Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - STARS DUEL: Darryn Peterson vs AJ Dybantsa in BATTLE for #1 Pick AND Kansas Jayhawks vs BYU Cougars

Starting point is 00:00:00 There's been some legendary matchups and games in Allen Fieldhouse. This one has all the hype. AJ DeBanza versus Darren Peterson, battle for the number one pick. Battle in a top 15 matchup. Let's get into it. You are Locked on Jayhawks, your daily podcast on the Kansas Jayhawks. Part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. What's going on, Derek Johnson, with another additional Lockdown Jayhawks.

Starting point is 00:00:32 Thanks for making it your first listen every day. and thank you for making the lock on the number one sports podcast network we're going to be breaking down the ultimate matchup between darren peterson and a j de bonsa we're going to get into both their games their recent history matchups how this one is important for both players in the number one pick discussion but also why each player actually has an avenue to kind of go off in this game for each team and try to lead in what if we're just talking to college basketball perspective becomes a very important game for both teams so We'll break all that down. Today's episode of the show is brought to you by GameTime. Download the GameTime app, create an account, use code locked on for $20 off your first purchase with Game Time. So let's start right here because obviously the first big question is, are we going to see Darren Peterson versus AJ DeVonza?

Starting point is 00:01:20 Because obviously Peterson just missed the last game against Kansas State. He suffered that sprained ankle in the previous game against Colorado, finished the game. But after sitting on it, obviously ankles get more swollen and everything's unfa. fortunate there. But here's the last update we heard from Bill Self on Darren Peterson. Quote, I think they'll play. I don't know for a fact. I'm not a doctor, but I think he'll play. That game will obviously mean a lot to a lot of people. I mean, I like, okay, it's obviously going to be very important for Peterson. Like, he's probably, he's like, okay, as you look at some of the mock drafts that some still have Peterson won, some have moved to Bonsa up to one, regardless of what

Starting point is 00:02:03 you think he is going to like I'm sure both players view this is a almost like a rivalry between the two of them right going back to the high school stuff right so he is going to want to play right he is going to be motivated to play in this game um what will be interesting is does any of that stuff have an impact on the game but both of these guys to this point have been stupendous it is unfortunate that Peterson's had the injury stuff because both guys would be in the national player the race right now and I guess the big 12th player of the year race too. But like you look at DeBanzi, he's put up 23.6 points, 6.8 rebounds per game. He's averaging 3.5 assists per game.

Starting point is 00:02:41 These are just bonkers numbers. He's 1.3 steals, half a block per game. He's shooting 55% from the floor, 35% from 37 of the fouling. He has been unbelievable. And you look at like he just had that over 40 point game against Utah recently, right? Like he's had some other explosion games too. He had a 35 against Abilene Christian, 33 against Eastern Washington. some other games with like 25 or more points.

Starting point is 00:03:05 So he has been ridiculous to this point in time. And if you've watched him at all, he is just this like freak athletically with like this unbelievable twitch for a dude who's like six, nine. Then you look at Peterson. He's putting up ridiculous numbers too. 21.6 points per game in 27 minutes per game. I believe he's still leading the country in points per minute per 40. But he's shooting 49% from the field, 42 from 3, 82 at the foul line.

Starting point is 00:03:31 The efficiency has been off the chain for, that was, I felt stupid saying that, four point six rebounds per game, one point nine assists per game, one steel, point seven blocks per game. So both of these guys are just putting up insane numbers. And even if we look at the like analytic, more advanced numbers, it's still stupendous for both guys. Peterson is in the 93rd percentile for true shooting percentage. He is in the 89th percent off for three point percentage. He's in the 99th percentile for wind shares per 40 minutes, where he's in the 99th in offensive winchairs per 40 minutes. He's in the 99th in offensive windchairs per 40 and then the 96 percentile for defensive winchairs per 40.

