Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - 5-Star Guard Darryn Peterson Picks Kansas Jayhawks Basketball: Breaking Down What it Means for KU

Episode Date: November 2, 2024

Darryn Peterson's Game-Changing Commitment to Kansas Jayhawks BasketballThe Kansas Jayhawks basketball team lands a major win with the commitment of five-star recruit Darryn Peterson, a top combo guard in the class of 2025. This decision, influenced by Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) opportunities, Bill Self, and the KU program, sets the stage for a thrilling future in college basketball.Explore how Peterson's 6'5" frame and 6'10" wingspan promise to add star-power to the Jayhawks' roster. With his smooth mid-range game and driving ability, Peterson is poised to become a key player. The episode also examines the potential lineup for the 2025-2026 season, featuring possible returners like Flory Bidunga, Rakease Passmore, Rylan Griffen and Elmarko Jackson.Don't miss this insightful discussion on how Peterson's commitment could bolster the Kansas Jayhawks' path to success. Tune in for expert analysis and exciting prospects!For your next listen, check out the Locked On College Football podcast! From NIL deals to never ending conference realignment rumors, Spencer McLaughlin gets you ready for an exciting season on the gridiron! Click HERE to listen now. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Your Team. Every Day.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!ROYDownload Roy for iOS or Android and enter referral code LOCKED ON and you’ll automatically be entered into a sweepstakes to win $5,000 cash. Visit JoinRoy.com for additional details. No purchase necessary, void where prohibited. Get off the sidelines and into the NIL game with Roy.5-Hour ENERGYWhat’s your Fan Fuel this week?! Whatever it is, do it with a 5 Hour Energy! Available on 5HourEnergy.com. Shipped nationwide. PrizePicksDownload the PrizePicks app today and use code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE and get $50 instantly when you play $5! You don't even need to win to receive the $50 bonus, it's guaranteed! Prizepicks. Run Your Game.https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/LOCKEDONCOLLEGEGametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.FanDuelYou can start the season with a big return on FanDuel. New customers can place a FIVE DOLLAR bet and you’ll get started with ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS - if you win your first FIVE DOLLAR BET !Visit FANDUEL.COM to get started. FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN)

On today's Locked on Jayhawks, a bonus episode as five-star recruit Darren Peterson is a Jayhawk for next year. You are Locked on Jayhawks, your daily podcast on the Kansas Jayhawks. Part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. I'm Derek Johnson. You can find me on Twitter at DJohnsonRadio, and this is Locked On Jayhawks, a bonus episode today. A pretty big one is Darren Peterson, five-star recruit in the class of 2025,

the top combo guard in the class, is a Kansas Jayhawk, commits to KU. We're going to get into it, The scouting report on Darren Peterson, what it means for the class of 2025 for KU and what it means for the team next season for Bill Self and the Jayhawks. What went down? Well, Darren Peterson announced today that he is committing to KU. This was a recruitment that he picks over Kansas,

over Ohio state, which was kind of the hometown school. I mean, if you look at the recruiting profile, you might be confused where exactly he is from. There's like a Napa, California on there. There's where he's going to high school, which is kind of mixed around here. But at the end of the day, Ohio was like his hometown. So Ohio State was considered there.

He had K-State in there, which I don't know, maybe that was an NIL play. USC in there, which I think that was a bit of an agency thing. Kentucky, others that are on the list, as you'd imagine, with a guy like Derrick Peterson. Pretty much anybody would have loved to have this kid. And KU was the favorite for a bit, but it seemed like, you know, maybe there was a little bit in the early going of, okay, is KU going to go for Acuff? Are they going to go for Peterson?

