Kansas basketball’s Bill Self takes giant hammer to narrative that Darryn Peterson doesn’t care

The Kansas basketball program is currently preparing to get its NCAA tournament run underway, which will begin on Friday evening against CA Baptist. The Jayhawks are the number four seed in their side of the bracket, and are led by point guard Darryn Peterson, who has been up and down with his play as of late.

At one point, Peterson was widely viewed as the number one prospect in the upcoming NBA Draft class, but that reputation has taken somewhat of a hit, both due to his play on the floor and the fact that some have accused him of not caring that much about the game.

However, recently, Kansas head coach Bill Self fired back at those narratives.

“I think it’s been a hard year for him, and a lot of it’s been because obviously his body didn’t feel as well. That’s all legitimate,” Self said, per CJ Moore of The Athletic. “But also the narrative that some people put out, not believing that he was struggling? His body was not cooperating. And I think that was hard on him, even though I don’t know that he would admit to it.”

Some saw Peterson’s habit of checking himself out of game or being scratched from the lineup shortly before tipoff as something NBA teams should be concerned about, but clearly, Self does not view things that way.

Self also spoke on some of the struggles that Peterson has experienced on the court in recent weeks.

“The stops and starts definitely impacted him,” Self said. “Conditioning, rhythm, team rhythm, a lot of things. I think it did impact him differently. If you can imagine going into every game believing that this is going to be the game in which your body feels right, and it just didn’t happen.”

Kansas’ tournament run will get underway on Friday.

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