Starting point is 00:04:06 He's in the 100th percentile for P.E.R, which is basically an efficiency metric. And is the 92nd percentile for wins above replacement player. And the crazy one there is the wins above replacement player. It is an all in one metric that basically looks at like how much more valuable you are than the average player essentially. And that is a counting stat. That is not a like the the P.R, the wind shares per 40, those. are based more on efficiency and like, you know, like, I don't know, like the efficiency of the minutes that you're actually in. You're not going to be dinged for only playing the 10 games that he's played in. The Windsorover replacement player does take into account the totals

Starting point is 00:04:50 because by playing in more games, you accrue more value. And he's still in the 92nd percentile missing 10 games. That is insane. Then you look at DeBontza, 99th percentile, an RAPM, which is a CBB analytics like all in one encompassing just like how good you've been and impactful on the court. He's in the 86 percentile on true shooting percentage. He is in the 99th percentile for win shares per 40, just like Peterson, 99th on the offensive end, 89th on the defensive end. He's in the 99th percent on PER and 99th percent on wins above replacement player. Both of these players, it's not just the battle for the potential number one pick in the NBA draft.

Starting point is 00:05:26 This is a battle between arguably the two best college basketball players right now. I know you could throw Cam Boozer in the production he brings to the table. And there's been so many unbelievable freshmen so far this year that you could throw into this conversation. But for my money, these are still the two best players, not just for the draft, but this college basketball season. And that's what I think makes this so special is sometimes you have guys like you think of Andrew Wiggins. Andrew Wiggins was still a good college player. He was a second team all-American. That means he was one of the 10 best college basketball players that season.

Starting point is 00:05:56 But Wiggins, even though he was the number one picking the draft, wasn't the best. player in college basketball. These two guys who are supposed to go one and two in the draft are probably the two best players in college basketball as well. And that makes this even more exciting. And you look at it like this battle for the number one pick is got to be important for both guys. I talked about this on a recent episode, I don't know, a couple weeks ago where like the

Starting point is 00:06:20 difference between being the number one pick and the number two pick, there is a monetary difference there, right? You're talking about about four or five million dollars over the course of your three years plus your team option so four years of your rookie deal i know that doesn't sound like a huge difference when we're talking oh you're going to make 30 million and then your second contract you'll make hundreds of millions and like come on man if you have a five million dollar check in front of you playing against each other and you know this one game might not be the difference in that happening but it might be it might be really really really like tie goes to the runner the runner is who wins

Starting point is 00:06:56 this game and performs better like seriously and i don't know that is kind of one thing you're looking at here. But it is interesting because Peterson was the favorite to be the number one pick in the draft coming into the year. Some people have swayed lately to DeBanza, right? Like Sam Vesini of the Athletic, who I think does as good of work as anybody on this stuff, he bumped DeBanza up to number one on his latest mock draft like a week or so ago. Peterson down to number two, right? And you can find different publications, different sites, different pundits that some have Peterson won,

Starting point is 00:07:26 some of DeBonza one. I don't know. I'm sure some people have like Cambuzer one. But for the most part, it's it's those two guys. And it is very interesting because this goes back to high school too, where they were kind of interchanging number one. Like DeBonso was number one at a moment. Like Peterson ended number one on 24-7 sports with a late surge.

Starting point is 00:07:42 It is just interesting the almost rivalry, like I said earlier, that these two guys have kind of had. And I think one of the interesting pieces of this game, too, beyond all this, is not making it personal. Like in terms of both Kansas and BYU, you want Darren Peterson and AJ, there's a fine line. You want Darren Peterson, if you're a Kansas fan, you want AJ DeBonson, if you're BYU fan, to take it personal to the standpoint of play with an edge, right, and have a big game.

Starting point is 00:08:11 But you also don't want them to take it personal to the standpoint of like, hey, I need to get mine, I need to put up big scoring totals, I need to take all these shots, and then it takes the team out of the flow, out of the rhythm of the game, out of the flow of their normal. offense and they lose the game because of it. So it's like there's that fine line between you want them to take it very personally, but you don't want them to feel like they have to do everything where then it becomes a hindrance to the team, right? And so which guy can not only go off, but can also do it in the construct of the game,

Starting point is 00:08:47 allowing the teammates to be a part of it too is going to be super important. And beyond that, like how does each team kind of defend each other? We're going to break that down a little bit more in the third segment. but I find that a very fascinating question when you look at the personnel of kind of both these teams that I don't really have a great answer for either of those, right? But I'll say this. This is one of the most anticipated. This is one of the most exciting games upcoming for KU and for a college basketball regular season game in a while. I know with Kansas, we've been spoiled with so many great regular season games.

