Player Preview: Junior guard Christian Braun
Who: Christian Braun
Height: 6-foot-6
Weight: 210
Position: Guard
Class: 2019 (Junior)
Ranking: No. 93
Hometown: Burlington, Kan.
High School: Blue Valley Northwest HS
Why Kansas: There wasn't much drama, if any at all, when it came to the recruitment of Christian Braun, the 6-foot-6, 210-pound guard from Burlington, Kan. After helping Blue Valley Northwest to back-to-back-to-back State Championships, Braun committed to Kansas over serious interest from Creighton, DePaul, Illinois, Kansas State, Lehigh, Loyola (IL), Minnesota, Mississippi, Mississippi State, Missouri, Missouri State, Oklahoma, Saint Louis, Texas Tech, Tulane, Wake Forest, and others. Kansas decided to extend a scholarship offer to Braun late in his recruitment and, following an in-home visit with Bill Self and Norm Roberts, Braun verbally committed to Kansas.
The Skinny: During his four-year run at Blue Valley Northwest, Braun was tabbed the 2018-19 Gatorade Player of the Year in the state of Kansas. Furthermore, he was a two-time all-state selection and finished his high school career with 1,074 points. Braun, during his time as a Husky, was a member of three-straight Kansas 6A state championship teams.
Braun ended each of his final three seasons at Blue Valley Northwest with a State Championship trophy in hand. In leading BVNW high school to its third straight State Championship, Braun averaged 27.8 points, 9.3 rebounds, 3.8 assists, and 2.8 steals per game. BVNW finished the season with an overall record of 27-2
Braun was named MVP of the 2019 state tournament. As a junior, he averaged 14.2 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 3.1 assists his junior season. During the spring and summer months, Braun ran with MOKAN Elite on the AAU Circuit.
Since arriving in Lawrence, Braun, in 61 career games, is averaging 7.4 points, 4.0 rebounds, and 1.2 assists per game. During that same stretch, he’s connected on 39.8 percent of his field goals, 37.3 percent of his shots from behind the arc, and 77.1 percent of his free throws.
During his sophomore season, Braun, in 30 games, averaged 9.7 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 1.9 assists per game. He shot 38.0 percent from the field, 34.0 percent from behind the arc, and 78.6 percent from the free-throw line.
Braun has 35 career starts in 61 games in his two seasons at Kansas. He was an Academic All-Big 12 First Team honoree in 2020 and was nominated for Academic All-American. Braun comes from an athletic family, as his mother, father, aunt, and uncle all played NCAA Division I basketball, and his brother played at Missouri, but ultimately decided to transfer to Santa Clara in April
Awards: During his time at Kansas, Christian Braun has been named to the Academic All-Big 12 First Team [2021], All-Big 12 Honorable Mention [2021], Big 12 Player of the Week (12.28.2020), and Big 12 All-Freshman Team [2020].
As mentioned above, Braun, during his four-year run at Blue Valley Northwest, was tabbed the 2018-19 Gatorade Player of the Year in the state of Kansas. Furthermore, he was a two-time all-state selection and finished his high school career with 1,074 points. Braun, during his time as a Husky, was a member of three-straight Kansas 6A state championship teams.
Braun ended each of his final three seasons at Blue Valley Northwest with a State Championship trophy in hand. In leading BVNW high school to its third straight State Championship, Braun averaged 27.8 points, 9.3 rebounds, 3.8 assists, and 2.8 steals per game. BVNW finished the season with an overall record of 27-2
Braun was the MVP of the 2019 state tournament. As a junior, he averaged 14.2 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 3.1 assists his junior season. During the spring and summer months, Braun ran with basketball for MOKAN Elite on the AAU Circuit.
Bill Self on Christian Braun: "Christian is a player that we have followed watching him play through his AAU team, MoKan, but also through his highly successful career at Blue Valley Northwest,” Self said. “We have been aware of him for a long time but this summer is when he really intrigued us. He’s a player that has great size and great range. He’s an athlete that can make plays above the rim and with his versatility, we feel like he’s a perfect fit for what we are trying to do. Christian comes from an athletic family. His father was a walk-on player here. His mother was a terrific player at Missouri and his uncle Mike Sandbothe is a guy all KU fans remember from back in the late 1980s. We’re excited to have him here and certainly, he’ll be a guy that will make us better in multiple ways due to his versatility."
What to expect: Unless something drastic or unexpected happens, Christian Braun will likely find himself back in the starting rotation when the 2021-22 season kicks off in a few months. He started 30-of-30 games last year and there is no reason to believe that he won't be a full-time starter again this season. While nobody knows for certain what to expect when it comes to the starting five, it would appear that Ochai Agbaji, David McCormack, Remy Martin, and Braun have four of the starting spots in the rotation all but locked up.
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