big time.

Furniture
06-25-2017, 08:14 PM
https://mobile.twitter.com/TimMartin_TX/status/878831781256015873/video/1

CDu
06-25-2017, 08:40 PM
https://mobile.twitter.com/TimMartin_TX/status/878831781256015873/video/1

To add to this, those are a pair of NBA bigs Bolden is working with: Arnett Moultrie and Lavoy Allen.

DavidBenAkiva
06-25-2017, 10:45 PM
I did not realize that Bolden had touch out to the three point line. I mean, it's a practice video, but he looks healthy and capable of making shots. If he can translate any of that into a game...

MChambers
06-26-2017, 11:19 AM
I did not realize that Bolden had touch out to the three point line. I mean, it's a practice video, but he looks healthy and capable of making shots. If he can translate any of that into a game...

Stretch five?

At the least, if he and Carter can hit 15 foot jumpers, it will open things up for others.

MCFinARL
06-26-2017, 11:55 AM
https://mobile.twitter.com/TimMartin_TX/status/878831781256015873/video/1

Is this post-U-19 tryouts? if so, it's very reassuring about his level of injury (or, really, recovery).

CDu
06-26-2017, 02:20 PM
Is this post-U-19 tryouts? if so, it's very reassuring about his level of injury (or, really, recovery).

I don't know if it was filmed before or after injury. But reports were that Bolden was back at tryouts the day after the injury, so it apparently wasn't serious at all.

elvis14
06-26-2017, 03:27 PM
https://mobile.twitter.com/TimMartin_TX/status/878831781256015873/video/1


Wow, watching that video...there's a guy there that looks just like Bolden but his game is so much better than anything we saw from our Bolden last season. That's the Bolden we all thought we had...how do we get that Bolden at Duke?

CDu
06-26-2017, 03:37 PM
Wow, watching that video...there's a guy there that looks just like Bolden but his game is so much better than anything we saw from our Bolden last season. That's the Bolden we all thought we had...how do we get that Bolden at Duke?

I think one of the challenges is that Coach K seems to build his team's strategy fairly early in the season. And this year's team identity pretty quickly developed around perimeter guys and Tatum.

Bolden got hurt at a bad time for a young player trying to earn playing time at Duke. With Tatum and Jefferson proving able to excel at PF and C, there just weren't a lot of opportunities for multiple bigs. That left Giles, Bolden, and Jeter fighting for scraps. And it didn't seem like those guys (perhaps for a variety of reasons) were able to adapt to that role. It's tough to transition from being a focal point to being an afterthought, and not everyone can manage it right away (or at all).

The good news is that Bolden appears healthier. He's also a year older and has the experience of going against veteran college guys for a year. And he has the added bonus of not having nearly as much competition for minutes this year: only Carter appears to be clearly in front of him in the competition for frontcourt minutes. So hopefully better health and a better spot in the pecking order will allow Bolden to establish himself as a key contributor in the team's gameplan.

JasonEvans
06-26-2017, 06:37 PM
I think it is worth noting that not a single shot is missed in that video. While the consecutive 3s are really encouraging (consecutive shots on tape are something fancy editing cannot get around), the rest of it could be a function of only showing the good stuff.

If you shoot footage of 100 shots, you are easily going to find a dozen or more that go in and look just magical. I can make a 25% 3-point-shooter look like JJ Redick given enough tape.

I too am really, really encouraged by what I see from Marques on that tape. He does look good and those consecutive 3s were impressive, but I want to see it in games before I get too excited.

-Jason "it is worth noting that Marque hits 5 consecutive 3s... the other NBA big men on the tape are only shown knocking down 3 straight 3s each" Evans

Rich
06-26-2017, 06:59 PM
He does look good and those consecutive 3s were impressive, but I want to see it in games before I get too excited.

Perhaps, but methinks this is not something that Coach K will be emphasizing with Mr. Bolden.

Indoor66
06-26-2017, 08:00 PM
Perhaps, but methinks this is not something that Coach K will be emphasizing with Mr. Bolden.

If he can make them he will shoot them.

