Baylor NBA Draft Profile: Forward Jeremy Sochan
Jeremy Sochan came to Waco flying under the radar compared to his freshman counterpart Kendall Brown, but after just one season of college basketball, Sochan has made a name for himself.
Whereas Brown came in as a five-star prospect at a national high school powerhouse (Sunrise Christian,) Sochan came out of relative obscurity in Europe.
The Oklahoma-born, Polish international who grew up outside of London was not ranked within the top 100 of prep prospects, even though he had been competing with and against season professionals on the Polish national team.
Although Sochan’s stat line isn’t dissimilar to Brown’s (9.2 PPG, 6.4 REB on 47% shooting vs. Brown’s 9.7/4.9/58%) it’s tough to deny Sochan had the greater development throughout the season. His game matured on both sides of the ball to the point where he was making NBA moves and NBA shots in Baylor’s most important games down the stretch.
Offensively, he has some learning to do, just like Brown. Sochan has a smooth game and he has shown glimpses of a shooting stroke, but it isn’t consistent enough as he shot right around 30% from three. While his offensive triple slash won’t wow anybody, he projects those numbers out to 14 points and 10 rebounds per 40 minutes.
If he was playing upperclassman minutes or perhaps was allowed to freelance offensively like someone playing for a mediocre program, his stats would have jumped off the page. Instead, he was a key cog in a top-10 program that had lost four starters from a national championship team the year before.
Sochan has really impressed the scouts, though, on the defensive end, where his stats definitely back up the hype. His 7’0” wingspan and athleticism allow him to guard pretty much anyone on the floor. Playing in the toughest conference in college basketball, Sochan was one of the league’s most efficient defenders. His defensive rating was fourth in the Big 12 at 89.4 and his Box +/- (player’s +/- above the average player) was 4.4, the 6th best in the Big 12.
Beyond the stats, Sochan was constantly put in tough situations this season and thrived.
After Johnathan Tchamwa-Tchachoua went down in February, Sochan was the only option at center behind Flo Thamba and yet his numbers and rebounding prowess never dipped even while playing as a 6’9” freshman center.
Sochan was one of the conference’s best rebounders by advanced metrics and his basketball instincts can’t be measured, but they are off the charts.
Sochan also delivered in the biggest games, beating his scoring average by almost four points a game the last eight games of the season. He tied his career high in points in an upset victory over eventual national champion Kansas and absolutely battled in the paint with Armando Bacot with 15 points and 11 rebounds.
Best Case: Pascal Siakam
As much as I laud Sochan’s defensive ability, he still made his fair share of freshman mistakes. That said, he has to be one of the most polished defenders in the draft and his potential on the defensive end is mouth watering.
His size, strength and athleticism could make him an elite wing defender who can play inside and out. He has a long way to go to catch up to the offensive ability that allowed Siakam to become an All-NBA player but, honestly, he looks more apt to reach Siakam’s offensive numbers than even Siakam did when he came out of college.
Worst Case: Adam Morrison
Morrison’s skillset was pretty similar to Sochan’s in college, but Morrison did get more of that free reign at Gonzaga. Couple that with his development as a three-year college player and Morrison was a National Player of the Year and a cult hero.
Morrison’s offensive numbers in his freshman season are eerily similar to Sochan’s and his improvement on those numbers resemble a track I think Sochan was headed on. Even with his elite scoring in his final college season, Morrison never adapted in the NBA.
He wasn’t a trustworthy defender or rebounder and struggled to create. With the changes in the NBA game today, if Sochan can’t find a jumper that at least allows his team to space the floor, he will have wished he could have at least been a cult hero.