Even Brauns Thankful to Be Home with Hawkeyes

Iowa City West Graduate Joining Iowa as Transfer

Belmont's Even Brauns (0) battles for the ball against Iona Gaels forward Quinn Slazinski (11) on Nov 26, 2021, at HP Fieldhouse in ; Orlando, FL. (Jeremy Reper-USA TODAY Sports)

It was his first practice at Iowa when Even Brauns realized that he was, indeed, home.

Wearing the Iowa jersey, and getting instructions from coach Fran McCaffery, was all it took for Brauns to feel comfortable in his new basketball home.

“I realized, hey, this is real, this is my life now,” Brauns said.

The 6-foot-10 center, who graduated from Iowa City West High School, played his first three years at Belmont, but entered the NCAA transfer portal in the spring wanting to get closer to home.

Now he’s at Iowa, and the transition, he said, was “seamless.”

“It’s been great,” Brauns said. “I’m really happy with the experience, and the opportunity to play here.”

What Brauns brings is experience to a frontcourt that needed maturity and depth, as well as his size. With his height and weight — 245 pounds, although Brauns said he could handle another five — he’s another piece to the Hawkeyes’ inside game.

“I think just the physicality, being able to screen and rebound, will just be good for the team and what we need this year,” Brauns said.

Brauns is coming off a season in which he averaged 7.1 points and 5.4 rebounds. He started 29 games at Belmont, leading the team with 14 blocked shots while shooting 58 percent from the field.

He is expected to be a defensive presence inside.

“I think, naturally, that’s what’s helped me the most,” Brauns said of his defense. “That’s what’s going to get me on the floor in the first place. The other stuff will help me stay on the floor.”

“He’s not a mistake guy,” McCaffery said in an interview last month. “Another veteran guy, another world-class person. A legit 6-9, 6-10, and very athletic.”

There is a familiarity McCaffery has with Brauns — Brauns and Fran’s son Patrick were teammates at the AAU level and at West, and now will be working together for the Hawkeyes inside.

“In high school, I always looked up to Patrick,” Brauns said. “We played on the same AAU team for a while. I saw him having success in high school, and that’s something I wanted for myself. So then when I transferred to West, he became more of a mentor. In college, we became more like peers. We both were on the same page, dealing with similar problems. We’ve kind of gotten closer as we were in college.”

Once Brauns was in the transfer portal, Fran McCaffery and his staff made contact.

“It was unique, being from Iowa City and stuff, having a relationship already there,” Brauns said. “It was pretty easy, once they reached out when I was in the portal. It felt like something I couldn’t pass up on.”

Brauns joins Ben Krikke, a forward from Valparaiso, as transfers coming to Iowa. The two faced off in the Missouri Valley Conference last season.

“That’s been really helpful,” said Brauns, who lives with Krikke. “We kind of knew each other, having played against each other last year. Being able to share that experience is really good.”

The experience of being a Hawkeye has set in with Brauns.

“That’s almost like a different energy,” he said. “You get to come to Carver every day, you get to put the jersey on. It makes a difference, it really does. I can feel it. I’m excited to come in every day, excited to play games to represent the university.”