KU recruit Chaundee Brown recaps campus visit, gears up for three more

Chaundee Brown has worked hard to sculpt what ESPN.com calls a “college-ready body.”

“I do a lot of push-ups — 100 a night,” Brown, a 6-foot-5, 205-pound senior shooting guard from First Academy in Orlando, Fla., said Monday night after returning to his hometown following a Saturday-Monday official campus recruiting visit to Kansas.

“The conditioning coach mentioned I had a great upper body,” he added of KU assistant athletic director/sports performance Andrea Hudy. “I need to work more on my legs now, to do everything to get my lower body stronger so I can add explosiveness,” Brown added.

Though Brown said he had a “great time” checking out KU’s facilities, touring campus and attending Saturday’s 55-6 football victory over Rhode Island — “that was their first win in a long time; they looked good,” he said of the Jayhawks — he was not ready to offer a commitment at the end of his visit Monday morning.

ESPN’s No. 30-ranked player in the recruiting Class of 2017 (No. 64 by Rivals.com) will visit Maryland on Sept. 30-Oct. 2, Florida on Oct. 7-9 and Wake Forest on Oct. 14-16, ultimately signing a letter of intent with one of his four finalists in November.

Maryland and Wake Forest, of course, have KU ties.

“I knew that Danny Manning and coach Ballard (Brett, Wake Forest) the assistant coach went to Kansas and coach Turgeon (Mark, Maryland) also went to Kansas. It’s crazy,” Brown said. “They all come from there.”

KU coach Bill Self has been recruiting Brown for some time now.

“He saw me play last year. He said I have great potential, that I haven’t reached my potential yet,” said Brown, adding, “I can defend multiple positions. One of my strengths is I can overpower smaller guards.”

Brown is familiar with Lawrence. He attended last year’s Late Night in the Phog and also competed in the 2015 Sunflower Showcase AAU tournament in Sports Pavilion Lawrence at Rock Chalk Park.

“It was way different from Late Night. This time I had a full tour of the school, the dorms. I got to see how they live and everything. It was a lot of fun,” Brown said.

Of KU’s facilities, Brown said: “It’s crazy. They have everything they need. They just have to play basketball and go to school and everything’s there.”

Brown — he averaged 19.9 points (off 51.8 percent shooting, 41.5 from three) in 18 games this summer on the Nike EYBL circuit — said he spent a lot of time with guards Devonté Graham and Lagerald Vick over the weekend.

“I asked them how did they like Kansas? They said coach is really tough but he wants the best for you and everything,” Brown said.

He also bonded with future Jayhawk Marcus Garrett, a 6-5 senior combo guard from Dallas Skyline High, who was also in town as part of his own official visit. Garrett recently orally committed to KU over Texas, Baylor, Oklahoma State, Oregon, UConn and others.

“He really didn’t,” Brown said of Garrett trying to convince him to attend KU. “He’s a real good dude. He wants that (but) he’s basically leaving it up to me.”

Brown said he’s ready for a big senior year, one in which he becomes more well known nationally.

“That’s my goal. It’s my next step, making the McDonald’s and Jordan Brand (Classic) game,” Brown said. “I feel I’m going to make it this year. I know I’m going to have a good year this year after all the work I put in this past summer. I think I have a good chance of making it.”

This story was originally published September 5, 2016 at 9:07 PM with the headline "KU recruit Chaundee Brown recaps campus visit, gears up for three more."