KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Darryn Peterson is not just the presumptive No. 1 NBA Draft pick and star at Kansas, but he is those things plus a guy paid millions of dollars to play college basketball.
That has changed the lens through which college basketball stars are viewed and evaluated. These are professionals now, and when they don’t play, fans are not just frustrated because their best team’s player is out; they feel as if he’s not earning the paycheck, that he’s not honoring his end of the deal. In Peterson’s case, this is especially so, as Jayhawks coach Bill Self said last week that Peterson was 90 to 95 percent on the night he missed a loss to Connecticut, the seventh straight game he’d sat with a hamstring injury.
Peterson returned Sunday and scored 17 points in an easy 80-60 win for No. 21 Kansas over Missouri. Even considering the expectations that have been created, some a result of the way his coach talks about him, it was a pretty good performance.
But what had everyone on the edge of their seats was what transpired over the final 11 minutes and 16 seconds, all of which Peterson sat. Much of that time was spent at the end of the bench with trainer Bill Cowgill using a roller on Peterson’s leg.
“I think we do that a lot,” Self said of the rolling. “But no, he said he had nothing in his hamstring.”
Kansas doesn’t play again for six days — the next game is at NC State on Saturday — and this break will be spent with many wondering if Self is telling the truth, and the concern will last until Peterson is on the floor in Raleigh.
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Self has felt the frustration from fans, and while he would have liked to squash the speculation completely, he says he was put in a difficult spot because there has been a cloudiness on the team’s end about when Peterson would return.
“It’s not enough for me to say it’s day to day, which that’s what it’s been: day to day,” Self said. “So there’s always, you know, a reason why somebody can say something negative. If he had had a compound fracture, nobody would say anything because you can see it. This you can’t see. And fortunately it wasn’t bad enough to keep him totally out because he did practice, but it wasn’t good enough that he could play the way he needs to.”
It turned into a dramedy this weekend when, of course, Peterson caught a bug that had been going around the team. Self wasn’t even sure Saturday morning if Peterson’s sickness would allow him to play once the game arrived Sunday.
“And then I’d have to tell you guys again something came up,” Self said, “and you guys would say I’m bulls——ing ya, which I’m not at all. I’ve been 100 percent honest.”
Self has almost become more frustrated by the outside response to Peterson’s absence than the absence itself. What matters at Kansas is what happens in conference play and in March and April. If Peterson eventually leads the Jayhawks to a Big 12 championship and a Final Four, these missed seven games will be mostly forgotten. Inconsequential.
And that is Self’s job, to prepare his team for the part of the season that really matters. While the nonconference matters for seeding purposes, the Jayhawks have won enough games without Peterson to be in a good spot, and his absence will be taken into consideration by the NCAA Tournament selection committee for the games Kansas played without him. The important thing was that Self did everything he could to make sure once Peterson did return that he was fully back; not rushed and then forced to sit again and then in an ongoing cycle of back and out and back and out. Erring on the side of precaution made sense.
But the murkiness of not knowing exactly when he returned caused fans to start to wonder if Peterson really was committed to playing for Kansas, or was becoming a high draft pick all he really cared about?
And there’s where there was a pointedness, and also a sincerity, to Self’s words Sunday.
“It’s the world we live in, in today’s time,” Self said. “It’s BS though. That kid’s over there getting four treatments a day for 45 minutes every treatment. That kid spends more time shooting on his own than anybody else, maybe than I ever coached. That kid wants to be out there so bad.”
Self knows that the money is what has changed the dialogue.
“How many people look at our guys now and say, ‘We’re gonna watch these guys grow up before our very eyes’ if they’re making what is perceived to be a substantial amount of money? It’s that way all across America,” he said. “It’s a different world, but that’s also the world that we say it’s so great for the kids. So great for the kids. One of the consequences of it being so great for the kids is you also give people a reason to have opinions and talk.”
But, looking big picture, Self says this “may be good” for Peterson, who in the three games he has played, plus an exhibition game against Louisville, has proven why he has a chance to be a star at the NBA level.
“Because he’s gonna get talked about a lot moving forward,” Self said. “Hey, it’s all preparation for him. So I see it as part of the process more than I see it as a negative, if that makes any sense to you.”
Self, as much as any coach in college basketball, cares about building toughness in both his players and his teams. Adversity is welcomed.
It’s possible this adversity has brought the Jayhawks closer together. It has definitely proven to the non-Peterson Jayhawks there’s more to this team than just its star. Bryson Tiller, expected to be a backup this season, has turned into a starter and has had flashes where he looks like he’s one of the most talented frontcourt players in the Big 12. Senior Tre White, thought to be a glue guy, has emerged as someone who can carry the offense for stretches and a very good second or third scorer when KU is at full strength.
On Sunday, the first half was like a feeling-out period for both Peterson and his teammates. It looked as if he was playing with a governor on, not exactly ready to go full throttle and trying to blend in. Self had told him to let the game come to him, “when I don’t think he’s a let-it-come-to-me type of guy,” Self said.
Late in the first half, it started to shift. Peterson spun and hit a fadeaway in the lane that was a No. 1-pick type of move. The second half started with Peterson drawing two to the ball and then the ball ping-ponging around until White got a layup. Then Peterson came off a handoff and made a floating left-hand shot off glass that few in college basketball could make or try.
A few possessions later, his defender, T.O. Barrett, should have been the help-side defender guarding the basket, but the gravity of Peterson pulled Barrett out and led to a dunk for Tiller.
Next possession, Peterson again drew two to the ball, as Mizzou tried to double him coming off a ball screen, and he wisely pulled the defenders toward half court, leading to an advantage and eventually White getting fouled at the basket.
“I had a bunch of wide-open shots where I normally didn’t get,” said White, who led the Jayhawks with 20 points. “He just makes the game so much easier. He attracts a lot of bodies whenever he’s playing, so you know that just makes it easier for us. So I’m glad to have him back.”
The non-Peterson Jayhawks could win games ugly and dominate with their defense. The Peterson-led Jayhawks can still be elite defensively, and every piece fits more into place offensively. He can make shots that no one else can make, and then he demands so much attention that the others can play to the advantages created by him just being on the floor.
It could take a month or two before it all really comes together, and Peterson’s hamstring may have delayed when this team will play to its potential, but it also could end up a blessing because of the opportunities it allowed for others.
And if Peterson can stay healthy, there’s a good chance he’ll end up the most beloved one-and-done Jayhawk ever. He has that kind of talent. This was just a sampling.
Peterson didn’t meet his standard Sunday. He wasn’t overly efficient, needing 14 shots for his 17 points, and he had only one assist. And defensively, he looked to just be going through the motions, likely trying to conserve energy because he wasn’t feeling great. But that was still pretty good, wasn’t it?
Even with Peterson not at full strength, it was obvious how much easier the game is for Kansas with him out there.
Self is not tempering expectation, either. He fanned the flames by sharing that on Wednesday, a day after the UConn game, when KU’s starters played the second team, the starters scored 20 points with Peterson scoring 14 and assisting on the other three buckets.
Eventually that Peterson is going to have a performance that has all of college basketball talking. Eventually that Peterson is going to love being able to perform inside Allen Fieldhouse, one of the greatest basketball venues in the world, then in the NCAA Tournament, the greatest tournament in sports.
Because if he loves the game like Self makes it seem like he does, it’s those moments that a star lives for.
And to ensure those moments will come, it was probably worth being cautious.
Hopefully, for all of our sanity, hamstring-gate has ended. And for Peterson, hopefully, he can eventually make those who questioned his motivation eat their words.
