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Class of 2021 forward Patrick Baldwin Jr. is about to be added in the conversation of babyfaced assassins on the basketball court.
Standing 6-foot-8 and 175 pounds after completion of his freshman season, Baldwin has a lot of heads turning when he steps onto the hardwood. Marquette is the latest to get involved with Baldwin, who’s likely to be a top recruit by the time he graduates high school. The Marquette Golden Eagles reached out to Baldwin with a scholarship offer on Friday night.
Marquette has extended a scholarship offer to 2021 F Patrick Baldwin Jr. (6-8) of Sussex Hamilton and Phenom University.
— Mark Miller (@WisBBYearbook) May 5, 2018
This month has been a great one for Baldwin, who also received offers from Arizona State, USC, DePaul, Kansas State, and Minnesota. Baldwin is blessed with great length and a frame that is bound to grow--and one that he’ll fill in--over the next few years. Aside from his physical tools, his play on the court is also at a level that is beyond his age.
His frame allows him to cause problems for opposing teams, when he’s on defense. He can disrupt passing lanes, rebound, and lay down some tough rejections. Offensively, he’s capable of scoring in a number of different ways. He can drive inside, finish around the basket, knock down mid-range jumpers, and even take off from deep. He has a textbook, smooth shooting stroke and is certainly not an easy player to guard. With such a great skillset at a young age, one that’s only bound to get better over time, it’s clear how well he’d fit in with Marquette. He can be another lengthy scorer like Sam Hauser, but possibly blossom into more of a two-way player.
His father, Patrick Sr., is the current head coach at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee--the one that replaced LaVall Jordan after he left for Butler. When his dad took the job, they moved to Wisconsin. Baldwin Jr. plays for Hamilton, in Sussex, Wisc. The Chargers struggled with inconsistency and an up-and-down regular season, before catching fire late in the year. They were able to close out the regular season on a high note and go a lot further than expected in the state playoffs. They went as far as the state semifinals, before being bounced out. Through it all, Baldwin was a bright spot. He averaged 16.3 points per game as a freshman, while shooting 41 percent from long range.