When you play as well as Mara Braun has been playing, you attract a lot of attention. On Wednesday, for instance, Kentucky made sure to have a defender facing Braun at all times in an attempt to keep the Gophers freshman from taking over the game.
Braun is going to have to get used to it and adjust.
Likewise, the combo guard from Wayzata is going to have to get used to comparisons with some of the best guards in women’s basketball — such as Iowa junior Caitlin Clark, against whom Braun will get her first head-to-head competition on Saturday in Iowa City.
Tipoff against the 16th-ranked Hawkeyes (7-3, 1-0) is set for 8 p.m.
“It’s exciting,” Braun said. “(Clark) really does mean a lot to women’s college basketball, and that’s really cool.”
It might seem a little unfair to compare a freshman with only eight games under her belt to a junior all-American who leads the nation in scoring. But it’s not crazy, either. Through their team’s first nine college games, Clark averaged eight more points, three more rebounds and three more assists, while Braun is averaging more steals (2.6 to 1.8) and few turnovers (2.5 to 4.7).
