Do these KU Jayhawks have what it takes? We (Bill Self included) should know soon
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- KU rebounded after wins and rotation tweaks, showing renewed purpose and urgency.
- Key variable remains Darryn Peterson’s availability and fit within the five-man lineup.
- Tough stretch looms: seven of next 10 games vs. top-13 foes will be revealing.
Stoked by its 84-63 clobbering of then-No. 2 Iowa State on Jan. 10, the Kansas men’s basketball team not only is in the thick of a four-game winning streak but also seems to have rebooted altogether.
With an increasingly present (albeit still variable) Darryn Peterson, a tightened and refined rotation and tangibly greater sense of purpose and urgency, the 14th-ranked Jayhawks (15-5, 5-2) have flipped the narrative back to what their ceiling could be as they prepare to take on No. 13 BYU on Saturday at Allen Fieldhouse.
That’s quite a contrast to the floor we were left to ponder after clunky road losses at Central Florida and West Virginia in a week’s span were sandwiched around a somewhat miraculous rally to beat TCU (3-5 in Big 12 play) in overtime at home.
And no doubt KU coach Bill Self now can visualize how these elements could be the makings of a deep NCAA Tournament run.
Just the same, Self also knows this team, with only one man back (Flory Bidunga) from last season’s nine-deep rotation, is still just emerging from an embryonic phase of development.
Especially considering Peterson, widely projected as one of the top NBA draft picks, still has missed as many games as he’s played (10) because of a variety of issues — including a twisted ankle that kept him out of KU’s most recent game at Kansas State.
So forgive Self if he isn’t quite sure he can tell what he’s got percolating here.
He was answering almost before I finished a question about how much he really knows what his team is about by now.
“I don’t; I don’t,” he said. “I think I know what 80% of it is.”
Meaning mostly that still to be understood, and harnessed, is how Peterson (“the other 20%”) at any given time fits in with the other four on the court. That dynamic is a work in progress.
Self also drew on the same figures when it comes to Peterson himself, asking aloud the apparently ongoing question of how to reconcile when, and if, 80% of him is preferable to 100% of someone else.
To date, Self reminds, we’ve really only had glimpses — often exhilarating ones — of Peterson’s potential. We haven’t for any extended period of time seen him “whole.”
Which could be said for the broader picture, too, particularly considering that part of Self’s process is about how everyone else and Peterson learn to play together.
Fuse that all, and Self settled into this view of his group as he spoke more about it.
“I’d say I feel totally comfortable with my team,” he said. “But I don’t see exactly everything I will see after we’ve been together and actually gone through some stuff for two or three weeks in a row.
“And hopefully that’s all starting right now.”
In more ways than one.
As of Friday afternoon, the return of Peterson was presumed but not assured. With or without him, a phrase constant all season (and one that may loom the rest of the way), the BYU game is the start of a daunting — and likely revealing — sequence.
Overall, seven of the Jayhawks’ next 10 games are against top-13 competition.
More immediately, it’s four of their next five.
“Everyone’s going to go through a hard phase of their schedule, there’s no doubt about that,” Self said. “But this is certainly the toughest phase of ours.”
Next up after BYU is No. 11 Texas Tech on Monday in Lubbock. After playing host to unranked Utah next Saturday, Kansas takes on No. 1 Arizona on Feb. 9 at home and travels to No. 8 Iowa State on Feb. 14.
Most coaches in such circumstances will preach one game at a time.
Self effectively made the opposite point: gird for the long haul.
“The thing about it is in this league you want to win the next one, but you can’t put so much emphasis on, ‘You have to do this,’ or, ‘You have to do that,’” he said. “Because the reality of it is when you play in good competition and great competition, it doesn’t always go as you script it or hope it to go.”
Controlling their own script as much as possible, of course, is the idea. And that’s going to start with the games within the game Saturday. ESPN’s “College GameDay” will be on the scene to amplify both the 1,000th KU men’s hoops contest in storied Allen Fieldhouse and the highly anticipated matchup of Peterson and BYU freshman AJ Dybantsa.
Along with Duke’s Cameron Boozer, either of the duo is seen as the potential No. 1 selection in this year’s NBA Draft.
Self appreciates that clash and, naturally, knows how it unfurls could be pivotal in the game.
Enticing as that part may be, this showdown isn’t about the one-on-one for KU (or BYU, for that matter). It’s about further cultivating the sum of some considerable but still-fluctuating parts.
On the way to learning what’s real and isn’t with a team that’s given us a glance at both its potential peak and apparent floor on the way to becoming what it actually is.
“I think it’s still an unknown of where we will be and where we can be,” Self said.
At least up until these next couple weeks.