CDu
06-26-2017, 08:32 PM
If he can make them he will shoot them.

Yeah, Coach K loves 3s. If Bolden shows he can consistently hit them, Coach K will gladly let him take them. That would make life SO much easier for Allen abd Duval in the high pick game if Bolden can make 3s.

Conversely, as we saw with Plumlee, if Bolden can't make them consistently, Coach will get it out of the repertoire quickly.

camion
06-27-2017, 07:50 AM
Yeah, Coach K loves 3s. If Bolden shows he can consistently hit them, Coach K will gladly let him take them. That would make life SO much easier for Allen abd Duval in the high pick game if Bolden can make 3s.

Conversely, as we saw with Plumlee, if Bolden can't make them consistently, Coach will get it out of the repertoire quickly.

Actually, as we saw in the video, Bolden's 3 point shooting is about on par with the Plumlees at 100%. :)

CDu
06-27-2017, 08:40 AM
Actually, as we saw in the video, Bolden's 3 point shooting is about on par with the Plumlees at 100%. :)

Just Marshall. Mason's % was much lower.

flyingdutchdevil
06-27-2017, 08:50 AM
Yeah, Coach K loves 3s. If Bolden shows he can consistently hit them, Coach K will gladly let him take them. That would make life SO much easier for Allen abd Duval in the high pick game if Bolden can make 3s.

Conversely, as we saw with Plumlee, if Bolden can't make them consistently, Coach will get it out of the repertoire quickly.

Yup. We'll see in the first few games whether Bolden actually has a jumpshot. If he takes them - regardless of making or missing - we'll see a reaction from Coach K. If he doesn't take them, it's a pretty clear sign that he's not given the green light to launch from 10 feet out.

Troublemaker
06-27-2017, 10:57 AM
-Jason "it is worth noting that Marque hits 5 consecutive 3s... the other NBA big men on the tape are only shown knocking down 3 straight 3s each" Evans

True, but Marques had by far the slowest gather and release of the three big men. If we were playing a game with defenders, I would much rather have Moultrie, the guy who shot before Marques in the video, on my team shooting threes. Not that Moultrie was lightning quick either but he was still much quicker than Marques and more fluid.

Kedsy
06-27-2017, 11:07 AM
Just Marshall. Mason's % was much lower.

Miles Plumlee's career 3-point percentage equaled Marshall's at 100%. It was just Mason who was the slouch in the family.

CDu
06-27-2017, 11:08 AM
True, but Marques had by far the slowest gather and release of the three big men. If we were playing a game with defenders, I would much rather have Moultrie, the guy who shot before Marques in the video, on my team shooting threes. Not that Moultrie was lightning quick either but he was still much quicker than Marques and more fluid.

Yeah, to be clear, I wouldn't expect Bolden to be more than a pick-and-pop option rather than a regular threat from out there. If teams sag off him to try to slow Duval and Allen on high ball screens, he may be open enough to take that shot. If he shows he can hit it, that should be enough.

I don't think there will be a situation in which we would be passing to him on the wing and letting him take the shot on his own. He just needs to be able to do it when the defense is in flux chasing one of our driving threats.

I would expect Moultrie (who shot 29% from 3 in college 5-8 years ago and has been a 52% shooter from 16+ feet in the NBA) and Allen (36% from 16+ in the NBA) to be more advanced shooters from 20 feet than Bolden at this point.

IrishDevil
06-27-2017, 11:13 AM
Yup. We'll see in the first few games whether Bolden actually has a jumpshot. If he takes them - regardless of making or missing - we'll see a reaction from Coach K. If he doesn't take them, it's a pretty clear sign that he's not given the green light to launch from 10 feet out.

Agreed, and it is possible that one reason Marques is working on his jumpshot is that K has told him to do exactly this as part of his summer training. That doesn't bear on whether K will give him a green light come October, but it may indicate that K wants to do so, at least.

CDu
06-27-2017, 11:14 AM
Miles Plumlee's career 3-point percentage equaled Marshall's at 100%. It was just Mason who was the slouch in the family.

