Princeton Player Profile: Hans Brase

We're starting a new series here at Blogger So Dear. In this series, we will be taking a more in-depth look at at least one of the best players of our upcoming opponent. We'll continue to have previews the day of games, but this will give our readers something to digest the day before the game.

Today we feature Hans Brase of Princeton. He's a 6'8" 231-pound junior forward out of Clover, South Carolina. On the year he is averaging 12.6 points, 7.8 rebounds and 3.2 assists in 35 minutes of action per contest. He has scored in double figures in 11 of Princeton's 13 games this season. He has an efficient offensive rating of 111.1, and has an effective field goal percentage of 56.6%, which is 248th nationally. He achieves this high effective field goal percentage by shooting 42% from beyond the arc. Brase is 34-82 on the year from deep, but is only 18-40 (45%) from inside the arc. To contain Brase, Wake Forest must contest his jump shot, and force him to go from three to two. Two-thirds of his shots come from beyond the arc, so it will be a major win for Wake Forest if they can force him to take long-twos.

Brase is an excellent free throw shooter (81%), but fortunately for Wake Forest he only draws 3.2 fouls per 40 minutes of play and has one of the worst free throw rates (FTA/FGA) on the team. This would have been an excellent person for Aaron Rountree to defend, but given Tree's injury I suspect Wake Forest will defend Brase with a combination of Greg McClinton and Darius Leonard. Devin Thomas would be mismatched against Brase, as Thomas does not have the foot speed, but he will defend Pete Miller just fine in the post. Having a stretch 4 like Leonard is an ideal fit to defend against Princeton's "power forward."

Hans is Princeton's best defensive rebounder and is a key reason why Princeton has the 49th best defensive rebounding percentage in the country. By design of their offense, they have one of the worst offensive rebounding percentages in the country. Wake Forest is excellent on the defensive glass, and very good on the offensive glass. I expect Devin Thomas and Konstantinos Mitoglou to win the rebounding battle against Hans Brase.

Overall, Hans is a solid player, but I believe our wings and stretch fours will be able to defend him. The key will be communication on defense so that we do not get beat back door and are able to recognize when screens are coming to free up shooters like Brase.

For more information on Princeton, be sure to check out tomorrow's team preview.

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