City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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Santa Clara picked a strange time to reach out to KJ Cochran for the first time. 

It was when the Perkiomen School senior was sidelined this spring with a broken ankle, unable to play for his K-Low Elite squad, that the Broncos staff reached out. They’d already seen the West Chester native the summer before, on the 16U Adidas circuit, and had watched film of him during his junior year at Perkiomen.

Head coach Herb Sendek and assistant Ryan Madry kept close tabs on Cochran all spring and into the summer, coming out to New Jersey to see him play with Perkiomen during the June live recruiting periods and to South Carolina in July for his Adidas sessions with K-Low.

“Coming from California, all the way on the other coast,” he said, “That (meant) a lot.” 

That communication kept up into the fall, culminating in an official visit Cochran took with his family — father Keith Cochran, mother Tammy James and sister Kayla Cochran — out to the San Jose (Cali.) school last weekend. Less than a week later, he announced his commitment to become a Bronco on Twitter. 

The distance was the toughest part to get over, but the 48 hours he spent on campus combined with the months of phone calls he’d had with the staff pushed him over the top.

“Me and my parents talked about it —  it was a little far, for sure,” Cochran said. “We talked about that, but once we went out there on my visit, my whole family loved it, I loved it a lot. 

“We talk about sacrifice and doing stuff you might not want to [...] that basketball can take you a lot of places. It feels like the right fit, even though it’s across the country; if that’s what you have to do, that’s what you have to do. I’m excited.”

A 6-foot-4 guard, Cochran is going into his second year at Perkiomen after two years at West Chester East, which he led into the PIAA Class 5A second round as a sophomore in 2023. He’s been a Division I recruit since his days as a Viking, pulling in his first offer from Saint Joseph’s in October of his sophomore year. More than two dozen schools ultimately extended a scholarship Cochran’s way, intrigued by his ability to play both guard spots, in addition to his length, physical upside, and a confident, affable personality on and off the court.

The Hawks were still involved in Cochran’s recruitment by the time he made his decision, as was Temple, where he took an official visit earlier in September. Cochran also took an official visit to Loyola (Chicago) in August, and had one planned for Boise State before he ended his recruitment. 

Cochran spoke positively of both Temple and St. Joe’s, saying “I love both of those staffs, I really appreciated their staffs, and I’m close with a lot of those guys.” But his attention was ultimately pulled further west, to a program that’s been on the verge of a breakthrough.

Cochran prepares to shoot a foul shot during the 2024 Donofrio Classic. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Santa Clara is entering its ninth season of the Sendek era, winning 20-plus games in each of the last three seasons, playing in the always-tough West Coast Conference. Though the Broncos are still looking for their first NCAA Tournament appearance since Steve Nash led them to back-to-back dances in 1994-95 and 95-96, Sendek’s had the program ranked inside or near the top 100 on KenPom each of the last three seasons after an average ranking around 177 his first five years.

Sendek’s also turned out a pair of NBA Draft first-rounders: Jalen Williams going 12th overall to the Thunder in 2022, and Brandin Podziemski going 19th overall to the Warriors a year later. It didn’t hurt in Cochran’s eyes that both of those players are 6-4/6-5 guards who weren’t five-star prospects coming out of high school.

Cochran specifically mentioned the player development portion of his official visit as one that really stuck with him, impressed as well by the fact that the program only offered three total players in the 2025 class, not even officially extending an offer his way until he got on campus. They were selective about who they recruited, he said, and their homework showed.

“Their whole staff coached a lot of guards that are my size and my IQ,” Cochran said, “and that was important to me, because they kept preaching, ‘we know what to do with you.’ [...]  that’s what they harped on, knowing what kind of guard I am and how to work with me, develop me.”

It didn’t hurt having a video from Nash as part of the pitch, the two-time NBA Most Valuable Player and former head coach of the Brooklyn Nets still around the program, occasionally showing up at games. Cochran was too young to remember when Nash was carving up the NBA with his passing and shooting, but he’s aware of his reputation.

“I didn’t know how much he was involved with Santa Clara, but to see how much he was involved with the program meant a lot,” he said.

Cochran will once again be a starter for Perkiomen School in his senior year as the Panthers go for their third straight PAISAA title, this time under new head coach Harry Morra. He’s the third Perkiomen senior to commit recently, joining Gabe Tanner (FGCU), the two both returning starters, as well as newcomer Jordan Gabriel (Marist).

Playing 40-minute games, with a 30-second shot clock, against some of the other top prep and private school competition in the Northeast (and beyond), should help Cochran be ready to get some early playing time in the WCC. Though the new transfer portal era means no early commitment will know exactly what situation they’ll be walking into a year later, Cochran’s confident that he’ll get a fair chance.

“They want me to come in and compete for a spot,” Cochran said. “They play [a lot of] guys and they play fast. I was talking to a lot of guys when I was on my visit, a lot of them played as freshmen, they talked about how (Sendek’s) going to give you a chance to earn your rights and fight for your spot.”