Ah, I had forgotten that (like Marshall) Miles had taken and made a single 3pt shot in his college days.

The Plumlees as a trio shot 33% from 3 in college... dragged down by Mason's 2-10 from deep.

Spanarkel
06-27-2017, 01:16 PM
As much as I like and am pulling for Marques, seeing that video of him shooting 3s(admittedly good form)made me think of his two missed dunks in the first 2.5 minutes of the NC State game.

I would like for him to "master the basics" and learn to finish through contact, connect on ~60% of his jump hooks, and ~70% of his FTs this coming season.

Best of luck to the big fella this season!

sagegrouse
06-27-2017, 04:25 PM
Also, what's going for Marques is the adage that "the most under-rated player entering a new season is the sub on the bench." I think Marques will improve immensely from last year.

Troublemaker
06-27-2017, 04:42 PM
Also, what's going for Marques is the adage that "the most under-rated player entering a new season is the sub on the bench." I think Marques will improve immensely from last year.

Yeah, we also just need him to be a good starter, not a star. I mean, he should aim for higher than that if he wants, but for the purposes of me feeling good about next season, I just want him to be an effective 4th-best player or so. I think we'll have a Big 3 of Grayson, Wendell, and Trevon, and then we'll need Marques to catch the ball and convert dunks on offense and protect the basket on defense. And we'll need Gary to hit threes on offense and play good perimeter defense. If we have that, we'll be golden. That's the setup I have in my head in June, anyway. Maybe the DR trip will change how I think about things.

flyingdutchdevil
06-27-2017, 04:50 PM
Yeah, we also just need him to be a good starter, not a star. I mean, he should aim for higher than that if he wants, but for the purposes of me feeling good about next season, I just want him to be an effective 4th-best player or so. I think we'll have a Big 3 of Grayson, Wendell, and Trevon, and then we'll need Marques to catch the ball and convert dunks on offense and protect the basket on defense. And we'll need Gary to hit threes on offense and play good perimeter defense. If we have that, we'll be golden, barring no injuries, foul trouble, suspensions, or major fatigue. That's the setup I have in my head in June, anyway. Maybe the DR trip will change how I think about things.

Changed it for you.

English
06-28-2017, 10:15 AM
Yeah, we also just need him to be a good starter, not a star. I mean, he should aim for higher than that if he wants, but for the purposes of me feeling good about next season, I just want him to be an effective 4th-best player or so. I think we'll have a Big 3 of Grayson, Wendell, and Trevon, and then we'll need Marques to catch the ball and convert dunks on offense and protect the basket on defense, AND REBOUND on both ends. And we'll need Gary to hit threes on offense and play good perimeter defense. If we have that, we'll be golden. That's the setup I have in my head in June, anyway. Maybe the DR trip will change how I think about things.

Minor tweak.

DavidBenAkiva
07-06-2017, 09:28 PM
Duke released a video featuring Coach K and the summer workout plan for the team, focusing on July. There's a moment halfway through where Marques is shooting a jump shot. He's got good form, but his release is a little slow. They might let him shoot some shots this year. We'll see.

https://twitter.com/DukeMBB/status/883103289830776832

I also liked the intense stare that Trevon Duval is giving Coach K and that Gary Trent, Jr. is a solid 1-2 inches taller than Grayson.

mattman91
07-06-2017, 10:39 PM
Duke released a video featuring Coach K and the summer workout plan for the team, focusing on July. There's a moment halfway through where Marques is shooting a jump shot. He's got good form, but his release is a little slow. They might let him shoot some shots this year. We'll see.

https://twitter.com/DukeMBB/status/883103289830776832

I also liked the intense stare that Trevon Duval is giving Coach K and that Gary Trent, Jr. is a solid 1-2 inches taller than Grayson.

Does K have a lower right leg injury?

Is it over?

rasputin
07-07-2017, 12:42 PM
Does K have a lower right leg injury?

Is it over?

It is not over until (a) Carlos breaks his foot, or (b), we say it is.