Starting point is 00:09:22 I mean, Kansas, Oklahoma, triple overtime game, where he had number one in the coaches pole. verse number one in the AP poll. You think of some of these games KU's played in and then on con year in and you're out with Duke and Carolina and Yukon and Kentucky and you think about some of the big 12 classics they've had. Some of the good teams of the Big 12 that they've played, whether they've won or lost at home or on the road, which is from a standpoint of the general audience, the national audience, the audience who just wants to see interest, who wants to see NBA players, who wants to see storylines. This is as compelling as a the game as Kansas has been in from that perspective, as I can remember.

Starting point is 00:10:03 Maybe you go back to the Champions Classic with Duke in Kansas when it was Wiggins versus Jabari Parker. I don't know. But I'm just excited to see it. You know, this was before the season started when we were looking at the schedule. We were sitting there going, this is to me the most interesting game of the season for KU. And it does, it is important. Like, it's funny because it's not going to be KU's biggest game.

Starting point is 00:10:25 you know, if you're looking at who could be their biggest win, that would probably be Arizona. Like Iowa State who they beat at home is ranked higher than BYU. But from the standpoint of this could be really fun, from the standpoint that it's probably going to be entertaining basketball, from the standpoint of this is going to be one that you're going to be talking about 10 years down the road of like, hey, I got to see those guys play each other in college. It sucks. We only get it. We only get it the one time.

Starting point is 00:10:50 This should have been done twice. I don't know what your remark was thinking, but I'm excited for it on Saturday. Let's get into how they have performed against each other in the past. And then we'll get into reasons why I think both of them are going to be super important, duh, for each team on Saturday. Hi, everyone. I'm Kalia Butler, host of Locked-on Women's Basketball. And this is Mazda's Women's Basketball Snapshot,

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Starting point is 00:12:48 join our Discord server as well. Okay, so AJ DeBontza versus Darren Peterson. This will not be the first time. They have battled each other. In fact, the previous ones have been awesome. First matchup came in December of 2024. It was at the grind session circuit. And that one, Peterson only scored 32 points and actually beat DeBonza and Utah Prep.

Starting point is 00:13:10 But it's the second meeting that is the one that I think raised the hype meter for both these guys and this matchup to a whole other level. So in the second meeting, Peterson drops 58 points. Now, I think you look at some places it claims he had 61, other say 50, I don't know, whatever. I think 58's the official number. Regardless, he scores 58 points to go with seven rebounds, five assists and three steals. That's what Darren Peterson did. 58 points, seven rebounds, five assists, three steals.

Starting point is 00:13:43 DeBonso was really good too. He had 49 points, nine rebounds, three assists in a steel. That is super, super, super star level stuff. from both of these guys. And then beyond that, Darren Peterson, yeah, he made the game-winning three-pointer

Starting point is 00:13:56 to get prolific, prep the victory over DeBonza and his team. So it was an unbelievable game, unbelievable performance by both guys. I don't know that we can expect that many points from both guys in this one, but like, what's the expectation here?

Starting point is 00:14:11 Because I know you look at point per game averages, you would say, okay, well, both should be in the 20s, but like given you would think they're going to ramp it up, like, are both going to get over 30. That would be pretty incredible to see.

