Why Bill Self believes incoming KU Jayhawks freshman is 'best player we've recruited'

LAWRENCE, Kan. — One of the top men’s basketball prospects to sign with Kansas in the Bill Self era will be seated right behind the KU bench during Tuesday’s 1 p.m. KU-West Virginia Big 12 opener at Allen Fieldhouse.

He’s Darryn Peterson, a 6-foot-5, 195-pound combo guard from Prolific Prep in Napa, California, who signed with KU over Ohio State, USC and Kansas State during the week-long November signing period.

Peterson has decided to check out a game in the building he’ll call home during the 2025-26 season — a likely one-and-done season in Lawrence.

He arrived in town on Monday with several family members who toured the fieldhouse on Monday afternoon.

“To me, Darryn is the best player we’ve recruited since we’ve been here,” 22nd-year KU coach Self said on Monday at a news conference held in advance of Tuesday’s conference opener for both teams.

“When you talk about a player and the combination of a player and a prospect, I think that’s without question. He is a special talent,” Self added. Peterson sometime in January will be the 29th Jayhawk in history to be named to the McDonald’s All-America Game roster.

That list of blue-chip talent includes Darrell Arthur, Mario Chalmers, Sherron Collins, Perry Ellis, Xavier Henry, Andrew Wiggins, Josh Jackson, Gradey Dick, Flory Bidunga and others.

“I’ve said all along I think Sherron is the best basketball player we’ve recruited since I’ve been here. If you stop and think about who would be next, you could say ‘Wiggs,’ you could say Joel (Embiid) even though Joel was a prospect more than a player at the time and there was one other name that comes to mind and that’s Josh Jackson,” Self said Monday.

Peterson made his official campus visit to KU in June.

“He’s already been on an official visit. He’s coming to see the game,” Self said. “With the way they do games in high school now, on those exclusive travel type teams they are going to play 40 some games. They don’t have weekends free very often. This is a chance for he and his family to come down here and get a feel for what it’s like.

“When he visited here before, Allen Fieldhouse was under renovation. You couldn’t walk outside or be a part of anything because of construction. He’s really looking forward to seeing what it’s really like.”

Self noted Monday that elite signee Peterson, who is ranked No. 3 nationally by all the recruiting services (behind AJ Dybantsa, BYU) and Cameron Boozer (Duke), previously was in Lawrence “in seventh or eighth grade. His parents just came by driving through. He was unknown to us at that particular time, but people said he may have a chance to be a pretty good player. He turned out to be pretty good. People were right on that one.”

Originally from Canton, Ohio, Peterson when he committed to KU explained why the Jayhawks won out over in-state school Ohio State and others. ‘

“I just feel it aligned perfectly with my academic and athletic goals,” Peterson said. “Kansas has a strong history of development and success which were huge things for me during this process. It’s somewhere I can go develop as a player and have success while doing it and winning.

“Coach Self and coach KT (Kurtis Townsend), they’ve done a great job recruiting me. They’ve been recruiting me since my freshman year,” Peterson added.

Peterson’s nickname given to him by his dad, Darryl, many years ago is “Bucket Jones.”

“I transfer into a difference person I’d like to say in between the lines,” Peterson said. I feel I’m no longer DP, Darryn Peterson, I’m “Bucket Jones” now. My dad made that up at a young age. I always wanted to get buckets. Jones is like Jones-ing for something, like an addiction. I always said I had an addiction to buckets growing up, Now I’m more mature. I’m more about winning now, doing whatever it takes to win.”

Peterson last spring and summer played on Adidas’ 3Stripes Select Basketball (3SSB) circuit, where he averaged 28.2 points, 7.2 rebounds, 4.6 assists, 4.2 steals and 3.0 blocks per game.

Here’s 247Sports recruiting analyst Adam Finkelstein’s scouting report: “Peterson is a big guard with good positional size, length and strength. He’s 6-foot-5, with a 6-foot-10 wingspan, and a cut-up and defined frame. What differentiates him most though is an effortless ability to score and make plays from a variety of spots on the floor, all within the flow of the game.

“Peterson is extremely versatile. He’s a true combo guard who is equally effective playing on or off the ball. He has natural poise as a handler with now only rare moments when he can be rattled by pressure from smaller guards. He’s also a true multi-level scorer who can simultaneously see the floor, make reads, and pass well. He has a very smooth pull-up game, can overpower most opposing guards off the dribble, take smaller defenders into the post, and also thrive in ball-screens. His understanding of how to get to his spots is second to none and that’s why he’s such an efficient scorer, even in high volume, especially inside the arc. He also has good natural instincts and has already developed an NBA caliber intellect when it comes to drawing fouls and getting easy points at the free-throw line.”

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