Will it the five-star phenom play for Coach K, his dad or Northwestern, the school he loves?
Tribune story
Tribune story
Teddy G on Pat Baldwin Jr.
- Thread starter lou v
- Start date
Wow! Just wow. Everyone needs to read this article. I never thought we had a real shot at landing PBJ until now. The Northwestern connection and ties are real and meaningful. I thought us finally making the tournament was the turning point for the program. I now think that it will be the 2021 class. Can this happen please?
Also, over the summer I half jokingly started a thread titled, "Fire Collins to get PBJ" that had about 100 comments. After reading this article and seeing the genuine love and passion that Baldwin and his wife have for Northwestern (GO U NU was the entrance to their wedding) then I'm no longer joking. We will be coming off a disaster of a season that will be our 3rd straight losing season. We will have maybe 2 Conference wins. If PBJ is a package deal with his dad, I say everything has to be on the table.
It's not like CC is setting the world on fire and results wise it can't get that much worse than 1 win in conference. We can find another coach like Collins. We will probably never see another top 3 recruit whose parents are NU alumns and bleed purple. Throw in the fact that he was a ball boy for the cats and this is literally a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Perfect storm, all options should be discussed.
Also, over the summer I half jokingly started a thread titled, "Fire Collins to get PBJ" that had about 100 comments. After reading this article and seeing the genuine love and passion that Baldwin and his wife have for Northwestern (GO U NU was the entrance to their wedding) then I'm no longer joking. We will be coming off a disaster of a season that will be our 3rd straight losing season. We will have maybe 2 Conference wins. If PBJ is a package deal with his dad, I say everything has to be on the table.
It's not like CC is setting the world on fire and results wise it can't get that much worse than 1 win in conference. We can find another coach like Collins. We will probably never see another top 3 recruit whose parents are NU alumns and bleed purple. Throw in the fact that he was a ball boy for the cats and this is literally a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Perfect storm, all options should be discussed.
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I hope so! One of my favorite moments as a law clerk was citing an article that I wrote in an opinion.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-chicagolive-guest-teddy-greenstein-html-htmlstory.html
His bio says he graduated in 1994, so he would have been a freshman in 1990, right?
You're right. November of 1990 was the fall of Teddy's freshman year. I doubt that he was covering basketball for the Daily two months into his freshman year, but I guess you never know.
I have nothing in particular against Coach K, but it would be great if Northwestern, of all schools, could end his run of snatching the top Illinois and Midwest players away from Midwest schools. I guess the classic example of it was when Weber couldn't get Scheyer to Illinois despite the fact that Weber's brother was Scheyer's HS coach.
He loves the program. Welsh Ryan is his paradise. His tongue slipped. This is going to happen folks. This is going to happen for us. We are going to land Baldwin AND Christie, and I bet Goode too.
GO CATS
Scheyer’s dad was a lifelong Duke fan. Had an office decorated with Duke stuff. Dad trumps a high school coach.
In this case, he did. Many teens I've known over the years would love to do just the opposite of what Dad wants them to do.
And of course Collins spurned Illinois for Duke and then helped Coach K get Scheyer from his old high school. The North Shore is basically K's territory. I'm not totally pessimistic here, but how do any of the disciples beat the master?
Family. Playing ball for your father's alma mater (and maybe wearing his number) seems like a pretty cool thing.
Family could also lead him to play for his dad, which also seems like a pretty cool thing. Baldwin's situation reminds me a little bit of Ray McCallum's. Remember him? He was a four-star kid a decade or so ago out of Detroit. He wasn't quite the prospect that Patrick is, but he was the a Top 50 player in the country and had offers from Arizona and UCLA, among others. He wound up playing for his dad, Ray McCallum Sr., at the University of Detroit.
I'm not saying that's going to happen, but don't forget about the pull of his dad at Milwaukee.
JA graduated in the spring of 1990. He was in my hallway in Allison Hall in the 1986-87 school year as a freshman.
That's a GREAT comparison. But the one wrinkle is that his dad played for Ball State which (I think?) is in the MAC. So splitting the difference and playing for his dad's alma mater was never really an option for a player like him who was trying to get to the league. So it was either: (a) play for dad in a small conference; (b) play for dad's alma mater in a small conference; or (c) play for a school in a big conference with no personal connection.
I'm hoping that dad's alma mater being in the Big 10 carries the day, but again great name to bring up.
Note that Duke already has a commitment from the #3 ranked small forward, AJ Griffin. Not saying they wouldn't also take PBJ but......
Is PBJ projected as a SF? He's 6'10, I think he's gotta be at least a PF and maybe even a 5 if a team goes "small" lineup.
That's how he shows up on recruiting sites. And like his Dad says, "he wants to say he's 6'9" because otherwise they'll want to play him at a 4 or 5".
That's a really fair point. I don't think any team is turning down his commitment because they are full at the SF slot. But if your point is that PBJ himself may not want to go to a crowded front court, then I agree this plays in our favor.
Trey Zeigler played for his dad the same time at Central Michigan. He transferred to Pitt when his father was fired at CMU.
I honestly think that Milwaukee is our biggest threat. I don't think PBJ goes to Coach K. It's between playing for his Dad vs. playing for his Dad's alma mater and his paradise - the school he grew up loving. Dammit I wish PBS were still on the staff.
K will not lose a recruiting war to CC. He and Nike will crush him. Now if dad gets let go at Milwaukee and is brought back all bets are off.
Baldwin has to commit first no way Christie makes that first move.
Come on. Do you think Pat Sr. is going to leave a head coaching gig to come back to an assistant role at NU? No way. Not unless he's fired, and that's not happening anytime soon.
The timing probably does not work. He is in year 3 and again has a losing record, now if he has a 4th straight year of high double digit losses with a losing record he probably is gone but that will be after his son has already signed.
But he may have seen the game and remembered an article posted in Daily Northwestern or where ever it was
Timing a double whammy. If his Dad doesn’t win this year, he may have a short rope, and then Jr may need to go to UWM to save his job.
Adande lived in the "Virgin Vault"?; odd. How many years can Coach K have left? Maybe he'll retire before the 2021 class even matriculates
willycat said:
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lou v said:
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Come on. Do you think Pat Sr. is going to leave a head coaching gig to come back to an assistant role at NU? No way. Not unless he's fired, and that's not happening anytime soon.[/quote]
More money?
We all know NU is on the low end in assistant coach money. But it’s about more than money. The guy started coaching at somewhere called Lincoln University in Missouri in 2001 and worked his way up to finally get a head coaching gig in 2017. He’s not going to walk away from that. All assistants dream of being a head coach. It makes no sense to go backward. Even if it’s at his alma mater, it’s a job he’s already had and left.
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lou v said:
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Come on. Do you think Pat Sr. is going to leave a head coaching gig to come back to an assistant role at NU? No way. Not unless he's fired, and that's not happening anytime soon.[/quote]
More money?
We all know NU is on the low end in assistant coach money. But it’s about more than money. The guy started coaching at somewhere called Lincoln University in Missouri in 2001 and worked his way up to finally get a head coaching gig in 2017. He’s not going to walk away from that. All assistants dream of being a head coach. It makes no sense to go backward. Even if it’s at his alma mater, it’s a job he’s already had and left.
It is not unprecedented for a head coach at D1 level to leave for an assistants job at a larger program and in the process make more money. Fife did it to go to MSU, Ralph Willard left Holy Cross to go to Louisville come to mind but it is quite unusual