Junior college point guard Marquise Carter, who verbally committed to Gonzaga last week, appears to be having second thoughts. 

“You know, I just saw him about 30 minutes ago and I told him to get his act together,” Gene Bess, who coached Carter at Three Rivers Community College (Poplar Bluff, Mo.), said Wednesday afternoon. “I don’t like that. (Gonzaga) is a top 10 program and I don’t think he can beat that. He’s real evasive, real vague and he’s kind of avoiding the coaches here.”

Wednesday was the first day of the spring signing period.

Carter, who didn’t return a phone message, helped Three Rivers to a runner-up finish at the NJCAA Tournament. He averaged 17.9 points, 5.5 assists and 4.3 rebounds.

“My thinking is once you give your word that’s it, but I don’t have control over him at this point,” Bess said. “At our banquet the other night he was going to Gonzaga, but I don’t know what’s going on now.”

—Meanwhile, as we reported a couple weeks after he left Gonzaga at the semester break, Andy Poling is continuing his playing career at Seattle Pacific. More here.

Former Gonzaga forward Andy Poling has decided to transfer to Seattle Pacific University.

“I just think it should be a really good fit,” Poling said in a telephone interview from his home in Portland. “I really liked the coaching staff, they’re all really good guys and the team is really competitive, top 15 (in NCAA Division II) right now. I lived in Seattle until I was 9 or 10. It’s a great city and it’s a little closer to home. My family can come watch me and it’s a smaller school, and I really liked that about Gonzaga.”

Poling (No. 14 above) said he’ll enroll for spring quarter in March and he’ll have three seasons of eligibility.

The 6-foot-11 Poling played just 23 minutes in six appearances as a redshirt freshman this season before opting to transfer earlier this month. He also considered Portland State, Fresno State, Portland and Nevada before choosing SPU, which is coached by Central Valley High graduate Ryan Looney.

A quick roundup of GU-related news. The Bulldogs climbed to No. 17 in A.P. and No. 14 in ESPN/USA Today top 25 polls. More here. Saint Mary’s received enough votes to be 29th in the ESPN/USA Today poll, but didn’t receive a single vote in A.P.

Spoke with ex-Zag Andy Poling’s mom, Jenny, for a few minutes this morning. She said Andy hasn’t decided on where he’ll transfer. He visited Portland State and is expected to visit Nevada sometime this week. She said there might be other schools involved in addition to Portland, Portland State and Nevada, but Andy is still deciding if he wants to stay close to home. His intention is to enroll this week so he’ll be eligible next January.

The Portland Tribune’s Kerry Eggers checked in with his thoughts from the GU-Portland game. Saint Mary’s, Gonzaga’s opponent on Thursday in Moraga, defeated Santa Clara. San Diego, GU’s opponent on Saturday, fell at San Francisco.

Gonzaga redshirt freshman forward Andy Poling has decided to transfer, Poling’s mother, Jenny, confirmed.

The 6-foot-11, 230-pound Poling played 23 minutes in six games. He was seeing limited minutes behind Rob Sacre, Elias Harris, Will Foster, Kelly Olynyk and Bol Kong, who has played some at the ‘4’. Freshman Sam Dower, a 6-9 forward, is redshirting and will compete for time next season.

It was mainly a playing time issue, Jenny said. “He thought he’d get more playing time than he did. He wants to go where he’ll play more.”

UPDATE: Find Gonzaga’s release on Poling transferring below.

UPDATE II: Bouldin a finalist for Cousy Award. More below.

More below.