“I think we have very good potential,” said Kaun, starting center for Russian professional team CSKA Moscow.

“I would say we are very deep, very experienced and we have the best point and center positions and that means a lot!” Kaun added.

Kaun, of course, was referring to senior point guard Sherron Collins and junior pivot Cole Aldrich, who head into Thursday’s first-round NCAA Midwest Regional game against Lehigh (8:40 p.m., Ford Center, Oklahoma City) with their eyes on a second national title in three campaigns.

“I watch the team a lot more this year. I’ve got a ‘(TV) sling box,’ so I can record the games and watch them when I’m up,” Kaun said.

Kaun, 24, who is in the second year of a third-year deal that pays him over $1 million a year, just might be back playing hoops in the U.S. next season.

Reportedly, there’s a buyout clause in his contract that could enable the Cleveland Cavaliers to pick up his rights for the 2010-11 campaign. Kaun was a second-round pick in the 2008 NBA Draft.

“As of right now, I do not have any idea about the NBA,” Kaun said. “I definitely want to come back and play there, but a lot of variables are going into this decision so I can’t say anything is concrete right now. We will see in the summer.”

The Tomsk native — he averages 9.0 points a game off amazing 70.7 percent shooting as well as 4.2 rebounds per contest — will return to the U.S. at the conclusion of the season.

He and former KU soccer player Taylor Blue will marry on June 18 in Olathe.

“I miss KU very much,” Kaun said. “Those were four exciting years in my life.”

Kaun believes he’ll be playing the game of basketball a long time.

He says he has adjusted well to the rigors of the pro game.

“My second season has been a lot of fun. I’ve been playing more and better. The adjustment period is over, I hope,” Kaun said. “I’m starting for my team now (after coming off bench his rookie season), and that’s always fun.

“I think I understand the game a lot better,” he added. “My defensive presence is better. I can help our team by guarding other good big guys and just help everyone else. And my finish around the basket got a little bit better. That’s just what I hear.”

He’s proud to report his team has won a majority of its games.

“The team is doing very well, definitely better than people thought we would,” Kaun said. “We won a small league called VTB (United). We’re first in the Russian League, and we just advanced to the eight teams in Euroleague, coming out first from our group, hoping to advance to the Final Four.”

Just like the Jayhawks.

He says he misses the excitement generated in Allen Fieldhouse and obviously the buzz surrounding the NCAAs.

“It’s always nice to be back in your home country and have the old friends’ support and seeing my mom more often,” Kaun said. “But I would say the fan support is not even close to the States or even some other European countries. It’s really poor here, and I’m used to the 16,300 every night,” he added in his e-mail.”