In our latest installment of “Getting To Know,” we go one-on-one with yet another of the fabulous freshmen in the BIG EAST this season, Butler’s Kamar Baldwin. The “Wizard of Winder” (Georgia), who may also be the most polite fellow in the conference, gives us the scoop on how he wound up at Butler, on his unofficial position of “assistant coach” of his former high school team, what he thinks of the other top freshmen in the conference, why every call from mom and dad after a game is not always a pick-me-up and why these Bulldogs, with five wins already over ranked teams, could be a very important player in the NCAA Tournament in March.
BIGEAST.com: Kamar, you had an incredible career at Apalachee High School back home in Georgia when you averaged double-doubles during your sophomore, junior and senior years. Yet you never cracked the ESPN Top 100 recruits list and were listed as a three-star recruit. Did people miss the boat on the kind of talent you are?
BALDWIN: “Well. I’m not from Atlanta, like in the city, so some would say I didn’t play against great competition. That’s a lot of what I heard. But I just did whatever I had to do to get my team a win in high school.”
(Just an FYI: Kamar averaged 26.5 points and 10.4 rebounds as a sophomore, 27.2 and 10.2 as a junior and 29.6 and 10.8 as a senior).
BIGEAST.com: You were obviously courted by Butler as well as TCU, USC and Providence. But did you think you should have been recruited by a greater number of high-level programs than you were?
BALDWIN: “I wasn’t really worried about whether big-name schools came after me or not. I was just looking for the right fit for me and Butler happened to be the right fit for me and I’m glad it was.”
BIGEAST.com: You are the all-time leading scorer from Barrow County (Ga.) after a stellar career at Apalachee. I understand you are still in contact with your old coach Kevin Morris and your former teammates. How is that long-distance relationship working out?
BALDWIN: “I love it. It just shows they still have my back and support me even though I’m not there. I have watched their high school games that they’ve played this year on film, so I give feedback to the guys I played with last year. I just tell them what they can do better from what I saw last year and also from my college experience what would help them along the way in their high school experience.”
BIGEAST.com: There is a great contingent of freshman talent in the BIG EAST this season with you, Marquette’s Markus Howard, Creighton’s Justin Patton and Shamorie Ponds and Marcus LoVett of St. John’s to name but a few. You’ve already played against some of them. What do you think of the influx of young talent in the conference this season?
BALDWIN: “It’s very good. To me, the BIG EAST is recruiting at a very high level to bring guys like that in but it also shows their own dedication and how hard they work to be able to come in and have a big impact on their teams as freshmen. It’s great going up against those guys every night and it just shows that you’ve got to bring your ‘A’ game every night. There are no easy games in the BIG EAST.”
BIGEAST.com: So, there was the game-winning shot with 0.4 seconds left to beat Northwestern, you had a steal off Josh Hart and a layup late in the game to seal the win vs. No. 1 Villanova – handing the Wildcats their only loss of the season – and you dropped 21 points in a win last week vs. Xavier. How do you think your first year is going so far?
BALDWIN: “I’d say it’s going good. I still have a lot of work to do. I need to get better on defense and the offensive end. But I’m just playing our style and doing whatever the team needs me to do and help us get wins.”
BIGEAST.com: Do you have a personal favorite highlight this year?
BALDWIN: “I guess Northwestern. I just shot it and we got the win. That was the only thing going through my mind.”
BIGEAST.com: Does your family follow what you’re doing this season?
BALDWIN: “Yes sir, they do. They watch us on Fox Sports 1 a lot. My parents will call me after the game and tell me, ’Good game’ or tell me what I need to improve on, especially on the defensive end. They’re not shy. They let me hear it.”
BIGAST.com: Let’s talk about this Butler team. You were picked sixth in the BIG EAST’s Preseason Coaches’ Poll and all the Bulldogs have done so far is knock off five nationally-ranked teams, including three who were in the top 10, along with the No. 1 team in the country in Villanova. Do you think the so-called experts overlooked Butler a little bit?
BALDWIN: “I would say so. Butler is known to be the underdog so we just have to come in day in and day out and prove that we belong in this league. Nothing is given to us. We have to earn it no matter if we’re picked first or 10th in the league. We have to come out and prove that we belong in this league.”
BIGEAST.com: You get to play your home games in one of the more historic venues in all of college basketball. How cool is it to be able to call Hinkle Fieldhouse your home?
BALDWIN: “Yes sir, it is a great place. The fans here are amazing. They cheer for us real loud and they are a big help to us.”
BIGEAST.com: You arrived at Butler with the reputation as a big-time scorer. So with both Kellen Dunham and Roosevelt Jones having graduated, did you feel any pressure coming in to be an immediate contributor to the Bulldogs?
BALDWIN: “I didn’t feel any pressure. I just needed to come in and play my style of game and hopefully that would help the team. That’s what Coach Holtmann told me, just come in and play your style. That’s why they recruited me.”
BIGEAST.com: You’re not even 20 games into your career at Butler so are you just scratching the surface of what is to come in your career?
BALDWIN: “Oh yes sir, I would say so. But I’m just here to do whatever Coach Holtmann needs me to do, that’s what I’ll do. If I need to rebound more, get assists, pretty much anything to help the team win.”
BIGEAST.com: There have been many great players at Butler in recent years– Gordon Hayward, Matt Howard, A.J. Graves, Dunham and Jones to name a few. Are we looking at the beginnings of the next great player at Butler?
BALDWIN: “I hope so, yes sir.”
BIGEAST.com: This Butler team has already knocked off then-No. 8 Arizona, No. 22 Cincinnati, No. 9 Indiana, No. 1 Villanova and No. 15 Xavier. Is this Bulldog team capable of doing big things come tournament time in March?
BALDWIN: “Yes sir, I believe so. We have a very close locker room. All the guys are close. We bond really well and we hold each other accountable. When one of us messes up, we’re there to pick each other up and help each other get better. I believe that’s going to help us when we get to March. We have a lot of older guys who have played in the tournament as well so I think that will be a big factor once we get to March.”