Seems like maybe they started to go a little bit more for Peterson in the end. And, you know, still other attempts from other schools that I'd imagine you had to fend off. I'd imagine NIL played a big part in this. Peterson switched high schools. Part of the reason why was that was that he could get NIL money in other states. Ohio didn't have that ruling. I don't know get nil money in other states ohio didn't have that ruling i don't know if they still don't at least he didn't when he was there for high school and so you know nil clearly plays an important part of this i don't think it's everything but

it probably played a pretty important part as all of this so uh peterson is a six foot five combo guard in the class of 2025 he plays for prolific prep this upcoming season, five-star recruit ranked third nationally. That is both on the 24-7 sports ranking and the 24-7 composite. He is the number one combo guard in the class. With six, five combo guards, you can play them at the one, the two, the three. That is the beauty of having a guy like Darren Peterson to where he could technically be your three out there. I mean, he has a six foot ten wingspan, according to 24-7 sports. But the beauty, you could have him out there as a three, but he could still handle and initiate the offense as the one in certain possessions. But defensively, he's a three, right?

So there's a lot of things you can do with him from combination of reading different scouting reports, watching several different highlight films that I've watched, which that's probably not nearly as good as some of these scouting reports that are out there, so I'm going to trust those more than myself, but I'll sprinkle in some of my own stuff. Seems to be somebody who's good playing on and off the ball. You watch a lot of highlights where, yes, he is dribbling into lane and he's throwing up a floater or some good package of,

which I think you see he's got a good driving game because he has a lot of different ways he can finish at the rim. But it's not just him beating guys off the dribble or he does a lot of kind of dribbles into the high post area or the kind of mid-range area and make a turnaround jump shot over a guy like he's very skilled at that type of shot. But a lot of times you'll see guys who are freshman superstars who maybe struggle to

play off the ball. They're really good on the ball, but once you go to a bigger level, you might have trouble in terms of adjusting to playing off the ball if you're not getting the ball every time. And Peterson's still going to have the ball in his hands a lot, but there's a lot of highlights where it's him off the ball, relocating for somebody to pass him the ball off an offensive rebound to get an open three, finding himself open somewhere to hit an open shot that he did a good job off the ball. Smooth player, I think, is the way that I would describe him. I don't think I'd call him a crazy athlete. If I was comparing him to Acuff, Acuff, probably the better athlete, probably the better quick first step, but Peterson's still a good enough athlete. Peterson, I would describe him as a smooth athlete.

He makes everything look very easy. He's got that good pull-up game where he can hit shots over guys. He's got that good driving package, as I mentioned. Only around 31% from three last year. We'll see what it ends up being as a senior, so that'll be something that he's going to look to iron out at Kansas. Obviously, that could get better his senior year of high school. But typically, you'll hear NBA scouts talking about free throw shooting

that it shows if you're a good free throw shooter, there's more potential for your three-point shot because it shows you have good touch. Well, he was a 90% free throw shooter. So I think, and you see him shooting well in the mid-range, I think you can assume that eventually he will become a good three-point shooter. Now, will that happen if he's a one-and-done at KU in year one? Who knows? Like Tyrese Maxey, who's a great shooter in the NBA,

shot what, like 28% from Kentucky for something like that. So you never know. But I will say like going back to the athlete thing, like there were a lot of highlights where he didn't necessarily beat his guy off the dribble. Like, I don't know that he is this crazy athlete. He just looked very skilled. He looked like he already had very nice footwork, and he was able to really elevate and get shots off over guys. So what does the athleticism scale up to at the collegiate level? Clearly, like I said, he's still a good enough athlete to be a top five recruit in the country, but I think this is one of those players where he's ranked off of skill

more so if not just as much as kind of the athleticism and the height and the length and everything like that really nice back to the basket game I would assume Bill Self is already excited about I mean we saw him throw in occasional back to the basket plays for guards whether it was Christian Brown posting up or Kevin McCuller or Jalen Wilson who was kind of I guess more before but I bet you they'll do some about Darren Peterson he was also a good rebounder and an active defender he averaged three steals per game in his high school ball in Ohio, 10 rebounds, 31 points before going to Huntington Prep in West Virginia as a junior and now going to Prolific Prep for the U.S.

