Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - TRUTH BOMBS: Bill Self REVEALS Darryn Peterson Injury Information, Family DECIDES His Kansas' Fate

Starting point is 00:00:00 Did Bill Self open up on the truth behind this whole thing with Darren Peterson? Plus, KU football is having a bit of a transfer frenzy, and it's going the wrong way. 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 here. Thanks for making Lockdown Jhawks. your first listen every day. And thank you for tuning in to the show and making the Lockdown Podcast Network,

Starting point is 00:00:35 the number one sports podcast network. On today's episode of the show, we're diving into Bill Self's postgame comments from after KU defeated Davidson, in which it finally felt like we got a peek behind the curtain of what is exactly going on with this whole Darren Peterson saga. So we'll get into a little bit of that. And then we'll finish up with a KU Football Transfer frenzy

Starting point is 00:00:56 as three more players have entered the portal from KU Football. football, including, I think most notably, would probably be Harry Stewart there. Let's start here with KU. Here was the quote last night after the game. He was asked about Darren Peterson. Obviously, he didn't play in the Davidson game or one of the last two games. He said, quote, I think he's doing well. They're going to make a decision.

Starting point is 00:01:16 They made a decision, which I don't disagree with at all, that they want him to be as close to 100% as possible when he comes back and he's just not quite there yet. It's a day-to-day deal. He will be. I wish he could have played tonight. but fact of matter is guys got some run and did well and then there's a follow-up question from Henry Greenstein that said who who does he mean by they because it go back to that quote it says I think he's doing well they're going to make a decision they made a decision right so he says

Starting point is 00:01:45 who do you mean by they a good follow-up question there and Bill Self says his family you know the thing about it is we talked about this we're in agreement with the family that he should not play until he feels good we're in agreement but I'm not inside his head or his that I can determine if he feels good enough or not, that's up to him. He wants to be out there. He's just not quite ready. And let's break this down because I think there's a lot to break down there too, right? And I would highly recommend going to check out the actual, like, video or the clip.

Starting point is 00:02:14 I know Michael Swain posted the full clip of it. I know you can find videos of the press conference like KU's website or on YouTube and all sorts of places. But there's certain, like, it almost like to me, and maybe this is reading between the G leaves and not exactly where he's. He was trying to go with this, right? But from my reading the situation, it felt a lot like Bill Self was kind of getting to a point where he was finally frustrated enough, right?

Starting point is 00:02:39 We've heard so many different things along the way. We've heard sickness. We've heard cramps. We've heard hamstring tight. And it's possible all of those things did happen. But it's just like it felt like there was a different thing. And he kept getting asked about it. And like, from his perspective, he probably is frustrated by this, right?

Starting point is 00:02:54 And honestly, like, probably a lot of the media frustrated by it, too, from the standpoint that they have to keep asking because they don't like asking and having Bill Self being pissed about it, but like, that's what people want to know. So they keep asking the question. And again, Bill Self probably doesn't like having to answer the question over and over, but it's what people want to know. So you're going to keep having to answer, right? And so you get a bit of that frustration that you finally get to this point where you get here and you reveal some of this. And it felt like a lot to me of like, you saw a lot of the truth here from Bill Self of what is actually happening here while also like him trying to rein it in. Like you would see the, you

Starting point is 00:03:28 Oh, yeah, this is his family. You know, we're in agreement with the family. But then he'd be like, oh, but I agree with it. Right. Like trying to both save face with the family and with Darren Peterson's camp while also letting out a little bit of frustration. It was a very, I guess, guided response, you know, eloquently towing the line. I thought by Bill Self to kind of get between the two.

Starting point is 00:03:53 And it did feel like a little bit of like, okay, Bill Self, like, I'm finally tired of this and here we're going to go with this right so the next question that becomes of this is was this the like did he finally share this information because the family told him hey we're tired of of seeing all this on social media and hearing about people what's going on and stuff too just tell him it's our decision we want him to be 100% like we're looking out for him he's our kid or or i don't know if it's agent or what is exactly the part of his family right um or is it bill self's frustration let that kind of get out and you know then the follow up to that would be is Darren Peterson's family going to be upset is Darren Peterson's family going to be mad about this being out in the

Starting point is 00:04:40 open now like was Bill self kind of falling on the sword through the first couple months of the season um to kind of protect that side of things right because what you don't want to have happen here I mean there's two things you don't want to have happen here it's like uh you're catching a fish here in a way where like you don't want to scare the fish away you know you're not going to like yell into the water you're not going to like throw a rock into the water you want to be calm you want to have your your fishing pole in the water you want to catch the fish and the metaphor here is the catching the fish is having Darren Peterson play for you but it's not just the fish that you're going for you're going for that that big fish that you can reel in you're going for

Starting point is 00:05:21 that 40 pound salmon on the keeney it's it's not just that. It's that you're going for the next fish, too, because you don't want to turn this into a disaster where now future agents or future other coaches recruiting against you or future, you know, players see it and go, hey, potential top three pick, number one pick, Darren Peterson, five-star recruit, came to Kansas and look at all this drama going on. I'm a five-star recruit and one of the best players in the country. Do I really want to go there? and then other coaches are using that to recruit against you. So it is this fine line of like you having to play this game a little bit. And so again, does this notion make it more or less likely that he plays? Now that it's out in the open, maybe there's more pressure on Darren Peterson and his family to get to play.

