Patrick Baldwin Jr. has signed a National Letter of Intent with the Milwaukee men’s basketball team, head coach Pat Baldwin announced today.
Baldwin Jr., a 6-foot 10-inch forward, comes to Milwaukee after playing at Hamilton Sussex High School. He is a consensus five-star recruit and one of the highest-ranked players in the 2021 class.
“First of all, it’s a very emotional day for Patrick and for our family and we are extremely happy that he has finally come to a conclusion on his decision on where he wants to go to school,” Baldwin Sr. said. “I am extremely happy for him – he has waited for this moment ever since he could dribble a basketball.”
Named a 2021 McDonald’s All-American in late February – the first time a player from the state of Wisconsin has earned the distinction in six years – Baldwin was also named the 2020 Gatorade Wisconsin Player of the Year after leading Hamilton to a 22-3 record while averaging 24.3 points and 10.8 rebounds per game.
“Extremely happy for him and for the Milwaukee Panther basketball family,” Baldwin said. “When you talk about getting great teammates in here and guys that are bought in to what you are doing and obviously, have some talent as well. We have certainly increased our ability to score and to do some great things. I think that Patrick will definitely pair extremely well with the current players we have in our program and will add a tremendous amount of depth to our lineup as well.”
Baldwin Jr. chose Milwaukee over a final Top 10 that consisted of Duke, Georgetown, Kentucky, Michigan, Northwestern, North Carolina, UCLA, Virginia, Wisconsin, and the Panthers.
The top shooting forward recruit in the country, Baldwin suffered a season-ending ankle injury in the second contest of the season this winter, unable to play the rest of the way. He scored 1,595 points for the Chargers and was on pace to go finish with over 2,000 before the injury.
Baldwin is considered the No. 4 player nationally in the class of 2021 according to 24/7 Sports composite rankings. He is currently listed as No. 4 by both RIVALS.com and ESPN (where he was No. 1 at one point prior to the injury).
Baldwin Jr., is the highest-ranked recruit to ever sign with a Horizon League program. The only other comparison is Ray McCallum Jr., who played at Detroit Mercy (2010-13) for his father as his coach. McCallum was a consensus top 50 player in high school, was ranked as the No. 5 guard and the No. 17 overall recruit in the nation by ESPN.
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