NSDukeFan
07-07-2017, 06:02 PM
It is not over until (a) Carlos breaks his foot, or (b), we say it is.

What about when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbour?

awhom111
07-10-2017, 12:45 AM
I don't think there is such a thing as bad optics when it comes to recruiting. The ONLY reason Cal is coaching the USA team is for recruiting. While I think he genuinely loves his players and wants them to be successful in the NBA, a primary reason he was at the draft is recruiting. ESPN gave him a 5 minute infomercial in the middle of the draft when he sat down for an interview with their panel and Jalen Rose (who he tried to hire as an assistant) t'ed up the question, "Is it more important for you to win games at Kentucky or help these young men make their NBA dreams come true?" and he essentially answered the later. A look at twitter during this interview was full of pundits saying, "Cal wins again!", "Cal so far ahead of the recruiting curve it's not even funny!", "Cal a genius at leveraging ESPN to help his recruiting"...which was buffered by the ESPN 30 for 30 which also essentially played as a 60 minute recruiting tool. The guy is working it big time.

I meant an optics perspective for USA Basketball and not for Calipari himself.

I said that I would wait for the tournament to pronounce any judgment and now that it's over, it is time to talk about the situation. This is not just a matter of Calipari, but USA Basketball as a whole.

This is the second recent "failure" for USA Basketball and it will be interesting to see what is done. In the last case, the U16 Girls' coaching staff was retained, but 11 of the 12 players did not make the U17 roster. The new roster actually played well leading up to the final, but Australia smoked them. USA Basketball opted to completely change coaching approaches for this new U16 cycle, picking a DIII coach and not a high school coach. We should expect changes for this next cycle, but how far they reach will be interesting.

A lot of questions should be asked about the coach selection process. USA Basketball had seemed to create a conveyor belt of coaches where experience as a court coach led to experience as an assistant coach, which would then lead to prioritization for a head coaching position when it came available. This process seems to not have been followed for this appointment. It was also not followed in the Popovich appointment, but is Calipari on that level where having him cut other coaches in line was worth it? One of the questions that I asked when he was hired that has not been answered is how USA Basketball felt about Shaka Smart's work last summer and why he was not the coach of this team. He had a much more talented team at his disposal that struggled with, but ultimately beat a Canada team that did not have Barrett, but was much deeper than this summer's version. Whether this was Smart's choice or whether it was decided that he should not be retained is important in this conversation because three of the veterans from last summer that were eligible for this team were Texas guys (a fourth, Jarrett Allen would not be available thanks to the NBA). None of them tried out and it would be nice for the public to have better insight into the reasons because veteran presence is always welcome in this format.

Player availability will be brought up as an explanation and it is obviously something that is not completely in USA Basketball's control because most of the best age-eligible players declared for the draft. It is worth noting that the U18 team from last summer was relatively young already and only Allen and Markelle Fultz were in the draft. There were a couple of injuries, which I am sure could have changed the picture a bit, but the important thing to realize is that the United States was far from the only team negatively affected by player unavailability. Canada actually has a major ongoing political battle between factions of their basketball administration and they actually could have fielded a roster of only unavailable players that was stronger than their actual roster as hard as that might be to believe. Late injuries also hurt a few medal contenders. Additionally, quirks in the qualifying process made this probably the weakest overall U19 field in a while as Australia was upset by New Zealand with both teams unable to call on some American-based players due to the timing of the process. This also ended up being a rather underwhelming group of European teams.

