Marques Bolden is not going back to Duke. Javin DeLaurier is a different story.
Duke’s interior rotation for next basketball season came into sharper focus Monday night.
The Blue Devils are losing Marques Bolden, expect to have Javin DeLaurier back and will not be signing 6-11 high school center Charles Coleman.
Bolden and DeLaurier, who alternated starting assignments in the post for Duke last season as juniors, both entered their names in the NBA draft pool last month.
Though neither were invited to the NBA Scouting Combine in Chicago earlier this month, the 6-11 Bolden plans to continue pursuing a professional career and won’t returning to school, Duke sources with knowledge of his plans said Monday night.
The sources are not being identified because they are not authorized to speak publicly on the subject.
Yahoo Sports reported on Twitter that Bolden will use Rich Gray of Gray Area Sports Group and and Chris Gaston of Family First Sports Firm as his agents.
The Duke sources also said DeLaurier is likely to return to school and, although he hasn’t made his plans firm, the Blue Devils anticipate him being on their roster next season.
Players with college eligibility remaining have until 11:59 p.m. Wednesday night to withdraw from the NBA draft and continue their college careers.
While Bolden and DeLaurier were going through the draft process, Duke offered Coleman, a three-star center from Boston. Coleman had been a Wake Forest commit but reopened his recruitment on May 13.
But as it became more clear that DeLaurier would be returning, Duke backed off its pursuit of Coleman.
On Monday night, Coleman announced on Twitter he would sign with East Carolina.
The 6-10 DeLaurier, a team captain, played in all 38 games for the Blue Devils (32-6) with 16 starts last season. He averaged 3.8 points and 4.4 rebounds.
Should DeLaurier return to Duke as expected, he’ll join incoming 6-10, 275-pound freshman Vernon Carey as Duke’s big men for next season.
Carey, from Fort Lauderdale’s NSU University School, is the No. 3-ranked player in the class and Duke’s highest rated recruit for its 2019 class.
Duke also signed 6-9, 215-pound small forward Matthew Hurt from Rochester, Minn. Like Carey, Hurt is a five-star recruit.
This story was originally published May 27, 2019 at 11:27 PM with the headline "Marques Bolden is not going back to Duke. Javin DeLaurier is a different story.."