That has changed the lens through which college basketball stars are viewed and judged. These are professionals now, and when they don’t play, fans aren’t just frustrated because the player on their best team is out; they feel that he does not deserve the salary, that he does not keep his agreements. In Peterson’s case, this is especially true as Jayhawks coach Bill Self said last week that Peterson shot 90 to 95 percent the night he missed a loss to Connecticut, the seventh straight game he played with a hamstring injury.
Peterson returned Sunday and scored 17 points in an easy 80-60 win for No. 21 Kansas over Missouri. Even considering the expectations that have been raised, partly due to the way his coach talks about him, it was a pretty good performance.
But what had everyone on the edge of their seats was what happened in the final 11 minutes and 16 seconds, all of which included Peterson. Much of that time was spent at the end of the bench with trainer Bill Cowgill, using a roller on Peterson’s leg.
“I think we do that a lot,” Self said of rolling. “But no, he said he had nothing in his hamstring.”
Kansas doesn’t play again for another six days — the next game is Saturday at NC State — and this break will be spent with many wondering if Self is telling the truth, and the concern will continue until Peterson is on the floor in Raleigh.
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Self has sensed the fans’ frustration, and while he would have liked to quell the speculation completely, he says he was put in a difficult situation because there was uncertainty on the team’s part about when Peterson would return.
“It’s not enough for me to say it’s day to day, and that’s what it has been: day to day,” Self said. “So there’s always a reason why someone can say something negative. If he had a compound fracture, no one would say anything because you can see it. You can’t see this. And luckily it wasn’t bad enough to keep him out completely because he practiced, but it wasn’t good enough for him to play the way he needs to.”
Things turned dramatic this weekend when, of course, Peterson discovered a bug that was sweeping through the team. Self wasn’t even sure Saturday morning if Peterson’s illness would allow him to play once the game arrived Sunday.
“And then I had to tell you guys again that something came up,” Self said, “and you’d say I’m a bully, which I’m not at all. I’ve been 100 percent honest.”
Self has become almost more frustrated by the outside reaction to Peterson’s absence than by the absence itself. What matters in Kansas is what happens in conference play and in March and April. If Peterson ultimately leads the Jayhawks to a Big 12 championship and a Final Four, these missed seven games will be largely forgotten. Unimportant.
And that’s Self’s job: to prepare his team for the part of the season that really matters. While the non-conference is important for seeding purposes, the Jayhawks have won enough games without Peterson to be in a good spot, and his absence will be taken into account by the NCAA Tournament selection committee for the games Kansas played without him. Most importantly, Self did everything he could to ensure that once Peterson returned, he was fully back; unhurried and then forced to sit down again and then in a continuous cycle of back and forth and back and forth. It was wise to err on the side of precaution.
But the ambiguity of not knowing exactly when he would return made fans wonder if Peterson was truly committed to playing for Kansas, or if he was going to be a high draft pick that he actually cared about?
And there was a wit, and also a sincerity, in Self’s words Sunday.
“It’s the world we live in today,” Self said. “It’s BS, though. That kid gets there four treatments a day for 45 minutes. That kid spends more time shooting alone than anyone, maybe more than I’ve ever coached. That kid wants to be outside so bad.”
Self knows that money is what changed the dialogue.
“How many people look at our boys now and say, ‘We’re going to watch these boys grow up before our eyes’ when they make a substantial amount of money? That’s true all over America,” he said. “It’s a different world, but that’s also the world that we say is so great for the kids. So great for the kids. One of the consequences of it being so great for the kids is that you also give people a reason to have opinions and to talk.”
But looking at the big picture, Self says this “might be a good thing” for Peterson, who in the three games he has played, plus an exhibition against Louisville, has proven why he has a chance to be a star at the NBA level.
“Because he’s going to be talked about a lot in the future,” Self said. “Hey, it’s all preparation for him. So I see it more as part of the process than negative, if that makes sense.”
Self, like every other coach in college basketball, cares about building strength in both his players and his teams. Setbacks are welcome.
It’s possible this setback may have brought the Jayhawks closer together. It certainly proved to the non-Peterson Jayhawks that there is more to this team than just its star. Bryson Tiller, expected to be a backup this season, has emerged as a starter and has had flashes of looking like one of the most talented offensive players in the Big 12. Senior Tre White, presumably a glue man, has emerged as someone who can sustain the offense for a long time and a very good second or third scorer when KU is at full strength.
The first half on Sunday was a period of rest for both Peterson and his teammates. It looked like he was playing with a governor on, not exactly ready to go full throttle and try to blend in with the situation. Self told him to let the game come to him, “whereas I don’t think he’s a come-to-me type of guy,” Self said.
Things started to change late in the first half. Peterson turned and hit a fadeaway in the lane, a No. 1 type move. The second half started with Peterson drawing two to the ball and then ping-ponging the ball around until White got a layup. Then Peterson came out of a handoff and made a floating left shot off the glass that few in college basketball could make or attempt.
A few possessions later, his defender, TO Barrett, should have been the help-side defender guarding the basket, but Peterson’s gravity pulled Barrett out and led to a dunk for Tiller.
On the next possession, Peterson again drew two to the ball as Mizzou tried to double him coming off a ball screen, and he wisely drew the defenders to half court, leading to an advantage and ultimately White being fouled at the basket.
“I had some wide open shots where I normally wouldn’t get,” said White, who led the Jayhawks with 20 points. “He just makes the game so much easier. He attracts a lot of bodies when he plays, so you know that just makes it easier for us. So I’m glad he’s back.”
The non-Peterson Jayhawks could win games ugly and dominate with their defense. The Peterson-led Jayhawks may still be elite defensively, and every piece fits more into place offensively. He can make shots that no one else can, and then he demands so much attention that the others can benefit from the advantages he creates when he’s just on the ground.
It may take a month or two for everything to really come together, and Peterson’s hamstring may have delayed this team reaching its potential, but it could also be a boon because of the opportunities it presented for others.
And if Peterson can stay healthy, there’s a good chance he could become the most beloved Jayhawk ever. He has that kind of talent. This was just a sample.
Peterson did not meet his standard on Sunday. He wasn’t too efficient: he needed fourteen shots for his seventeen points and he had only one assist. And defensively, it looked like he was just going through the motions, probably in an effort to conserve energy because he wasn’t feeling well. But that was still pretty good, right?
Even with Peterson not at full strength, it was clear how much easier the game is for Kansas with him out there.
The expectation itself does not dampen either. He fanned the flames by saying that on Wednesday, a day after the UConn game, when KU’s starters played the second team, the starters scored 20 points, while Peterson scored 14 points and assisted on the other three buckets.
Possibly That Peterson is going to put on a performance that will have all of college basketball talking. Ultimately, Peterson will love being able to perform at Allen Fieldhouse, one of the largest basketball venues in the world, and then in the NCAA Tournament, the biggest tournament in sports.
Because when he loves the game the way Self makes it seem like he does, it’s those moments that a star lives for.
And for those moments to happen, it was probably worth being careful.
Hopefully, for all our sanity, the hamstring gate has ended. And for Peterson, hopefully he can ultimately make those who question his motivation eat their words.
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