Duke basketball recruiting target’s decision potentially leaked

The college decision of Duke basketball target Patrick Baldwin Jr. has potentially been leaked. 

A major college basketball recruiting decision might have been leaked on Thursday night as Duke basketball target Patrick Baldwin Jr. was named to the 2021 Nike Hoop Summit roster.

However, in the press release sent out by USA Basketball, it states that Baldwin Jr. has signed his National Letter of Intent with Duke University, something that has not happened yet.

Baldwin Jr. is still uncommitted but is considering Duke as one of his college options along with Georgetown, Kentucky, Michigan, Milwaukee, Northwestern, UCLA, North Carolina, Virginia, and Wisconsin.

The two favorites seem to be the Blue Devils and Milwaukee, but in recent weeks many recruiting experts have flipped their predictions from Duke to Milwaukee, as his father is the head coach of the Panthers.

In a February interview with Jason Jordan of Sports Illustrated, Baldwin Jr. said, “I think I know where I would like to go. So, I’m just kinda just sitting on it right now. I think in a few weeks or a few months, I’ll be able to say 100 percent. I’ll take as much time as I would like to.”

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Duke signee Paolo Banchero was named to Team World, but Adrian Griffin Jr. was not invited to the event, which will not take place because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Fellow recruiting target Trevor Keels was also named to the showcase as he is planning on announcing his college decision on April 4, and many have pegged Duke as the favorite over Villanova, Virginia, and Kentucky.

Duke is also listed as Patrick Baldwin Jr.’s school under his profile on the full roster for the event.

Other uncommitted players like Keels, Chet Holmgren, and Hunter Sallis have their high schools listed as their schools.

The information relating Patrick Baldwin Jr. to Duke was deleted from the USA Basketball website at 10:30pm EST on Thursday, one hour after the release went public on the internet.

Tipton Edits then confirmed that Duke has not sent Baldwin Jr. a letter of intent, which is clearly true since he has not publicly committed to the program.

Duke basketball saw ominous signs in Patrick Baldwin Jr. recruiting battle

In an interview with The Chronicle in July, Patrick Baldwin Jr. said that the experience of fellow Milwaukee resident and former AAU teammate Jalen Johnson would play a factor in his decision:

“Yeah, I mean, [Johnson’s] experience is going to have a huge impact on my decision, just kind of hearing what he has to say about actually being in the program.”

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Johnson opted out of the 2020-21 season in mid-February amid the struggles of Duke, his lack of playing time, and his recovery from a foot injury.

Patrick Baldwin Jr. was also an AAU teammate of Jaemyn Brakefield, who just announced his departure from Durham and into the transfer portal.

Time will tell if this was in fact just a really bad typo or someone divulged some information that they were not supposed to.