Starting point is 00:06:10 Then again, was this just coming from his family to try to, you know, to be like, hey, with Bill Self, like take the onus off you like we don't care, just put it on us, right? Who knows? I think that's going to be very interesting to find out. But it did feel like we finally got to kind of the truth behind what is. exactly going on here, which the truth to be clear is not that he's not injured. He is injured. Like I want to be very clear with that. Right. Like if you watch the last couple games that he played, you know, he did not have the same level of explosiveness. I made the comparison in a

Starting point is 00:06:39 previous episode that he looked like the older version of Joe Johnson that was like not the same explosive Joe Johnson. If you remember, you know, former multi-time All-Star in the NBA, he was the end of his career version of him where he could, you know, hit a tough jump shot. He could post up on you. He could do all these things, but he wasn't the same explosiveness. That's what he looked like in the two previous games. So there's clearly something bothering him. It's just the level of, is he at the level that Bill Self thinks he should play through it, family thinks differently, or is this, you know, again, you go off the Bill self-quote,

Starting point is 00:07:06 he's in full agreement, but is that just the public side of things? But it did feel like we got a little bit more peek behind the curtain of what is going on with the injury and when that return to be. And that does make things more complicated with if and when he would potentially come back. So I do want to get into our second segment here because, you know, this being more of a family decision to me it makes it like you're going to handle it with kid gloves a little bit more um for him to come back he's really going to have to be good to go right like if this was just a coach's decision i don't know what the threshold is let's say the threshold is

Starting point is 00:07:40 80% 90% of when a coach would clear you the coach and the doctor would clear you and be like hey you're going to have to play through a little bit of pain but you can do it whereas if it's a family's decision it is going to really be you have to be 100 100% right and maybe that makes it less likely that we see Peterson soon. Maybe it makes it less likely that we see Peterson at all. I'm not saying that's going to be the case. You know, we could very well see Darren Peterson for the start of Big 12 play. It just decreases the odds of those things happening. So I want to kind of take a deep dive into how KU has done this season in the games that Darren Peterson has not played to kind of get an idea, you know, what this team would be if

Starting point is 00:08:17 you don't have Darren Peterson for an extended period of time. This episode of the show is brought to you by Omaha Steaks. The holidays are here and whether you're hosting family, planning the perfect gift, or just trying to keep things simple and delicious. Omaha Steaks is making it easier than ever. From effortless holiday entertaining to unforgettable gifts, Omaha Steaks delivers the world's best steak experience straight to your door. What makes it even better? With Omaha steaks, you always know exactly what you're gifting, USDA certified tender steaks, premium proteins, gourmet sides, and decadent desserts that make anyone feel appreciated. I've sent Omaha Stakes, or I've actually gotten Omaha Steaks as a gift before.

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Starting point is 00:10:03 And if we look at it, obviously, that's still a limited sample, right? Because you're looking at just over 100 minutes over the course of four games. So Kansas this year in the eight games, or I guess nine games, right, nine games that they've played without Darren Peterson. They have an 80th, 87th percentile net rating this year. that is your O rating, how many points you're scoring per 100 possessions, subtracted by your D rating, how many points you're giving up per 100 possessions, 87th percentile and net rating, that's very good, right?

Starting point is 00:10:32 Especially because that's unadjusted. And then when you take into account, if you have an 87th percentile net rating against one of the best schedules in the country, that where it becomes really impressive for KU. Well, in the games with Peterson, they're in the 88th percentile in net rating. So the fact that Kansas has been able to be this good even without Peterson, I think it's been a pleasant surprise for KU and does give me hope that, you know, hypothetically, if you do miss Peterson for a longer period of time,

Starting point is 00:10:59 if you did have to miss Peterson for, you know, the rest of the season theoretically, again, I'm just saying the worst case scenario. I'm not saying that's going to happen. Then you would still have maybe more potential than maybe we gave this team credit for, right? And albeit three of those four games Peterson played or against powerful opponents, so it's going to be harder to accrue stats, you know, necessarily in those. But I think the biggest thing you see drop, and this makes sense, is the offense for KU.

