The Kansas Jayhawks are starting to look like a team that’s figured something out.
Since their emphatic 84-63 win over then-No. 2 Iowa State back on Jan.
10, Kansas has rattled off four straight wins and, more importantly, rediscovered a sense of identity. With a tightened rotation, a more defined sense of urgency, and flashes of what Darryn Peterson can bring when he’s on the floor, the Jayhawks are beginning to resemble the team many thought they could be.
Now ranked No. 14 at 15-5 overall and 5-2 in Big 12 play, they’re gearing up for a high-stakes clash with No. 13 BYU on Saturday at Allen Fieldhouse.
This version of Kansas feels like a far cry from the one that stumbled through back-to-back road losses at Central Florida and West Virginia earlier this month. Those games, sandwiched around an overtime escape against TCU, raised real questions about the team’s ceiling. But as head coach Bill Self knows better than most, college basketball seasons are marathons - and this one might just be entering its most revealing stretch.
The Jayhawks are still very much a work in progress, and Self isn’t shy about admitting it. With only one player - freshman big man Flory Bidunga - returning from last season’s nine-man rotation, the team has been in a constant state of evolution.
And the biggest variable in that mix? Darryn Peterson.
Peterson has been as tantalizing as he’s been unavailable. Projected by many as a top NBA Draft pick, he’s missed 10 games due to various issues, including the ankle injury that kept him out of the Jayhawks’ most recent game at Kansas State.
When he’s on the floor, he’s shown flashes of brilliance. But with such limited time to build chemistry, Self is still trying to figure out exactly how Peterson fits into the bigger picture.
“I don’t [know what this team is yet],” Self said this week. “I think I know what 80% of it is.”
That remaining 20%? That’s Peterson - and how he meshes with the other four guys on the floor.
It’s a puzzle Self is still solving. There’s a balancing act at play here: how much of Peterson at 80% is worth compared to 100% of someone else?
That’s a question Self has openly wrestled with, and it speaks to the larger complexity of integrating such a high-upside player midstream.
To be clear, Self isn’t down on his team - far from it. He says he feels “totally comfortable” with this group.
But he’s also honest about the fact that comfort doesn’t equal clarity. Not yet.
“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,” he said. “And hopefully that’s all starting right now.”
It’s the right time for things to start clicking. Saturday’s game against BYU kicks off a brutal stretch: seven of Kansas’ next 10 games are against teams ranked in the top 13 nationally.
Four of the next five fall into that category, starting with BYU, followed by a trip to No. 11 Texas Tech, a home game against unranked Utah, then a showdown with No.
1 Arizona at Allen Fieldhouse, and a road date with No. 8 Iowa State.
“This is certainly the toughest phase of our schedule,” Self said.
Most coaches would default to the “one game at a time” cliché in moments like this. Not Self. He’s looking at the whole picture - the grind, the gauntlet, the growth.
“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.”
That’s the nature of the Big 12 this season: there are no easy outs, no breathers. Every game is a test, and every test is a chance to learn something new about your team.
Saturday’s matchup with BYU is more than just another top-15 showdown - it’s a spotlight game. ESPN’s “College GameDay” will be in the building to commemorate the 1,000th men’s basketball game at Allen Fieldhouse, one of the sport’s most iconic venues.
And the individual matchup between Peterson and BYU freshman AJ Dybantsa adds even more intrigue. Both are seen as potential No. 1 overall picks in the upcoming NBA Draft, and their head-to-head could be one of the most closely watched battles of the weekend.
But for Kansas, it’s not about the one-on-one. It’s about the whole.
The Jayhawks are still piecing together who they are, and this stretch - starting Saturday - will go a long way in defining that. The talent is there.
The coaching is there. What remains to be seen is how it all fuses together, especially with Peterson’s role still being shaped in real time.
“I think it’s still an unknown of where we will be and where we can be,” Self said.
That answer might start to come into focus over the next couple of weeks. One game at a time?
Sure. But in Kansas’ case, the bigger picture is just as important - and it’s starting to take shape.