FORT WORTH, Texas — Baylor’s Jeremy Sochan has turned heads as a freshman because of his unique hairstyles and his political messages.
At the Big 12 tournament, Sochan wore a “Stand With Ukraine” T-shirt before Baylor’s quarterfinal loss to Oklahoma, he dyed his hair blue (one of the colors of the Ukrainian flag) and he wore shoes that read “No War” in protest of the invasion by Russia. Sochan wasn’t made available to the media Wednesday, but he was spotted at practice with pink hair, and someone noted on Twitter that Sochan may be up to six different hairstyles this season.
The Athletic had fun with it last month, writing that Sochan “changes his hair color as much as Dennis Rodman.”
But the 6-9 forward, who has traveled the world to get to this point, has also been invaluable on the court as Baylor attempts to become just the second team in 30 years to win back-to-back national titles, something that only Florida has accomplished (in 2006 and 2007) in that span. With Baylor riddled with injuries, fellow freshman Kendall Brown — Sochan’s roommate — has also played a critical role in the Bears earning a No. 1 seed for the second straight season.
As Baylor (26-6) opens its NCAA Tournament at 1 p.m. Thursday at Dickies Arena against 16th-seeded Norfolk State (24-6), the 6-8 Brown ranks third on the team in scoring at 10.0 points and shoots 59.5% from the field, while Sochan averages 8.8 points and 6.2 rebounds. Sochan was named the Big 12 sixth man of the year, and Brown and Sochan were both unanimous selections for the all-freshman team in a conference that sent six teams to the NCAA Tournament.
“Normally with freshmen you get more ups and downs than you do with upperclassmen,” Baylor coach Scott Drew said.
“Because of the injuries that our team has gone through, it has made it where we needed more consistency out of them if we were going to win, and they have delivered. They have done a great job of helping us win the toughest conference in the country, along with Kansas.”
Brown is one of two players to start every game for Baylor, along with 6-10 senior forward Flo Thamba, the only returning starter from last season’s championship squad. Going into the week there was uncertainty about whether Brown would be able to play Thursday because of a lower body injury, but Drew said Wednesday that Brown is fine physically and is ready to go.
Baylor lost two starters from last year’s team to the NBA, another is playing in the NBA G League, and a fourth is now in the NFL. Then, in October, four-star freshman guard Langston Love suffered a torn ACL that ended his season before it even started.
The injury news only got worse from there.
Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua, the team’s leading rebounder and the Big 12 co-Defensive Player of the Year, was lost to a season-ending knee injury in mid-February. Leading scorer LJ Cryer, who averages 13.5 points and shoots 46.8% from 3-point range, hasn’t played since Feb. 16 because of a foot injury, and Drew said that Cryer won’t be available for at least the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament.
On top of that, guards James Akinjo and Adam Flagler, who both average 13.4 points, missed multiple Big 12 games.
So Baylor has given key minutes to Brown and Sochan. They haven’t disappointed, as Baylor won a school-record 26 regular season games and shared the Big 12 regular season title with Kansas.
“We don’t really consider them freshmen,” Flagler said. “Their growth and determination and their coach-ability has really been pivotal in how we are winning. They are going to continue to help us.”
Brown was a five-star recruit who grew up in Minnesota and played for Sunrise Christian Academy in Kansas before becoming the fourth McDonald’s All-American to ever sign with Baylor. He learned basketball from his dad, Courtney, who played professionally in Europe and South America and was a member of the Harlem Globetrotters.
Brown scored in double figures in his first eight games and in 11 of the first 12 as Baylor started 15-0. He leads Baylor with 41 dunks and has a team-high three double-doubles.
“Going into the year, I knew they had the potential to be major contributors,” Drew said.
Sochan is from England, but before reaching Baylor he played high basketball in Indiana and Germany and became the youngest player to ever compete for the Polish men’s national team. The four-star recruit has scored a career-high 17 points against Kansas, TCU and Alabama, all NCAA Tournament teams, and Baylor is 24-4 when he plays.
Sochan was mentioned in The Ringer’s guide for the 2022 NBA draft, with it saying that he has shades of Ben Simmons, Draymond Green and Aaron Gordon. Their scouting report on Sochan was, “Capable of excelling as an athletic two-way player who can defend all five positions, and if he develops a jump shot he has limitless potential.”
Baylor is in a loaded East Region that includes No. 2 seed Kentucky, No. 4 seed UCLA and No. 8 seed North Carolina. Those three have won more national championships than any other schools in NCAA history — UCLA with 11, Kentucky with eight and North Carolina with six.
Now using a rotation that includes only seven players, Baylor will need its two freshmen to continue to play like veterans to return to the Final Four.
