Jeremy Sochan was the best player coming off the bench this college season. As Big 12 Sixth Man of the Year, Sochan provided excellent play for Baylor. Baylor isn’t shy to pumping out NBA talent and Sochan will be no exception.
Jeremy Sochan 2022 NBA Draft Profile
College Career
Sochan had many offers as a 4-star recruit out of high school. He had offers from highly accoladed schools including Kansas, Virginia, and Arizona to name a few. Sochan chose Baylor because of the relationships he developed with the coaching staff before committing. This ended up being one of his best decisions. Although he wasn’t named a starter, he had the chance to develop and show his skills off the bench.
In Sochan’s only year at Baylor they finished 27-7 and lost in a heartbreaking overtime game against North Carolina in the tournament. Sochan tried his best off the bench to keep this team afloat. As a do-all player Sochan averaged 9.2 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 1.8 assists. Sochan also applied pressure defensively with 1.3 steals. He did this all in only 25 minutes per game.
Strengths
Sochan is a Swiss Army Knife type of player. He’s so efficient at so many things and is a plug-and-play player. His offense is highlighted with solid dunks. He’s a lob threat that has an insane I.Q. for cutting and positioning. His ability to get open down low makes him effective without the ball in his hands. His athletic prowess makes him a lob threat down low. He can also play with the ball in his hand being able to knock down the occasional midrange.
Sochan is also a touted player defensively. With his big frame of 6′ 9″ 230 pounds, Sochan can body people down low. This makes it difficult to drive on him at ease. His athletic gifts also make it easy to jump passing lanes and rack up steals. This also helps his rebounding as he can box out at ease. His big frame also allows him to go over players to snag a board or hit it out to someone on the wing.
Weaknesses
In the three point era, three point shooting is seen as almost a necessity. This will hinder Sochan who shot a measly 29.6% from three. This doesn’t just look like a slump either as he shoots 58.9% from the free-throw line. Sochan needs to develop consistency in his shooting in order to reach his full potential.
The scoring ability is there, but sometimes it isn’t capitalized. Sochan will choose to take contested pull-ups and layups rather than trying to find a better shot. This settling for shots is part of the reason his efficiency is much lower than other prospects ranked as highly as him.
Despite Sochan’s athleticism, he has issues on being a vertical threat. Offensively he tends to jump into players rather than over which leads to unconverted layups. He also isn’t as much of a presence down low defensively and contest shots. He averages only 0.7 blocks per game along with 2.3 fouls. Sochan needs to be able to contest efficiently without being fouled off the court.
NBA Comparison
An NBA comparison for Jeremy Sochan is Brandon Clarke. Both are system players that have a down low presence. Clarke has been able to thrive as a cutter and scorer down low. He’s proven it isn’t necessary to have a consistent shot in order to have success in this league. Clarke and Sochan have shown potential playmaking in limited rolls. If Sochan hopes to have the success of Clarke he needs more of an interior presence.
Draft Projection
In the Sports Illustrated list of the top 100 prospects, Sochan was considered the 9th best prospect. This means he will most likely be selected somewhere in the lottery. Without consistent shooting Sochan might be taken on as a project to a rebuilding team. With crazy athleticism and I.Q. Sochan has a very high ceiling but also a low floor.
