Illinois' top eighth grader (I can't be the first poster with this...)
- Thread starter Medill90
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They've been making this poor kid mop the floors at Welsh-Ryan for years already. Terrible, that NCAA-industrial complex.
Patrick Jr. is also very good friends with 2018 prospect Talen Horton-Tucker, who also has an NU offer. THT played for Pat Sr. when he was six and has known the family since.
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Confused... if THT was six, that would have made Patrick Jr like three? THT is a HS JR, PJr is in 8th.
"Weird" that Collins saw the talent so early he hired Baldwin to get an in and then signed a deal running through his senior year at NU. That's playing the long game.
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I didn't say bad, I said weird. Do you dispute that it's weird to hear about an eighth grader's choice of high school?
Would you suggest that reading mainstream media reports about an eighth grade basketball player's choice of high school is "conventional", or "normal"?
My bad. I wrote that poorly and mixed up my seniors and juniors. THT played for Pat Baldwin Sr. at age six and has known the family since. He's been playing with Patrick Jr. for years, but probably not when PBJ (great initials; I sense a nickname) was three!
You make a good point 320 and I agree with you in principal.
In defense of the reporter, I get the sense that his perspective is that the current eight grade class is done with their primary school basketball and so he's free to write about their impact on the upcoming season. He focuses entirely on high school, IMO. He's interested in where kids go to college, but no obsessed with it.
The Chicago papers and H.S. analysts have ben noting the top 8th graders for quite a few years now. Not saying whether it's good or bad but guess just the sign of the times.
Well I hope Baldwin is still with the staff in 4 years, and not moving on to a head coaching position somewhere.
Even weirder that Bill Foster spent a scholarship on Senior just KNOWING that Junior would be a big-time recruit.
It's a shame he died last January, not having seen his full plan start to come to fruition. I know he built strong ties with Loyola in anticipation of this day.
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