Starting point is 00:14:22 kind of on both sides of things, right? But I think one big question for me coming into this one is going to be, are BYU's supporting pieces better than KUs? Because I think KU's supporting pieces have shown to be very, very solid this season, right? More than a lot of people nationally were expecting them to be. But still, you look at BYU's supporting pieces, and it's like Richie Saunders,

Starting point is 00:14:46 who was an all-big 12 player a year ago, you look at the edition of Rob Wright transferring in from Baylor like that's a really good point card edition like they've got some other really good players on that roster that fit more of the star mold whereas with Kansas you know I don't know maybe at this point Melvin council and Trey White and Fuliburton to our stars I don't know um but that is kind of a question for me like is there a world where Darren Peterson goes for 36 and debonsa has 28 but BYU comes out with the victory and BYU has like this is another question I kind of have coming into this one, is BYU a style issue for KU, right?

Starting point is 00:15:22 We know that Bill South traditionally has had trouble with some of these teams in the past. And obviously, you look at the first two years that BYU entered the big 12. They won against Kansas. I mean, the first year that they played two years ago, they came in Allen Fieldhouse and beat KU with Jackson Robinson and company. Then you look at last year, it was, it was no contest, right? I mean, BYU just smoked Kansas from the jump. And so I think it's fair to wonder, like, is there a style issue here for BYU against KU? But you could also counter that and say, okay, but those last two Kansas teams were not built to play a team like BYU who wants to spread it out when KU's playing drop coverage with Hunter Dickinson at the five.

Starting point is 00:16:07 And, you know, now you're playing more mobile big men and now you switch five a little bit more, which has been, you know, for sometimes for KU trouble. but maybe in this game it does make more sense to switch five more in the same way that it actually helped them in the Yukon game. So that'll be kind of interesting how that works, but something to kind of keep an eye on, right? And then I think the third question here is just how healthy or hurt is Darren Peterson? Because if the ankle is good enough for him to play on, but it causes him to not be 100 percent or causes him any troubles, what is that worth? Because again, you go back to the matchup where it took Peterson having 58 points and hitting the game-winning three to beat DeBonsa with the 49 points. So if he has a partially injured ankle

Starting point is 00:16:51 and Peterson potentially in that game would have only scored 52 points, they lose the game, which is crazy to think about. And then we also get back to the cramping issue or like, is he going to be able to finish a game, especially after missing the last one and having the ankle thing now where it's like, does that increase the likelihood at all? So those are, I think, all three fair questions for KU coming into this matchup with BYU as they try to nab one with Peterson against DeBanza, but let's get into reasons why I think both of them actually are set up to have pretty darn big games for both of their teams. This episode of the show is brought to you by Game Time. There's nothing like being in an NBA or college basketball arena, the crowd, the energy,

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Starting point is 00:19:31 Thanks for joining us here. Again, don't forget check out the Everydayer Club where you can get the ad-free version of Lockdownjahawks, lockdownpodcast.com slash everydayer. Okay, so both these players are going to be, super important to their teams winning on Saturday. There's the super obvious duh moment because, you know, these are two really good players on two good teams. So, duh, they're both going to be important.

Starting point is 00:19:51 But I do want to dig deeper on this because I do think both players are set up to have success in a lot of ways here, right? So BYU gives up a lot of shots at the rim, mid-range twos, and above the break from three. Those are the zones that they're giving up the highest, basically percentile of field goal attempt percentage where the majority of your shots are coming from, right? They're in the 40th percentile and field goal attempt percentage allowed at the rim. A 24th percentile in midrange two is 26 percentile above the break threes. Again, those are the frequency of how often they're happening compared to other teams nationally, right? So they're giving up a good amount at all this.

Starting point is 00:20:30 Darren Peterson's leading KU in mid-range attempts per game, three point four attempts per game. No one else on KU even has one and a half or higher. So he's by far the most mid-range shots. And he's shooting them pretty well. 47% on mid-range 2's this season. That's 77th percent out nationally. Peterson also leads Kansas with 6.1 above the break threes per game. Another area that BYU gives up a lot of shots.

Starting point is 00:20:53 No one else on Kansas has three and a half or more per game. So he's by far taking the most mid-range and above the break threes. And he's shooting the above the break threes at a salty 39.3%. That is 79th percent out nationally. So Peterson excels in two areas that BYU typically gives up shots.

