RIVALS says its Duke:
Over the weekend, our Corey Evans reported that top three junior
Patrick Baldwin Jr. is
down to a final 10 of
Duke,
Georgetown,
Kentucky,
Michigan, Milwaukee,
North Carolina,
Northwestern,
UCLA,
Virginia and
Wisconsin.
Perhaps as fundamentally sound and skilled as any player in the country, regardless of class, Baldwin Jr. is the son of a coach (
Patrick Baldwin Sr. who heads up Milwaukee and played his college ball at Northwestern) and it shows. Not only is he sound, he's a quiet killer who doesn't back off the gas pedal when he's got an opponent down.
So, who is the favorite? Right now it sure looks to be Duke. That's who I made my Futurecast pick for last week and the Blue Devils hold basically every pick that has been made to this point. It's understandable, he fits and he thinks highly of
Mike Krzyzewski. But, it's not totally a done deal yet. I do think there's some intrigue with Kentucky, Northwestern could be a sleeper because of family ties and of course Milwaukee could be an interesting spot as long as his father is the head coach.
But for now, let's set Duke as the favorite.