KU’s Braun has been working on his body, game. He’s ’100 percent’ better as sophomore
Equipped with protective masks, Kansas guards Christian Braun, Marcus Garrett and Tyon Grant-Foster joined Missouri forward Parker Braun and Blue Valley Northwest coach Ed Fritz as on-court coaches at Fritz’s summer camp for youths Wednesday afternoon at Drive5 Sports Center in Overland Park.
Lots of smiles were hidden beneath the face-shields as the 20 or so participants and the instructors obviously enjoyed being able to embrace basketball for two hours amid the lingering COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.
“It feels great. Being around the team is always good for us. We haven’t been able to do that in a while. Getting to do basketball stuff around my guys is good,” said 6-foot-6 sophomore Christian Braun, who like his older brother, Parker, played hoops for five-time state champion coach Fritz at BVNW.
Christian Braun, who as a part of the regular rotation averaged 5.3 points and 2.9 rebounds a game his freshman season for the Jayhawks (28-3), clearly has been working out diligently at his parents’ Overland Park abode since March 12, when KU students departed Lawrence for the remainder of the 2019-20 spring semester and 2020 summer session because of the pandemic.
“I’m 215 (pounds) with shoes on, so I’m probably 210,” said Braun, who indicated he weighed “199, 200” pounds in last season at KU.
Yes, he’s added about 10 pounds to an already sturdy frame that helped him grab a season-high nine rebounds against Oklahoma State, six boards against Oklahoma, five against Texas Tech, Texas, West Virginia and Iowa State and seven in a nonconference outing versus the Kansas City Roos. “I’m sure I’ll lose some during the season sweating and stuff. but I feel good (at this weight) now.”
Braun said he follows the guidance of KU’s coaches as well as trainer Ramsey Nijem, who in accordance with NCAA rules have been allowed to e-mail suggested drills to the Jayhawks players in advance of the 2020-21 season.
“There’s a lot of limited gym space. We can’t get in the gym all the time,” Braun said of workouts with friends in the Kansas City area. “Coach (Bill Self) has told us we need to stay doing something, whether it’s the weight room, pushups, ballhandling. Everybody has a ball. You’ve got to find a way.
“It’s not what you normally do (in the offseason), but dribbling the ball whenever you can, and getting in the weight room ... I’ve been working with Tyon a lot,” Braun added of weightlifting at his family’s residence. It is located about 20 miles from Schlagle and Indian Hills Community College graduate Grant-Foster’s parents’ house in Kansas City.
“I got to play with Marcus once, Ochai (Agbaji) once. I’ve seen a couple of the guys, nobody consistently except Tyon every day,” Braun said. “We have all been playing basketball a long time so all the guys have a really good idea of what it takes to be better — playing pickup, ballhandling. We do a lot of that ourselves.
“I think 100 percent,” Braun quickly responded when asked if he was a better player now than at the end of his freshman season despite the pandemic preventing players from spending their usual June and July in Lawrence. In-person summer school classes were canceled at KU, with all work to be completed online.
“If you ask any of the guys they would say they’ve been in the gym a lot. They’ve been working out a lot. You can’t sit back and watch or you’ll get passed up,” Braun said. “All of us have been in the gym and working. For me I’ve been trying to get stronger, gain weight, just be a better player overall for the team next year.”
Braun is part of a deep group of perimeter players that includes senior point guard Garrett, junior Grant-Foster as well as junior wing Agbaji, freshman combo guard Bryce Thompson, redshirt freshman point guard Dajuan Harris, redshirt freshman wing Jalen Wilson, sophomore wing Tristan Enaruna and frosh point guard Latrell Jossell. The KU big-man unit consists of junior David McCormack, seniors Mitch Lightfoot and Silvio De Sousa and freshman Gethro Muscadin.
“I think we can be just as good as last year. We’ve got a lot of guys like Tyon transferring in,” Braun said. “We’ve got new guys coming in that are really talented. We’ve got guys like Dajuan Harris (Rock Bridge High, Columbia, Missouri) that nobody’s seen that are really talented.
“I’ve played with those guys a long time. People don’t really know … Tyon could be one of the best scorers in the country. He’s a pro in my eyes. I’ve played with Dajuan since I was in seventh grade. He does little things not a lot of people want to do that go so far on a basketball court. I’ve seen what they’ve done but the Jayhawk fans haven’t been able to see it yet. They are really good players.”
Though Braun is enthused about 2020-21, he can’t help but wonder what might have been. KU was a couple days away from being named the overall No. 1 seed in the 2020 NCAA Tournament when the Big 12 and NCAA Tourneys were canceled on March 12.
“I would say everybody is still probably a little shaken up about the (NCAA) Tournament. We had a really good team this year and I think in our minds, everybody in the organization thought we’d be national champions,” Braun said. “Everybody is probably still a little sad about it. I think we’ve moved on. We’re all looking forward to next year.”
The Jayhawks are slated to report to campus for summer workouts on Aug. 2. Of course, nobody really knows if there will be a 2020-21 season.
“I am not worried at all. I’m not worried about anything yet, really,” Braun said. “It changes so much. I haven’t had time to worry about anything. I’m just hoping people stay healthy, take the precautions they need to take and hopefully we can have a season.”
Braun figures into coach Self’s plans after averaging 18.4 minutes a game and earning five starts as a productive freshman.
“Shooting is great to have and we definitely need that,” Self said recently of Braun, who hit 32 of 72 threes as a freshman for 44.4%. He iced six threes against Kansas State, good for a season-high 20 points in a home win over the Wildcats on Jan. 21. He also had three threes in both regular-season games versus Iowa State and three against Stanford and Monmouth.
“It’s not just him shooting the ball,” Self said. “It’s him being tough and competitive. He is beyond his years from a poise standpoint. He doesn’t seem to get rattled very easy. It seems whatever role we put Christian in, he responds. I think everyone would agree he had a tremendous freshman year. Considering where he was last year (ranked No. 93 in Class of 2019 by Rivals.com) and where he was projected to be, he’s way ahead of schedule.”
This story was originally published July 16, 2020 at 10:27 AM with the headline "KU’s Braun has been working on his body, game. He’s ’100 percent’ better as sophomore."
