No. 4 recruit Patrick Baldwin Jr. choses UW-Milwaukee over Hoyas, Duke originally appeared on NBC Sports Washington
The consensus No. 4 overall recruit of the 2021 class, Patrick Baldwin Jr. chose to keep it in the family and stay close to home with his commitment on Wednesday. The 6-foot-9 small forward committed to the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee of the Horizon League over Georgetown and Duke.
Baldwin will go play for his father, Pat Baldwin Sr., who has coached the Panthers for the past four seasons.
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The McDonald's High School All-American will surely get a chance to electrify UW-Milwaukee next season before presumably making the leap to the NBA. He is expected to become the first lottery pick in the Horizon League since Gordon Hayward at Butler.
"I will be playing for my dad at Milwaukee," Patrick Baldwin Jr. told ESPN. "I had some great options, which made me not rush through the process. The thought of playing for my dad was too good to pass up. In today's day and age, you see mid-majors having great success, most recently Loyola and Oral Roberts."
Milwaukee has not made the NCAA Tournament since 2014 and the Panthers' last tournament win came back in 2006.
For several years, the younger Baldwin has been regarded as a five-star recruit and one of the elite players in the 2021 class. He has great length to play at the three spot in a rotation, but could also develop more size to become a four. 247sports' Brian Snow lauds his recent development and how he projects to become an NBA-caliber player.
"There aren’t many prospects who have the combination of skill, basketball IQ, size, and athleticism," Snow said. "Has gotten significantly better off the dribble, and it is easy to see why he is one of the premier prospects in the class of 2021. From an NBA perspective, he has not only significant 3 and D potential as a forward, but his athleticism is getting better - which could mean future star status if everything continues to come together."
The Hoyas remained in the mix for Baldwin leading to his decision. Other schools like North Carolina and Kentucky also made offers early. Many predictors had it down to Milwaukee and Duke in the weeks before his commitment, with Georgetown remaining the third option.
Had Georgetown brought in Baldwin Jr., it surely would have vaulted the Hoyas into the upper tier of the Big East. Fresh off a Big East tournament title, Patrick Ewing was able to bring in five-star guard Aminu Mohammed and four-star legacy recruit Ryan Mutombo.
Technically, though, Hoyas were already maxed out on recruits with 14 players on scholarship, one above the NCAA maximum of 13 even when factoring in extra eligibility due to the 2019-20 coronavirus season. If Baldwin came to the Hilltop, there was going to have to be some reshuffling of the roster.
Still, despite missing out on Baldwin - which for a long while was not an expected outcome - Georgetown has made a statement with this recruiting class. The team is already positioned for a bright future even with the turbulent seasons over the last handful of years. Bringing in two top-150 recruits, and being in the running for a third, is a first in the Ewing era. Ewing's previous four recruiting classes only saw two top-100 recruits come in combined.