under-16 national team, whatever that was like a year or two ago. He averaged 17 points, four rebounds, three and a half assists. So this is just a really, really good basketball player. I know there have been some people that have been split on what the player comp is. I've seen a lot of people say Devin Booker. That would be a great player comp. And hopefully Bill Self would play Devin Booker clone more than John Calipari did in college. But I saw some Rudy Gay comps, which I saw some of that too. I thought that was kind of interesting. I mean, Rudy Gay was a great college player, had a long NBA career, very expensive NBA career. Honestly, if I want to give a KU one, I think the athleticism of Andrew Wiggins, it's not really close there, but I saw like a little bit of less of an athletic, better version of changing pace

version of Andrew Wiggins. If that makes sense, maybe that's just not even like Andrew Wiggins at all. I don't know. Maybe I want to retract that because it's just a very unique player because he's a good athlete, not Andrew Wiggins-level athlete, but he understands, at least it seems like, the intricacies of the game, the footwork stuff, the changing paces, knowing when to stop and start, to where that can make up for the athleticism stuff where you become a better athlete overall.

And I keep harping on this athleticism stuff. I don't mean to. This is just an elite basketball player that KU is bringing into the class, and it is very exciting news for the Jayhawks. So what it means for the class, what it means for KU next year, that next. This episode of Locked on Jayhawks is brought to you by 5-Hour Energy. Our friends over at 5-Hour Energy know that being a passionate fan isn't just a hobby, it's just a way of life. It takes a lot of energy to power through all-day tailgates, touchdown celebrations, or that agonizing second overtime.

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5-Hour Energy. Available on 5hourenergy.com, shipped nationwide. All right, so what does this mean for the class of 2025? It is obviously gigantic. This is, I believe, the highest-ranked recruit on 24-7 sports that KU has landed since Josh Jackson, which before him was Andrew Wiggins. It's obviously a very, very big deal. And both of those guys had unbelievable freshman seasons at KU. Now, it's funny that the CUME rating, I guess you could put it as, would probably be higher on Josh Jackson in terms of what that season was. I do think it's interesting. If you switch the two players, how would that work out for both guys?

Just a quick aside. Like, I think it might work actually better for both guys. Like for Josh Jackson, he had that alpha male in him that I think he would have been fine having to be the alpha male. Like Andrew Wiggins did for that 2013 to 2014 team. Whereas Andrew Wiggins,

if you would have had to, you know, take a backseat and be a secondary piece to Frank Mason and you have Devonta Graham and all these guys, it probably would have helped both guys. I don't know, not helped. Josh Jackson had a great season on his own. But anyway, I do think both guys had unbelievable statistical production seasons. Obviously for Wiggins, it didn't end as you could have hoped with the second round out. But for Peterson, he becomes the first commit in the class of 2025. So in a sense, it means literally everything that's happened so far, like what it means for the class.

Okay. He is the class right now. So it's literally 100% of it. Clearly KU has other targets though, to fill out the class and it can't hurt to have a top five guy. I mean, I'd imagine a lot of this now with high school recruiting is turning more into the NIL game. So from a certain standpoint, it has a negative impact because if you're having to pay all this NIL money for Darren Peterson, you have less NIL money to use on other guys, right? And that's part of the precipice that coaches now have to decide on.

I don't know that we're going to see another situation where like, you know, Duke in whatever that was, 2019, 2018, 2020, whatever, where they got Zion Williamson, R.J. Barrett and Cam Reddish. Those are what, three of the top four, three of the top five. Are those the top three recruits in the country? Like, I don't know. Maybe that is still possible, but it's going to probably take a very hefty NIL dollar to do it. Like, here's some of the numbers going around for like A.J. DeBonta. Like, if you want the top three recruits or three of the top five, I don't know, you're having to pay $10

million and that doesn't even count the rest of your roster. So maybe that is kind of gone. But KU has other targets. And I would imagine from a standpoint of playing with a guy, right? As long as you're not at the same position, then it's going to intrigue you more to go there because you're like, oh, we're going to have a better chance of winning games or doing this or that. And so I would look for KU to land a big man. Seems like they're in on a lot of big men right now. Maybe you go for another guard or wing and then you fill out the rest in the off season of the following year with the transfer portal. I think that's kind of what I'm looking at here. It's also important, I think, when you look at it because Darius Acuff picked Arkansas. And I do think maybe he would have picked Arkansas in the end regardless.