Some player absences can be excused and are nobody's fault. The draft and legitimate academic reasons are certainly understandable. It would be nice to know the scale of any actual security concerns. It was reported that there was unusually light NBA representation at the event due to advice from the league to not send personnel. Presumably USA Basketball itself took measures to ensure the safety of players and coaches and hopefully any family members that traveled to watch the team. If there were players who did not want to participate unless they got assurances and USA Basketball failed to provide them enough assurances, then that is a federation issue. As far as I know, there were no players from other countries who gave security as an excuse for not playing. After that, it all boils down to whether there were roster issues due to Calipari himself. Among other college coaches, some are actually more strongly disliked by their peers than others with plenty of rival coaches still being on friendly terms. If Calipari's relationships with other coaches is sufficiently poor enough that they dissuaded players from joining, then it was USA Basketball's issue in appointing him in the first place. It would also be their issue if perception existed among non-Kentucky players and those not actively being recruited by Calipari that the process would in any way be biased against them. If nothing else, Calipari is pretty open and transparent about his goals so it would be understandable that other players might not feel like they would get a fair shake unless potential bias was openly addressed. It is worth noting that perceived bias is an issue on other teams as people often complained about Auriemma stacking the end of his bench with UConn players and there are massive ongoing conflicts between various AAU barons for the U16/U17 Girls' teams.

As for oncourt play, a loss would not really be all that unexpected in this tournament, where the United States has had far less success than at any other age group, but again, this was a relatively weak field compared to other years. Given that multiple games are going to be cakewalks, it is always difficult to keep the team in the right mindset for the games that are close, but the right motivation is important. I suspect some looks will be taken at how to improve preparation in the future, whether it's tougher practices, more exhibition games, perhaps against the U20 teams of European countries not in the tournament, or tweaking the coaching mix. Anytime the United States does not roll through international competition, questions get raised. It was no shame to lose when a deserved MVP like RJ Barrett has such a good game, but the inability of the team to make a dent after he left the game will certainly raise questions given the high profile of the coaches involved.

Troublemaker
07-10-2017, 10:02 AM
A lot of questions should be asked about the coach selection process. USA Basketball had seemed to create a conveyor belt of coaches where experience as a court coach led to experience as an assistant coach, which would then lead to prioritization for a head coaching position when it came available. This process seems to not have been followed for this appointment. It was also not followed in the Popovich appointment, but is Calipari on that level where having him cut other coaches in line was worth it? One of the questions that I asked when he was hired that has not been answered is how USA Basketball felt about Shaka Smart's work last summer and why he was not the coach of this team. He had a much more talented team at his disposal that struggled with, but ultimately beat a Canada team that did not have Barrett, but was much deeper than this summer's version.


Yeah, Calipari's selection puzzled me, too. Hopefully it wasn't the case of Colangelo / USA Basketball wanting to go back to a college coach for the senior national team after Popovich's 4 years are up, and giving Calipari U19 was USA Basketball grooming him for the senior job. I mean, if it was, then eggs on faces everywhere, and hopefully they re-consider.

If it must go to a college coach, then choose Miller or Smart who have put in the work. But I'd prefer Popovich to hand it off to another NBA coach, maybe Brad Stevens or Eric Spoelstra, when Pop is done.

Billy Dat
07-10-2017, 12:44 PM
Yeah, Calipari's selection puzzled me, too. Hopefully it wasn't the case of Colangelo / USA Basketball wanting to go back to a college coach for the senior national team after Popovich's 4 years are up, and giving Calipari U19 was USA Basketball grooming him for the senior job. I mean, if it was, then eggs on faces everywhere, and hopefully they re-consider.

If it must go to a college coach, then choose Miller or Smart who have put in the work. But I'd prefer Popovich to hand it off to another NBA coach, maybe Brad Stevens or Eric Spoelstra, when Pop is done.

Great write-up, awhom111.

Reading your response and Troublemaker's, I had a thought...what if USA Basketball sensed that this would be a bad year for turnout among the elite and thought having Cal would be a lure for the high school kids?

BD80
07-10-2017, 02:32 PM
Great write-up, awhom111.

Reading your response and Troublemaker's, I had a thought...what if USA Basketball sensed that this would be a bad year for turnout among the elite and thought having Cal would be a lure for the high school kids?

Or even better, they knew there would likely be a let down, and didn't want one of the promising coaches take the fall. Let calipari, after all of his whining, have his shot. If he loses, don't have to listen to the whining any more.

lotusland
07-10-2017, 05:20 PM
Cal had one shot at redemption and fumbled it by losing to UNCheat and allowing them to make a mockery of the NCAA. Let the scorn pile upon him.