Santa Clara transfer Parker Braun can be a valuable piece of Kansas basketball’s roster

LAWRENCE — Dajuan Harris Jr. is no stranger to Parker Braun, or his younger brother Christian.

Harris, a redshirt senior guard for Kansas basketball, is playing with Parker Braun this season. Braun, a graduate senior forward, transferred in from Santa Clara over the course of the offseason.

Harris, who was on the Jayhawks’ national championship team two seasons ago, won that title with Christian. Harris has remained in college since that title in 2022, while Christian left after that season to embark on a professional career in the NBA.

While Harris would tell you the two brothers are totally different, on and off the court, both came to Kansas to win. Both care about the Jayhawks. And with the season opener Monday against North Carolina Central, Braun will soon have the opportunity to play his part in this next chapter for the program.

“I’d love for him to be Hunter’s backup, and they could play some together, too,” said KU coach Bill Self, alluding to senior center and Michigan transfer Hunter Dickinson. “Parker’s athletic enough, he can — they can play some together. And he’s smart. And he’s playing more athletic. I think he’s had a really good last month or so, really good. But I still think that, from an aggressiveness standpoint, he could become more aggressive in going after balls and things like that.”

Self mentioned that desire for Braun to be more aggressive at Kansas’ media day last month, and has brought it up multiple times since. He did it as the Jayhawks previewed their exhibition game against Fort Hays State, and as they previewed their season opener against North Carolina Central.

Like his new teammates, there are still ways for Braun to improve despite arriving with Division I experience via Santa Clara and Missouri.

But that doesn’t mean the KU head coach is souring on Braun. Self also referred to Braun as one of the smartest players on the team, when it comes to understanding what they want him to do. Listed at 6-foot-10 and 235 pounds, Braun is someone in Self’s eyes who can stretch the floor offensively and has the potential to be someone who can defend the paint and protect the rim.

Dickinson will get into foul trouble at some point. The Jayhawks need someone who can step up at the 5-spot when needed. And while Self could turn to junior forward KJ Adams Jr., again, he’s hoping Braun can be that guy for them.

After the way the Jayhawks played during their last two exhibition games — they’re going to go that route for now.

“I’ve had a lot of different roles at a lot of different programs for a lot of years now, seen a lot of games, watched a lot of games, so I kind of know what the landscape is,” said Braun, asked Friday if his past experiences in college can help him settle in at Kansas. “It’s definitely helped me, I think, where I’m at right now. Just having that experience and being able to be in certain situations and look back to what — to different games or different practices or whatever where that’s came up before. So, yeah, that experience definitely comes in handy.”

Picking the Jayhawks as the team he’d spend his last season of college basketball with had a lot to do with Kansas itself. As Braun has mentioned, it offers a lot as the preseason No. 1 team in the nation and he’s looking forward to potentially playing in the NCAA tournament for the first time.

But it’s also a chance to play his final year at this level close to home.

Braun’s hometown is listed as Burlington, Kansas. Before he went to college, he played for Blue Valley Northwest High School. KU wasn’t the only school he said he was considering, but at the end of the day he noted it is hard to pass up an opportunity like this.

“I think Kansas sells itself,” Braun said during the team's media day. “I don’t think (Self) really has to do anything. You get the opportunity to play here. I mean, I don’t think that you should look at it like, ‘What can Kansas do for you?’ It’s, ‘What can you do for Kansas?’ Like, they’ve established themselves as one of the winningest programs in the history of college basketball.”

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Jordan Guskey covers University of Kansas Athletics at The Topeka Capital-Journal. He is the National Sports Media Association’s sportswriter of the year for the state of Kansas for 2022. Contact him at jmguskey@gannett.com or on Twitter at @JordanGuskey.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Parker Braun can be a valuable piece of Kansas basketball’s roster