A year after KU Jayhawks’ early peak and March fizzle, Bill Self plots new course
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Kansas peaked early last season but now wears a 3-2 start amid turnover.
- Self has perspective on a monster schedule and Peterson injury but wants to see more.
- Peterson's return, and absence now, could have long-term benefit.
As Kansas men’s basketball coach Bill Self was girding his Jayhawks for their game against No. 5 Duke a few days ago, the prep included reviewing video from last season’s game with the Blue Devils — a 75-72 victory in Las Vegas.
With that came affirmation of something Self mentioned during a hallway chat at Big 12 media day last month. Between that win and an earlier one against North Carolina, KU, the nation’s top-ranked team entering last season, had hit its peak …
In November.
“We did. That was about the best we played all year long,” Self said in his office Friday afternoon. “I mean, we were good.”
Only to fizzle out in the first round of the NCAA Tournament and not emerge from the event’s first weekend for a third straight year since Kansas’ national-title run in 2022 — a trend with a taste that Self said he couldn’t wait to get out of his mouth.
How that will look on the other end of this season remains to be seen, of course. But at least you can say this for these Jayhawks:
Such an untimely pinnacle hasn’t been a problem this season as KU has scuffed to a 3-2 start.
No, this doesn’t mean doomsday for the 24th-ranked Jayhawks.
Kansas largely has been without its best player, is meshing together virtually a brand-new team overall and has suffered losses to the same vaunted programs the Jayhawks beat to mark that promising start a year ago.
But the record itself may get worse before it gets better.
What Self calls a “monster” schedule picks up again next week. KU takes on Notre Dame in the first of three games at the Players Era tournament in Las Vegas.
That’s followed by a Dec. 2 visit from No. 3 Connecticut and a Dec. 7 showdown with undefeated Mizzou at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City.
Add it all up, and KU could have a losing record into December or later for just the second time under Self, and the first time in 20 seasons. That prospect looms stranger yet, given that Self had been 108-16 in November games at KU until this season.
While it’s not at all a reason for panic, the moment is cause for some pause.
Even from Self.
The winningest coach in Kansas’ storied basketball history always feels and acts with urgency. But he’s also got some worthy perspective on a team that has back exactly one rotation player (Flory Bidunga) from last season — and on what it will mean in the long haul to return star-in-the-making Darryn Peterson from a hamstring injury.
“There’s a reason why teams are good early,” he said. “It could be returning players. It could be guys who have been in the system for a while. It could be health. It could be a lot of things.”
With a pause, he added, “Even though I don’t want to say this, because at Kansas I don’t think we’ve ever had a group that was (such that) we’ve asked anybody to be patient, the reality of if it that this team can get a lot better through a hard schedule — and we can have a record that isn’t what we desire.”
As much as KU will need a healthy Peterson to be “whole,” as Self put it, and have a chance to make a deep tournament run, it’s also true that this span without the star guard is an opportunity to cultivate a more rounded and resourceful team.
Or as Self put it: “I do think we have a chance to be a lot better when he comes back than what we would have been if he wasn’t out.”
Just when that will be remains unclear.
Self said Friday that Peterson won’t play in Las Vegas, thus meaning he’d sit out for the fourth, fifth and sixth times in the last month since scoring 43 points in 42.5 minutes in KU’s first two games.
Those gaudy numbers are part of why Self gushes about Peterson as he seldom does over a freshman. Last month in Kansas City, before Peterson had ever played a game, Self said the game is in “slow motion” to him. On Friday, he simply called him “a problem” for opponents.
Alas, though, not until Peterson gets past his own problem.
Self remains optimistic the return will be soon and summed it up as “the cramping issues led to hamstring tightness, but we think we’re on the back end of that.”
To convert Peterson’s return into a more prosperous back end of the season, though, this time remains vital for the rest of the team. Even if it’s not to be confused with the end-all.
Toward that, Self pointed to the offensive “inefficiencies” that have magnified a need for good defense that this team isn’t playing yet. He pointed to players who need to assert themselves more, including Elmarko Jackson, Kohl Rosario and Jayden Dawson. And he called for a collective intensity that hasn’t been established.
And then some.
“We’ve got it in us,” Self said, “but we don’t exercise that the way that we should.”
That’s not the same as exercising it with Peterson, of course. His return will make for an adjustment. Particularly in terms of how others can complement him and play off him while he’s being swarmed.
Just the same, this is the time the foundation should be forming — especially with such a fresh group — if it’s all going to coalesce when it counts instead of this whole season becoming a slog.
“We’re not what we need to be, not where we want to be,” Self said. “But when we come out of this deal (Peterson’s injury), we’ll be better prepared to be better.”
As for actually being better, a lot still has to come together for the 2025-26 Jayhawks.
But better later than sooner this time around.
This story was originally published November 22, 2025 at 6:00 AM.