Starting point is 00:21:09 Now he hasn't take as many shots at the rim. He's fifth on the team there, but he is shooting 68% in those shots. But those numbers are going up lately. He's been driving more of the last couple of games. So it seems to kind of fit the billing of areas that BYU has given up more shots, right? Now, Kansas is given up a big chunk of shots in the paint and above the break threes. Those are the biggest areas, KU, is given up their shot attempts. Again, in the paint, so not at the rim, but in the paint. So, outside of four and a half feet from the rim, but still in the paint and above the break threes. And DeBonsa is leading BYU at 4.1 attempts per game in the paint.

Starting point is 00:21:49 And he's shooting them at 54.5%. Very, very good. That's 80th percent on nationally. Now, he's only fourth on at BYU and above the break threes per game. That's because they have a lot of snipers on the team. But he's still taking two and a half per game at a 37.5 percent clip. So both these guys excel in areas where the other defense is giving up a lot of these shots. and already you knew these are good players that are going to be, you know,

Starting point is 00:22:12 both teams are going to want them to be impactful and try to set them up for success. That leads me to believe that maybe this could be a game where both of them go for like 30 points, right? Then you look at the big question, who guards the other one? And I think that's what becomes really interesting too is there's not really, to me, an obvious solution for either team. Do we even see them cross-match at times? Maybe that is the best solution for both teams. I mean, Peterson would be giving up some size with DeBonza. But I don't know, maybe he would know him the best and athletically.

Starting point is 00:22:42 Maybe he could keep up at least the most. Like, DeBonza is going to be the best athlete on the court. So there isn't going to be keeping up with him athletically. It's just keeping as close as possible, right? But DeBantza, what's interesting is plays most of his minutes at the four. He will play some at the three, but he plays the most of his minutes at the four. How on earth is Bryson Tiller going to keep up with him from an athletic perspective, right? The flip side is.

Starting point is 00:23:04 But what if Tiller's wingspan and length can help bother him in some way, right? Or do you throw Trey White on AJ DeBonson just be able to KKKK, White is going to keep up with him mobility-wise as much as you can against that freak of an athlete. Like, I say that positively, but will he be able to keep up with him size-wise, right? And then if Trey White's guarding Devonsa, who the heck is Tiller guarding? Is he guarding a guard who's going to be shooting threes all over him on BYU? That's where this becomes difficult for KU kind of defending this, right? Do you have to basically like make your DIA?

Starting point is 00:23:38 defense in some way, hey, as soon as DeBonza enters in on the three point line, he's getting doubled. Do you play some like, is this one of those games we see a junk defense from Bill South? Can you even afford to do that? Because BYU has so much spacing and shooting around it that it's not so easy to play a triangle and two or box in one when they're just going to be launching three. So I don't know what the answer is for KU. On the other end, you look at BYU. Maybe it's the Bonsa guarding Peterson, but if not, like the primary two is Richie Saunders, who excellent shooter, good basketball player. I don't think he can guard Darren Peterson consistently.

Starting point is 00:24:11 If they put their point guard Rob Wright on him, Rob Wright's giving up five inches to Peterson. So like maybe it's Conard Davis or something like that, but I don't know. Like I think both guys have an avenue to, like I said, score 30 plus points in this game. I really do think it is there. And I don't know.

Starting point is 00:24:28 I don't want to say I hope it happens because obviously from the Kansas perspective, if you're hoping Peterson goes for 40 and DeBonte gets held the 18 or something and Kansas wins by 20 points like that. That's the most ideal. But from just pure entertainment's perspective, like that would be kind of fun to watch. That's for sure. All right. That'll do it for this episode of Locked on Jayhawks.

Starting point is 00:24:46 We'll have more on Peterson and DeBonson, more on Kansas and BYU as a whole with our preview later this week. We'll have some more conversation about that. We'll have some KU football conversation on tomorrow's episode as well. This has been Locked on Jayhawks. Thanks for joining us. And don't forget and check out the Everyday Air Club or anywhere you get your podcast.

Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - STARS DUEL: Darryn Peterson vs AJ Dybantsa in BATTLE for #1 Pick AND Kansas Jayhawks vs BYU Cougars

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