Is Duke basketball again the outright favorite to snag Patrick Baldwin Jr.?
Sure, one could argue that it’s not just three of the 10 finalists for Hamilton (Wis.) small forward Patrick Baldwin Jr. who still have at least a sliver of a chance to land the 6-foot-10, 205-pound five-star.
On the other hand, when compiling all the recent chatter in recruiting circles, it does appear as though the Duke basketball program along with Milwaukee and Georgetown are the trio holding on to any significant hope at this late juncture in the race.
But just for the sake of naming them here, the other seven schools technically remaining in contention for Baldwin — who at one time ranked No. 1 overall in his class but now sits No. 4 on the 247Sports 2021 Composite — are Kentucky, Michigan, Northwestern, UCLA, UNC, Virginia, and Wisconsin.
As for when the battle might come to an end, well, Tipton Edits suggested in April that the announcement will likely arrive without a set time. And now that it’s May — with all but a few of the top 100 prospects having already selected destinations, mind you — it does feel as if the decision is long overdue.
On that note, let’s size up and rank the perceived three leading suitors, beginning with the one that would seemingly be the biggest surprise of a Baldwin destination among the bunch. Then we’ll wrap things up at the end here with a look at a possible wildcard option for the sharpshooting phenom…