Camp helped Kaun tune his game

By Joy Ludwig     Nov 6, 2005

Thad Allender/Journal-World File Photo
Sasha Kaun hopes to improve on his 2.6 points and 2.3 rebounds of a year ago.

Between practicing bank shots, post moves and layups at the Pete Newell Big Man Camp this summer, Kansas University sophomore Sasha Kaun took time to see the bright lights of Las Vegas.

There’s no place quite like Vegas in Kaun’s native Russia.

“We didn’t have too much basketball, so we had some free time,” said Kaun, KU’s 6-foot-11, 245-pound center. “I walked around the Strip and stuff. It was different. It was a fun city, though.”

Kaun was one of the few men in the history of the world not in Las Vegas for fun. He paid his way to the Newell camp to polish up his game, which showed some flashes in 2004-05 — and some signs that Kaun still is relatively new to the game of basketball.

“I understand the game a lot more,” said Kaun, a computer science major. “It’s beginning to slow down to the level where I can do things.”

Scott McClurg/Journal-World File Photo
Sasha Kaun figures his work in the weight room should make him more of a force inside this season.

Kaun averaged 2.6 points and 2.3 rebounds per game as a freshman, making just two starts in 27 games played.

He was third on the team in blocked shots and fourth in field-goal percentage.

A year older, and with former teammate Wayne Simien now in the NBA, Kaun and fellow post player C.J. Giles now have responsibilities they just didn’t have a year ago.

“Neither one have been huge stars,” KU coach Bill Self said. “They have to get the confidence to lead and have the team depend on them.”

It wasn’t just the Newell Camp, either.

Kaun hit the weight room hard, not gaining a pound but making himself more chiseled than ever. He now weighs in at 246 pounds, not much different than when he arrived last year.

But the difference is quite obvious.

“Our strength and conditioning coach, she does a phenomenal job with the entire team,” Kaun said of Andrea Hudy. “You can look around the whole team and see the guys have improved a lot since last year.”

That includes Kaun, who’s more defined from top to bottom. That’s only half of his improvement, though — maybe the less crucial half.

Pickin’ up the pace

KU coach Bill Self on what each player needs to do to enable the Jayhawks to play a more up-tempo style this season: “Sasha and Darnell Jackson need to play knowing they’re not going to be in there for a long time. When they go all out, they’re great athletes. When they pace themselves with the idea of getting tired, they become pretty good athletes.”

“It’s more mental,” Kaun said of his strides. “Just feeling more comfortable on the court.

“I think we’ve come a long ways, just understanding little things that you’ve got to work hard, you’ve got to be alert. A lot of different things and having more experience this year. Everyone has come along since last year.”

Kaun then reverts back to the biggest difference in his individual eyes — game speed. While Big 12 Conference forwards were spinning around him, drilling hips into him and just playing hoops much quicker, Kaun’s head was spinning just as fast.

Not anymore. That, he says, is the biggest difference between Sasha Kaun the freshman and Sasha Kaun the sophomore.

“The game was too fast,” he said. “I was trying to catch up to everything and sometimes it got really hard. I think this year it’s been a little easier so far.”

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