The Kansas Jayhawks saw their bid to become March Madness champions come to an end in the second round, as the college lost 67-65 to the St. John’s Red Storm, led by coach Rick Pitino. This was a disappointing outcome for freshman guard Darryn Peterson, who is widely expected to leave Kansas and declare for the 2026 NBA Draft now that the season is over.
Peterson averaged 20.2 points on 43.8% from the field and 38.2% from three, with 4.2 rebounds and 1.6 assists in 24 games over the college season, but generated major controversy through his actions over the year. Peterson, on more than one occasion, subbed himself out of a game to protect his health. He did this even when his coaching staff wanted him to stay in and finish out games, prompting many to question if Peterson is the No. 1 pick that many Draft experts expected him to be before the season started.
Now that the NCAA season is officially behind him, Peterson openly spoke about what he faced over the season in terms of both physical and mental challenges to Kevin O’Connor.
“I was hurt for the majority of the year. I went through some really bad stuff. I wasn’t really myself for real until like the end of the year.”
Darryn Peterson also shared more information about the injuries that affected him in the season with the Kansas City Star’s Shreyas Laddha.
“I had like a full-body [cramp], super serious,” Peterson said. “You could say it was traumatic. I would say it was a traumatic experience.”
“It was traumatic for me. So much, I tried to fight until it … I kind of couldn’t,” Peterson said. “Your mind is a joystick, my dad tells me. You can’t beat your mind.”
Peterson put up 21 points on 5-15 shooting as the Jayhawks were eliminated from the NCAA Men’s Division 1 tournament. He did show flashes of defensive brilliance with four blocks, but it wasn’t enough as his sloppy playmaking and inefficient shooting were the bigger talking points in a narrow loss for the Jayhawks.
The guard has openly discussed potentially returning to the NCAA for another season after how troubled his freshman campaign has been with these issues and the media scrutiny he’s been under. From being a top-three lock, there are genuine conversations about Peterson potentially falling outside the top-three given the rise of prospects like Caleb Wilson and Darius Acuff Jr., alongside Cameron Boozer and AJ Dybantsa, who have been highly-touted all year.
The cramp issues that Darryn Peterson has faced this year have been hotly debated, as many questioned the legitimacy of them. If NBA teams still question whether Peterson’s cramps were actually serious enough for him to miss 11 games and sub out of other games at his own discretion, he won’t be going as a top-three pick. This is a long fall for Peterson, who drew comparisons to LeBron James coming out of high school, but has seen his stock fall over the last season.
The 2026 NBA Draft is considered stacked with multiple options at the top of the pool. Peterson’s talent is worthy of a top-three pick, but if there are concerns around his injuries or his attitude, it’ll be hard for a team to take a chance on him. His ability to fight through this scrutiny and push through mental hurdles is also a valuable skill that NBA teams are evaluating him on, so we haven’t seen anything mind-blowing on that end yet.
Hopefully, the teams that believe in his talent will pick him undeterred, with Darryn Peterson also showing the flashes that prove he could be a potentially game-changing addition on lottery teams like the Sacramento Kings, Dallas Mavericks, Washington Wizards, or Brooklyn Nets.
