Report: Jeremy Roach, Norchad Omier withdrawing from NBA Draft, will play at Baylor
The Baylor Bears just received some big-time draft news. On Tuesday, college basketball insider Jon Rothstein revealed that two of head coach Scott Drew’s transfer portal acquisitions from this year’s off-season have withdrawn from the 2024 NBA Draft. Former Miami Hurricanes forward Norchad Omier and ex-Duke Blue Devils guard Jeremy Roach will be suiting up for the Bears next season.
“Sources: Norchad Omier and Jeremy Roach have both officially withdrawn from the 2024 NBA Draft and will play for Baylor next season.”
“The Bears will enter 2024-25 as a Final Four contender under Scott Drew,” said Rothstein via X.
Drew has been excited and anticipating working with is transfer acquisitions, and recently went as far as to say Roach ‘seemed like a perfect fit for us.’
Roach averaged 11.3 points, 3.1 assists, and 2.4 rebounds on 43.9% shooting overall and 35.5% from three. He did that in 130 games at Duke, including 108 starts. As a senior this year, which was his third as a team captain, he posted career numbers at 14 ppg., with 3.3 assists and 2.5 rebounds while shooting 46.8% from the field and 42.9% from three.
For his new forward, Drew has this to say about Omier.
“Well I think his toughness, strength, size, I mean the guy’s a beast,” Drew said. “I think Charles Barkley was a really good rebounder at 6’4.5 and you can’t measure toughness and heart, and he has a lot of that and then he has size and athleticism. Speaking more to his rebounding right now, I mean Rico Gathers was an unbelievable rebounder and he wasn’t 6’10, he wasn’t 7-feet (tall).”
For his career, Omier has averaged 15.2 points and 11 rebounds per game. Potentially serving as a valuable asset for Baylor on the glass after finishing ninth in the Big 12 in rebounding last season. And in a recent press conference, head coach Scott Drew spoke about what makes Omier so effective as a rebounder and scorer.
On3’s Kaiden Smith and Sam Gillenwater contributed to this story