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Five-star center Bol Bol commits to Oregon

2017 CIF Southern Section Boys Open Division Championship

ANAHEIM, CA - MARCH 04: Bol Bol #1 of Mater Dei High School looks for the open pass during the game against Bishop Montgomery High School at the Honda Center on March 4, 2017 in Anaheim, California. (Photo by Josh Lefkowitz/Getty Images)

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Oregon received a commitment from one of the best players in the 2018 class and one of the more intriguing stories in basketball.

Bol Bol, son of former 7-foot-7 NBA center Manute Bol, announced his commitment and signing with the Ducks on Monday.

“I didn’t know much about the school until I started getting recruited by Oregon’s assistant coach, Tony Stubblefield,” Bol wrote in The Players Tribune. “And then later by coach (Dana) Altman. Before that, I knew they had a lot of jerseys, a lot of different shoe combinations, but that was about it. But it was really those first few meetings with coach Stubblefield that impressed me the most. He was accessible. He got to know me. He was really real with me.

And he was honest about the fact that Oregon has never really gotten a top recruit when it was between the Kentuckys and Dukes. He didn’t shy away from that. What he did was lay out the vision they had for me.”

The 7-foot-2 Bol averaged 22.0 points, 9.3 rebounds and 3.9 blocks while shooting 63.2 percent from the field last summer in the EYBL. He is finishing his high school career at Findlay Prep in Nevada. He’s a consensus top-five player in his class.

“We are really excited to welcome Bol Bol to our program,” Altman said in a statement. “Obviously he is a very unique player with a special basketball history and a great basketball family.”

Manute Bol played in over 600 NBA games and lead the league in blocked shots twice. He died in 2010 at the age of 47.

“I know my dad would want me to represent my family well,” the younger Bol wrote. “I know he would want me to pursue my interests outside of basketball, like music, fashion and eventually, the humanitarian work that he began in Sudan.

“Most of all, I know he’d want me to be my own person.”

Bol gives Altman one of the best recruiting classes in the country with fellow five-star prospect Louis King on board along with top-60 recruits Will Richardson and Miles Norris.