Arizona landed another piece to the puzzle for next season on Thursday as French power forward Daniel Batcho was announced as a new commit for the 2020 class. The 6-foot-10 prospect is considered the top European big man to elect to play college basketball this year and he is certainly someone the Wildcats are excited to have in the mix starting next season.
Since international recruits are not as well known as their American counterparts, I decided to watch some film of Batcho to see what type of player the Wildcats are getting in the power forward prospect. Full game clips are harder to come by since he missed an entire season because of a torn ACL, but he had an impressive showing during the recent adidas Next Generation Tournament Belgrade back in February and walked away with the event's MVP award.
I was able to find full game tape of his 24-point, 15-rebound performance in the at event and decided to break down what stood out to me about the future UA big man.
Strengths
One thing that stands out right away is that he already has a good frame to step right in and start competing in his first season. There is certainly still room for him to bulk up, but it won't be a major overhaul when he arrives on campus and starts working with Chris Rounds. He's farther along than someone like Christian Koloko who the staff still has to work with to get bigger. He's definitely someone who is going to be working around the basket a lot so finding a player this late who can come in and handle that punishment is big for Arizona.
Batcho does a good job of establishing position in the low post and working from the position with impressive agility and a presence about him on the block. Not all bigs coming into college have that ability, but he is someone who isn't easily moved out of position down low and that is another positive to his game. He also doesn't look lost when he has the ball in his hands in that spot on the floor.
He's capable of making plays in pick-and-roll situations and has a nice awareness of where he needs to be to make the most of those moments.
One other element of his performance in the game I watched was his ability to position himself well for rebounds. So much about what makes players in that area is what happens before a shot even goes up and Batcho is good about getting himself in the best position to rack up rebounds. He had 15 boards in this particular game and many of them were a result of simply being in good position. Overall, he is a strong rebounder who should be able to help make that a strength of the power forward spot like Zeke Nnaji was able to do at the end of the season this year.
Weaknesses
On the offensive end he's going to have to work on becoming a better screener. There were moments when he just wasn't solid enough in that area and let the defender he was supposed to be picking get by him. There were also a couple instances when he could have been called for a moving screen. It is a part of his game that he's going to have to improve on as he takes that next step in his development at Arizona. He showed that he is more than willing to set screens but it is more about technique right now, which is what he'll have to improve on with college coaching.
He is much more of a prototypical power forward than a face-up four man, but he did get in some situations when he had the ball in his hand further away from the basket. He wasn't always the most efficient in those instances and there were a couple times when he lost his handle and turned the ball over or put himself in difficult positions because of it. Batcho had a tendency to get a bit reckless when he had to dribble and that is something he will have to clean up to make sure he stays on the floor playing under Miller.
If Arizona decides to have him play a similar role to what he has played with his team over in France those opportunities aren't going to be abundant, but he will still need to tighten up his ball-handling ability to avoid getting put in tough spots.
He is a strong help defender and he had three blocks in the game I watched with a couple of them coming in those types of situations because he has good awareness of where he is supposed to be on the floor. However, his on-ball defense is going to need some more work to become as efficient as he can on that end of the floor. He struggled some in the moments when he was put in ISO situations especially against quicker players. His agility shines much better on the offensive end than the defensive end at this point in his development.
My final thoughts
Batcho is not Zeke Nnaji, but he certainly has some of the same qualities to his game. One of the things that you can see from viewing his performances and looking up his stats is that he is an efficient player who is comfortable around the basket. Arizona should be able to have him step right in and start competing right away and to find a player like that in late April – even in the current situation – is impressive.
His rebounding ability is definitely something that stands out when watching him on tape and that is one of the skills that can carry over to the college game. Miller is always going to put high value on that skill and it is something Batcho should be able to do consistently with the Wildcats.
He has a good starting point before even arriving on campus and his experience playing in Europe should set him on the path of having a successful career at UA.
U18 CFBB Paris vs U18 Partizan NIS Belgrade – Euroleague basketball adidas Next Generation Junior Tournament (Feb. 23, 2020)
Stats: 24 points (10-14 FGs), 4-5 FTs, 15 rebounds (8 offensive), 3 blocks