But I do think for Kansas, maybe it wasn't as much of a full court press. Maybe it wasn't as going back to the NIL idea, you have to basically tell yourself, hey, this is the most we can give this player. Otherwise, we're going to be screwed for giving out money to this other player we really want or something like that. And maybe you hit a cap there where you're going, yeah, you know what? I'd pay that for Peterson, but I don't know about with Acuff or you just, I don't know. However that stuff works, it seems like KU prioritized Peterson over Acuff. And again, Acuff might've picked Arkansas, even if Kansas did prioritize him over Peterson. So you never know how that stuff works, but point being the fact that a cuff did end up not choosing Kansas left you

with one less elite guard target that you could have gone for. And you made it happen with Darren Peterson in a very real way. So what it means for KU in 2025 to 2026, I'll tell you on the other side, this episode of the show is brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook. Get ready to tackle the NFL action with FanDuel, America's number one sportsbook. Because right now, new customers can bet $5, get $150 in bonus bets if you win.

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Finishing things up. Going a bit long on this bonus episode. I hope you don't mind, and obviously it's good news for KU. Darren Peterson is a Jayhawk. But don't forget to check out our KU other content that we've had go on, I guess, this week or our regular show that we had come out earlier today of our final KU basketball rotation projection. We'll have a KU Howard preview next week, so plenty more coming at you.

Darren Peterson, now a Kansas Jayhawk. What does it mean for the class of 2025? Well, could Darren Peterson be the starting point guard? DeJuan Harris is going to depart, leaving shoes of a guy who's been starting there forever now for Kansas. And who is going to be that starting point guard next season? Certainly, Elmarco Jackson could factor into the equation. But coming off a leg injury, we saw a lot of up and down in year one. There's no certainty how that looks for El Marco in year three,

but year two of play. My money would be on that they go out and they land, whether it's a true point guard, whether it's a combo guard or whatever, in the transfer portal. And there's been good ones over the past several years. I feel like every year, like that's the position that constantly you can find guys in. I'd imagine KU is going to try to find one of those guys there. Now, does that player end up playing the point guard and Darren Peterson's at the two?

Is Darren Peterson at the one and that guy's at the two? Does it really matter? Both would be handling the ball and getting different times to initiate and bring the ball up and stuff like that. That's probably the most likely scenario out of it. And then I would view it as like, you just roll the ball out and say, okay, you have your, your transfer portal player. You have a Marco Jackson, you have Darren Peterson, two starting spots available, uh, whichever two of those three went out then great. And maybe even

three start, right? Maybe you even have a Marco Jackson starting with your, you know, transfer portal guard with Darren Peterson, since he's six, five with a six, 10 wingspan that he can, like I said, defend threes, but on offense kind of be a point guard shooting guard type. And I think that gives you a lot of different options. And obviously this raises your ceiling for next season, right? I mean, we've seen freshmen come in and struggle. We've seen freshmen come in and have unbelievable years. I mentioned Wiggins and Jackson earlier. Obviously we've seen it with the wing position lately with Johnny Furphy and Grady Dick in the past couple of seasons. And with all the players you're going to be losing after this year, it is important to have some potential star player and some potential ceiling raisers.

And I think that's what it represents, that if you do hit the potential with Peterson in year one as a freshman, it's going to give you that star ceiling raiser. And now Kansas has that. And obviously, they're going to have to find more players, more recruits like we talked about, more transfer portal players like we talked about. You start to get... I mean, you focus on the team at hand. It should be another good team

this year for KU, so you focus on that. But, you look at 2025-26, I'm already getting excited because you could have a second-year Floyd Badunga at the center. You could have a second-year Rakeesh Passmore,. You could have a second year Rakeese Passmore, which that could be a breakout year for him. You could have a fourth year Ryland Griffin. You could have a fourth year A.J. Storr.

Maybe you have one of those two back. I don't know. Maybe somebody goes pro after this year. You could have a Marco Jackson back, and then you add Darren Peterson to the fold. That's already a very good jumping off point before you even add more recruits, before you even enter the transfer portal season, that could be a pretty darn good team for KU.

All right, let's finish up today's episode. That'll do it. You can find us anywhere you get your show, Locked on Jayhawks, anywhere you get your podcast, right here on YouTube. We'll see you next time with LOJ with a KU Howard preview on Monday. See you then.