For about three months in the spring of 2016, Marques Terrell Bolden was the most agonized recruit in college basketball.
He was the last unsigned five-star center in the country. Born April 17, 1998, in Dallas, raised in DeSoto, Texas — the southwestern suburb that has produced its own quiet basketball pipeline including former Duke guard Matt Jones — Bolden had been a marked kid since he was 14. Texas Class 5A Sophomore of the Year as a 10th-grader. As a junior, 11.4 points and 8.4 rebounds for a Dallas-area powerhouse. As a senior at DeSoto, the leap was complete: 23.4 points, 10.2 rebounds, 2.6 blocks per game. He led DeSoto to a 35-2 record and the 2016 Texas Class 6A state championship. Texas Mr. Basketball. TABC 6A Player of the Year. Dallas Morning News Player of the Year. McDonald's All-American (13 points, 7 rebounds for the winning West team in the showcase). Jordan Brand Classic. Nike Hoop Summit, where he played for Team USA.
Every recruiting service had him in or near the top 10 nationally. Scout had him 8th overall. Rivals had him 11th. ESPN had him 16th. 247Sports had him 15th, and the No. 1 player at his position. The schools chasing him were the schools that always chase the top center: Duke, Kentucky, North Carolina, Texas. He cut his list to four — Duke, Kentucky, Oklahoma, and TCU — and then made everybody wait. He cancelled his announcement multiple times. "You could tell this was a very difficult decision for me because it took so long," Bolden later told ESPN. "I was looking for the perfect situation and I realized that's not going to happen. I did not want to regret my decision; that's why I took so long. It's the biggest decision in my life so far."
He told USA Today High School Sports during the recruitment that he was "often up alone at night" thinking it through. The other top players in the 2016 class — Harry Giles, Jayson Tatum, Frank Jackson, Javin DeLaurier, Jack White — were all already committed to Duke. The Blue Devils were going to have the No. 1 recruiting class in the country either way. But if Bolden chose Duke over Kentucky, the class wouldn't just be No. 1; it would be the most loaded big-man-by-big-man assemblage Coach K had ever signed.
On May 19, 2016, in front of his classmates and family at the Dyer Gym at DeSoto High School, Bolden walked to a microphone, unzipped a black jacket, and revealed a Duke T-shirt underneath. The reason, he said, was simple. "Duke gives me the best chance to be able to develop into the player that I want to be. My goal is not only to be drafted in the NBA but to play in the NBA. I feel Duke will best help me reach my goal." Coach K's response was equally direct: "In addition to his elite length and athleticism, he is a highly-skilled big man who can really score the ball. He runs the floor well, rebounds on both ends and blocks shots. Marques has tremendous potential and a bright future, and we're excited to coach him at Duke." Mike Krzyzewski, in May 2016, had no idea what was coming next.