Two days after watching star freshman Darryn Peterson fail to finish yet another college game, Kansas basketball coach Bill Self was asked for an update on Peterson’s status, both in general and as it relates to his injuries, ahead of Tuesday’s home game vs. TCU and he spoke for more than 4 minutes — 4:31 to be exact — about the ongoing saga.
Looking back, there was a 3-second soundbite, within those nearly 5 minutes, that probably would’ve been all Self needed to say.
“Long story short, I don’t really know," Self said.
And, with that, we move on to the next day and, like everybody else, wait to see what happens.
If you’re looking for news, there was some. Self effectively said that Peterson was probable for Tuesday night. So, you can probably count on him playing against the Horned Frogs. And if we’ve learned anything, it’s that if he plays, he’ll start.
Where it goes from there is anyone’s guess.
One other noteworthy thing that Self referenced on Monday was the fact that KU has not yet tried to limit Peterson’s minutes in the first half of the games in which he has appeared.
There was no clear indication that they’ll do that against TCU. But they might. Heck, at this point, they might as well try anything and everything they can think of to see if they can get Peterson to finish a game.
“(With) that minutes restriction, there's no guarantee,” Self explained. “There's not medical evidence saying (he should) only play this much or play that much or anything like that. The one thing I would say is playing him less in the first half is something that we haven't done. So, if we haven't done it, would that possibly impact the second half? Don't know.”
The 5-star freshman and future top-3 NBA draft pick has played in five of KU’s 14 games so far, finishing just one of them — Nov. 7 at North Carolina.
Last Saturday, after the Jayhawks’ 81-75 loss at UCF, Self said that there was a minutes restriction put on Peterson before the game. The number was around 24 and Peterson played 18 of those in the first half.
That kept him on the bench for most of the second half, including the final 12 or so minutes.
Self also said after the UCF loss that Peterson’s legs were bothering him again — a fact shown clearly on the television broadcast — and he reiterated that fact again on Monday.
“Don't think for a second that he didn't play down the stretch (vs. UCF) because of a minutes restriction,” Self said Monday, when he added that there has been no talk of shutting Peterson down for the rest of the season. “He didn't play down the stretch because, you know, his legs didn't allow him to do that.”
So, even after another five minutes worth of updates from Self and a recent example of Peterson actually playing, we still aren’t any closer to a concrete answer about when this will all be a thing of the past — or if it ever will be.
Self seems to be resigned to the fact that the reality of the situation is that Peterson will play when he feels well and won’t when he doesn’t. He’s essentially said as much. On a couple of occasions.
And, in another moment later where he summed up the situation in as few words as possible, Self provided the game plan for how they’ll move forward with Peterson from this point.
“I'll wait and see how he feels,” Self said. "Everybody can be a Monday morning quarterback or whatever, but I don't think anybody has the answer specifically on how to handle it, other than fact that if feels well, he feels well."
Tuesday's tip vs. TCU is slated for 8 p.m. on ESPN.
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