Starting point is 00:11:22 The O rating for Kansas in the games with Darren Peterson, I should clarify, the games with Darren Peterson and the rest of them. So all 13 games this year, Kansas is in the 68th percentile in O rating. In the games they've played just without Darren Peterson, so just the nine games, they're in the 59th percentile. So that drops significantly. The effective field goal percentage goes from the 73rd percentile to the 63rd percentile. The two-point percentage has actually been slightly better

Starting point is 00:11:50 as has the free throw percentage, but the biggest difference is the three point percentage that makes sense with Peterson. In the 13 games this season, Kansas is shooting 35.6% from three. But if we take out the four games that Peterson played in, Kansas would only be shooting 32.6% from three. And that has led to one of the biggest differences in KU's offense. The other big thing that they've missed without Peterson is the turnover rate. So on the season, over the 13 games for KU, they have a 70th percentile turnover rate. So they've been solid at avoiding turnovers. But again, if we take out the four games that Peterson played, Kansas drops to the 43rd percentile below average in turnover rate.

Starting point is 00:12:29 Melvin Council has been really good at avoiding turnovers. I think the difference you see there is this. When you have Peterson, you have Peterson, who is a good ball handler, with counsel, who's a good ball handler, and now you have good harmony in terms of your ball handling and avoiding turnovers. When Peterson's out, you still have counsel, but now your second ball handler becomes a Marco Jackson, who struggled a bit with turnover,

Starting point is 00:12:50 or maybe it becomes, you know, Jemarie McDowell, who's more of a shooting guard. Maybe it becomes kind of a Jaden Dawson, who again, more of a shooting guard, although he's avoided turnovers, but more limited minutes there. So, like, that's where you see the biggest improvement for KU when Peterson comes in. Avoiding turnovers, hitting threes. Those are both very big ways to make your offense more efficient. Interestingly enough, though, the defense has been better for KU in the games without Peterson.

Starting point is 00:13:12 So on the season, for the full 13 games, Kansas is in the 95th percentile in D-rating. But if we exclude those four games with Pete, Peterson. They're in the 98th percentile. So what gives there? Now, I do think the ceiling of this team is even better defensively with Peterson. He's a big guard. But I think a couple things are there. One, the games with Peterson, power four opponents. Two, part of the Peterson sample size was the North Carolina game, which the second half was your worst defensive half of the season. So that's counting into there. But it is interesting that you look at the defensive rebounding has been a little bit better. The steel and block rate, slight notches up. It's almost like KU. you understands that, hey, without Peterson, we have to win this game on the defensive end to the floor. And they're almost able to ramp it up just a smidge to be a little bit better on the defensive end. So I say all this to say, if you do miss Peterson for an extended period of time, do I think Kansas would win the Big 12 without him? No, I don't with how good the conference is. But do I think they could finish with a winning record in the Big 12? Yeah, I still do

Starting point is 00:14:17 think that. And do I think they could still, you know, win a tournament game or two without Peterson? Yeah, I still do because I really like this team in the way they're meshing together and the way they play Bill Self basketball in certain ways. It's just that Peterson is the difference of, yeah, do you want to win the Big 12? Do you want to make a final four? It feels like that's the difference of kind of getting you over the hump. So I have been very impressed with this Kansas team, even without Darren Peterson, but I want to see more with Darren Peterson. Let's get to a little KU football, transfer frenzy going out of the program right now. This episode of the show is brought to you by Game Time.

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Starting point is 00:16:04 Three new transfer portal entries for the Jayhawks. And I would say the biggest one here has got to be Harry Stewart, who, you know, I had been very high on Harry Stewart. 21 carries 98 yards, a little over four yards per carry. He doesn't jump a ton off the page, but he was averaging three yards after contact per carry. That's higher than what high shot average last year. Now, albeit, you know, a lot of those numbers are in against lesser competition at the beginning of the season. But like, I liked Harry Stewart.

Starting point is 00:16:35 And I thought that Mike thought process was add a really good transfer portal running back to be your 1A and then make one of your young running backs, which to me, the lead in that category would be Harry Stewart, given that he was the third string this year and in the games that high shaw was out he became the second string um that he would be the one b and then you would have your the old phrase from and a spare you have two top running backs your spare is kind of a guy who can come in late in games is a guy if one of those guys are hurt is a guy that you know if you just need a different look i think the best version of that we saw was with dylan macduffy a couple years ago and that could be one

Starting point is 00:17:08 of your other young running backs too well now you lose stewart and i think stewart is somebody who I don't know that I would quite put him in the same category as David McComb and John John Kamara, but kind of a similar category, players who potentially could have had a big role in 2026, at the very least players that you feel like had potential to be something really good. Now, I do think it's another level of potential that I looked at it for Kamara and McComb, and McComb also different because he's a quarterback, but still kind of in that same vein of you didn't want to lose Harry Stewart here, and I certainly didn't. I thought he was going to be in line to have a good season for KU here.

