Duke basketball: Ranking the chances of 10 finalists for Patrick Baldwin Jr.

3. Northwestern

Northwestern is another place five-star recruits never roam. But as is the case with Wisconsin-Milwaukee, it is a true force in the Patrick Baldwin Jr. race.

Not only was Baldwin Jr. a ballboy for the Wildcats when his father was on the staff of head coach Chris Collins — a former Duke basketball player and assistant under Mike Krzyzewski — but also both of his parents once played for the university. Here’s what he told Rivals’ Corey Evans about the thought of himself lacing ’em up in Evanston, Ill., one day:

“The 2021 class is one that they expect to be big, and really, they have talked to me about how I could step into that program right away and have a team that is built around what I can do. If you look at their roster and how it is constructed, they have a lot of freshmen and a lot of sophomores…whenever I would be there, they would be juniors and seniors and would have great size and length.”

Baldwin Jr. then pointed out to Evans his strong relationship with the coaches:

“Obviously, I love Coach Collins and that staff…they just have a lot of pieces that a year down the road, they will be a solid team in the Big 10 and would be a situation that I would step in right away and be there for however long and enjoy myself. But it would be a situation that I could come into and be the guy.”

Looks like a 12 PERCENT CHANCE the Northwestern Wildcats land Patrick Baldwin Jr.