Proof that he was actually there:
https://www.usab.com/~/media/6a4144f...shx?as=1&iar=1
http://thespun.com/acc/duke/report-d...ketball-trials
Hope it's not serious.
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.
Luke WinnVerified account @lukewinn 1h1 hour ago
Duke's Marques Bolden back participating at U19s on Tuesday. Calipari said it was a sore hip that kept Bolden out last night.
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.
In the first round of cuts.
https://twitter.com/lukewinn/status/877198576346116096
The 18 finalists, courtesy of Luke Winn's twitter:
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
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.
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!
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 14h14 hours ago
he looked good too as did Quinton Rose (Temple), Shamorie Ponds (St. John's), Marques Bolden (Duke), Austin Wiley (Auburn)
Well, he says a lot of the right things here in an interview with TSN at the practices. 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.”
Another interview
http://duke.247sports.com/Article/On...olden-53255986
Kyle gets BUCKETS!
https://youtu.be/NJWPASQZqLc
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.