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From the TCJ

McBride, a 6-foot-1, 180-pound native of Little Rock, Ark., is a four-star player at recruiting outlet 247Sports.com’s composite rankings as well as the nation’s No. 112-ranked recruit, while the 6-6, 180-pound Braun, an Overland Park resident who won back-to-back state championships at Blue Valley Northwest, is also a four-star player as the nation’s 126th-ranked recruit.

“It will certainly be a transition for both of these guys stepping into the college game,” KU coach Bill Self said in a news release, “but we anticipate them both to be guys that can contribute immediately.”

McBride can play the point but is also a true scoring threat, Self said, a player with impressive range, quickness and explosiveness.

“We see him as a guy that can come in and give us depth on perimeter shooting,” Self said. “He is a guy that can just score the ball. We haven’t had too many here like that, a natural scorer. He’s a combo guard that can jump and make a shot wherever he is in the court.”

A Burlington native, Braun averaged 14.2 points, 5.1 rebounds and 3.1 assists as a junior, also playing for MoKan Elite at the AAU level. Self said Braun piqued KU’s interest with a strong showing this summer.

“He’s a player that has great size and great range,” Self said. “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’re trying to do.”

Huge fan of McBride already. Kid will start here

Self also recalled that Las Vegas adventure that led Kansas to McBride.

“It was the first time we had ever seen him play,” Self said. “He played against a team with two top-five players in their respective class and he dominated the game. We watched him a few more times at that event and offered him right after that event, after seeing him play about five times.”

“Well, Christian obviously is from the Kansas City-area; he started out in Burlington so we’ve known of him for a while because of our connections to Burlington with Tyrel and of course Stacy and Deb Reed down there," Self said. "Even the present coach down there is a friend of ours that works the camp all the time. So we’ve known of Christian for a while, but we started following him closely this past summer even though we’ve known of him, and every time we watched him, he just kind of did a little bit more and more and more to impress us."

"He’s got range, he’s big, he’s probably a legit 6-5, 6-6," Self added of Braun on his weekly Hawk Talk show. "And he’ll play the point guard this year at Blue Valley Northwest. We’re not recruiting him to be a point guard, but we’re recruiting him to be a guard and interchangeable, and so we’re excited about him. I think he’s going to be really good. He’s better than his ranking."

"Christian comes from an athletic family," Self added in the release. "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."

“Mackey, that’s his middle name, that’s what he goes by, is a bonafide scorer," Self said. "If people would look up Issac McBride and YouTube it and see some of his highlights on how he scores, I mean they’re not high school points, those are real baskets with range and how he can just jump up and make a shot from anywhere on the court."

"He's really, really going to be a good hand for us," Self said. "Both of them can shoot the ball and you can never have too much shooting, obviously."

@BShark We're going to 4 out next year.