Starting point is 00:17:43 in 2026. And I think beyond that, you look at the running back room now. You have Justin Thurman, who's a young back. It seems like the staff is high on him. So maybe he just takes that role, right? And then you have Corey Mockrey, who is one of my favorite players in this upcoming class. So that's good news for KU there. John Kelly redshirted. It does mean, though, that you just have three scholarship running backs in the class. So that means not only do you probably now need to add a portal stud at running back, you probably need to add another one to be kind of depth, whether it's an older player who can be, you know, a third string and you let one of the young guys be the one B to the portal edition 1A, whether it's adding a young guy to kind of

Starting point is 00:18:20 compete with the other young guys. It means you have more work to do at the running back position in terms of, you know, portal guys to kind of add. The question to me just becomes like, what level of portal additions do you make now? Do you add the stud in the portal and then have one of Thurman or a mockery potentially as your one B and then the other is your spare? Or do you say of our top three running backs two are going to be portal editions and only one of the top three are going to be one of the youngsters i think that'll be interesting how k u approaches that so that one certainly hurts a little bit for k u um the other loss for kansas was andre gibson gibson one of the corners on the roster now ku does have a lot of returning corners that's

Starting point is 00:19:00 good news here i guess assuming right you never know with all these exits could be another one any minute now but jalen todd austin alexander said gibbs juliel hurley feels like your top four right now in the depth chart maybe add somebody in the portal that pushes that around but right now that feels like a pretty clear top four lenny brown coming in as a freshman chrisma corkel red shirt or jacobo davis uh is somebody who came in the class with chmiel croft as a highly rated kid um haven't really heard much about that there uh the point being this one kind of makes sense for but also this one becomes interesting to me because something we talked about on the other episode and thank you for the everydayers who already caught it with jordan peterson leaving

Starting point is 00:19:39 jordan peterson is the one that recruited andre gibson from desert edge into kansas to kansas does he just rejoin peterson over at kansas state so he's in the portal jr warner's in the portal former k u players who were recruited by jordan peterson to kansas now in the portal are they going to wind up all wildcats that'll be interesting or at least some of them and then finally the last one here is caleb red red came in as a transfer from he he was a missouri prospect who was seen as kind of a mid-to-high-high-end three-star recruit, came to Kentucky, redshirted, transferred to Kansas, wasn't able to make inroads on the two-deep.

Starting point is 00:20:13 And so he ends up leaving. And I think, okay, maybe that was something where, you know, if Leroy Harris and Dak Brinkley come back, then he was going to be gone. Kay was obviously recruited freshmen well at the defense event spot. And with Harris and Bray and Brooks potentially back and Brinkley potentially back, I guess he goes to another spot.

Starting point is 00:20:33 Now, what's interesting about all these, again, some of the, like, as far as Gibson and Red, I don't think either one was projected on the two deep. I would say Stewart, to me, was projected on the two deep, but wait and see what happens with the rest of the offseason. KU's lost 16 guys now in the transfer portal. A lot of the 16 guys that KU has lost were guys that were not impacting the two deep for KU. Obviously, that's not true for everyone and some of them are more future plays. But you can easily be like, well how much actually on field value has KU lost in totality and can't they just find replacements in the transfer portal who you know maybe if they don't help them as much in

Starting point is 00:21:11 long term but maybe they can help them more right away in 2026 and the short answer is yes but the long answer of why this does matter even losing that many of players not on the too deep is I would just imagine it's more expensive to replace a guy in the portal than to just have somebody come back so for one are you going to have enough money to fill as many holes as you have, because you have a lot of spots you have to fill. Do you have enough money to do that? Maybe you do. But beyond that, you've lost 16 guys, and there's still like three weeks left before the portal closes. So from 22 to 2025, KU lost an average of 16.8 players, but just 15 since 2023 is the average per 24-7 sports. And several of those were walk-ons. So it's a lot of work to do

Starting point is 00:21:56 in the portal for Lance Leipold, for Rob Ionelo. And it does. does seem like you were losing more right now than you have in some past years, in some past classes. So it's not ring the alarm about these losses necessarily, but when you continue to stack these together, it becomes more of a longer hike for those guys to make in what this very important offseason is going to be for KU football. All right, that'll do for this episode of Lockdown Jayhawks. You can find our show anywhere you get your podcast, including on our YouTube page where you can like and subscribe to the show. See you tomorrow for another edition of LOJ.

Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - TRUTH BOMBS: Bill Self REVEALS Darryn Peterson Injury Information, Family DECIDES His Kansas' Fate

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