Kansas basketball: Christian Braun’s emergence adds to KU’s title hopes

It’s no surprise that the Jayhawks currently sit with a record of 10-1 and are ranked No. 6 in the country. The expectations coming into the season were high, as demonstrated by their No. 3 preseason ranking.

No, the surprise of the season so far has been the incredible play of junior guard Christian Braun.

To date, Braun is averaging 17.3 points, 6.5 rebounds, and 2.7 assists per game. A year ago, he averaged just 9.7 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 1.9 assists per game – showing the drastic improvement he made in his game this offseason.

In the month of December, Braun is averaging an astonishing 21.4 points per game.

Along with Ochai Agbaji’s 20.2 point average this month, they’ve become one of the most dangerous duos in all of college basketball, and perhaps the most dangerous scoring duo KU has seen in over 20 years.

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Head coach Bill Self told fans heading into the season that Braun – along with Dajuan Harris – was the most improved player on this team. But no one could have envisioned this leap.

Prior to the season, it wasn’t even a sure bet that Braun was going to start with Agbaji returning, Jalen Wilson returning, Harris back, and Remy Martin and Joseph Yesefu being added to the mix.

Now, as a top-100 scorer in college basketball, and the third leading scorer in the Big 12, Braun looks like the front-runner for the Big 12’s Most Improved Player award. That award was won by KU’s David McCormack last year.

Braun has also worked his way onto 2022 NBA Draft boards – something very few fans and scouts saw coming.

More importantly though, Braun’s massive improvement has made the Jayhawks even stronger title contenders than they were heading into this season.

We knew the Jayhawks had a talented roster returning, with experience across the board.

It was expected that Agbaji and McCormack – both All-Big 12 performers from a season ago – would be major contributors for this team. It was expected that Martin – who led the Pac-12 in scoring last year – would come in and be a difference maker for this team.

But not many expected Braun to be the second-leading scorer on the team heading into conference play.

His dedication to driving the basketball this year and pushing the tempo on fast breaks, has made for some easy buckets, more free throw opportunities, and a few highlight dunks along the way.

Braun is also playing with more energy and passion than he ever has at KU, and it’s a welcome sign for a KU team that seemed to lack that a year ago.

If Braun continues this performance through conference play, and players like McCormack and Wilson find their rhythm, the Jayhawks are going to be able to outscore anyone when the NCAA Tournament rolls around in March.