Despite all odds and constantly compiled difficulties, the Baylor Men’s Basketball team had great success over the 2021-22 season! Back in March, the then-ranked No. 3 Men’s Basketball team inked their second consecutive regular season title in Waco! The Bears closely held off Iowa State, 75-68 despite missing leading scorer LJ Cryer and defensive star Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua. Prior to head coach Scott Drew’s tenure, Baylor had only made the Final Four in 1948 and 1950 and the NCAA tournament in 1988. In 2003, the Bears made headlines after a player killed one of his teammates and the head coach at the time covered it up. Since Drew was hired that same year, he’s recorded a school record 398 in 19 years and before this year, notched a postseason record of 21-9 since 2009. Much of the program’s success is due to Drew and his staff’s impeccable recruiting skills that mostly recently manifested in acquiring international standouts Jeremy Sochan and now Miro Little.
Sochan joined fellow NBA Draft-eligible Kendall Brown as the Bears’ freshmen stars of the 2021-22 season. At the beginning of the season, Baylor looked just as good and if not better than they did last year as National Champions thanks to the talents of Sochan, Brown, Cryer, and Tchamwa Tchatchoua. However with the majority of the team suffering injuries of some sort, the Bears couldn’t manifest a consecutive national title (but they still notched back-to-back Big 12 titles!). Despite the lack of country-wide success, the Bears still saw excellent performances and results primarily from Sochan and Brown. On Thursday, Sochan announced he’d be leaving the Baylor program to enter the 2022 NBA Draft. The announcement isn’t a surprise as Sochan’s talents have brought him notoriety in the professional league. During his one season in college, he averaged approximately 10 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, and 1 steal each game. The Bears will certainly miss Sochan’s skills, teamwork, and personality, but we should all be excited to see him excel at the next level!
And when one Bear leaves, another enters! Baylor just earned the commitment of absolute star PG Miro Little from Finland! Little currently sits at 6-foot-4 and 185-pounds and is attending Helsinki Basketball Academy in Finland. As the first commit in the Bears’ 2023 class, Little will certainly add the PG link Baylor needs moving forward. He chose Baylor over Villanova and Indiana because he said, “Everything felt just right, the staff, the program, the way they play and their record of developing guards.” It’s not a bad time at all to be a Bear!
