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Published Mar 23, 2022
Notebook: Christian Braun, Jalen Wilson preview Sweet Sixteen and more
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Conner Becker  •  JayhawkSlant
Staff Writer
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@ctbecker

As the Midwest region rounds the corner into the Sweet Sixteen, No. 1 seed Kansas will be in for another true endurance test Friday night with the No. 4 seeded Providence Friars.

Tipping off its NCAA Tournament with some strong momentum carried over from its Big 12 Championship in Kansas City, Missouri, the Jayhawks are seeing multiple names clicking at the right time.

Arguably the most impactful player right now, Remy Martin, was a focal point during Tuesday’s media availability before returning to the tournament trail.

Ahead of Friday’s matchup in Chicago, junior Christian Braun and redshirt sophomore Jalen Wilson shared their thoughts on Martin’s resurgence from his knee injury, as the super senior’s stolen the show over the past couple of weeks after emerging back onto the team’s active roster.

Martin’s posted four-straight double-digit scoring performances and has been a cornerstone of Kansas’ first and second-round victories over Texas Southern and Creighton. Braun firmly believes it’s a different Kansas squad with Martin on the floor

“His speed gives us a different dimension,” Braun said.

“His energy helps all of us throughout the game,” he added. “He’s actually playing really good defense now... He kept us in the game at Creighton and got us the win.”

Witnessing Martin’s recovery first-hand, Wilson said his teammate approached the difficult situation and handled the large gap of missed dates due to nursing his knee.

“Just his attitude,” Wilson said. “He was always focused, always trying to be a leader on and off the court. His confidence never left him at all. His spirit, whether he was playing or not, he was always the first one off the bench to help us.”

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Scoping out Providence

The next obstacle in Kansas’ path to the Final Four is a Providence team that’s battle-tested and prepared to make a strong case for the Elite Eight. Led by graduate center Nate Watson (13.5), the Friars have a dependable paint presence and are led up top Al Durham, a quick-twitch guard, and fellow graduate senior.

Exerting their versatile shooting across the floor against No. 12 seed Richmond (52%), the Friars’ shooting trends caught the eye of Kansas’ Wilson on television.

“They’re able to shoot the ball from all positions spacing the floor,” Wilson said. “In the game against Richmond, (Durham) can shoot, left-handed guy. (It's) the same game like Creighton, three-point shooting team.”


Keeping track of Providence throughout the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament, Braun said it’s a program that’s been sharpening itself each year heading into 2022.

“They shot the ball really well last game (vs. Richmond),” Braun said. “They’re an older team, an experienced team and they were really successful this year. We’ve got to lock in and get to know them better and better over the next few days. But they’re a good team, they’re in the Sweet Sixteen for a reason.”

Looking to track down what makes Providence click, Kansas has been exploring the Friars’ offensive approach in the film room.

“We went over their flexible offense a little bit yesterday,” Braun said.

“They want a pretty compact offense,” he added. “They’re coming off curls, guys shooting it. They’ve got a lot of guys that can knock shots down... They’re a great challenge for us, they’re going to be a fun team to play against. Like I said, they were really successful, so we’re excited to get to know more about them.”

Playing confident basketball

At a time where Kansas is playing arguably their best ball of the season, the Sweet Sixteen is the next step towards a Final Four appearance. Between Martin’s resurgence and the team’s holistic improvement walking into March, KU has a decent hand at this juncture in the tourney.

Pumped to be on the big stage again, Braun says the Jayhawks couldn’t be more amped heading into Friday night.

“We’re super confident,” Braun said. “We’ve got everybody firing on all cylinders, playing well. We’ve got everybody doing a little something, (Jalen Coleman-Lands) made a couple of big plays last week, so everybody’s playing well and we’re excited. This is what we all played for, the weekend we’ve been wanting to get to. We’ve got two games (to the Final Four), we’re going to take them one at a time.”

But the Jayhawks aren’t the only Big 12 members psyched to be in a position for a deep run into the bracket. Both West 3-seedTexas Tech and fellow Midwest 11-seed Iowa State also remain contenders making strong cases for the Elite Eight and Final Four.

When asked about his thoughts on having a team like Iowa State hang around, Wilson said it's just another example of the quality of basketball coming out of the conference.

“It shows how well the Big 12’s been this whole year,” Wilson said. “For them to go really hot and then kind of go cold. But they’re still tested, still playing good games every single night in the Big 12 and now they get to the tournament where it’s the most important and they’re playing good. It just shows how this conference was the entire year.”

Hear everything Christian Braun and Jalen Wilson said on SLANT TV.

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