The Kansas Jayhawks are just now able to fully shake off the feeling of the 2025-26 season. All it took was a complete roster revamp (which is still up in the air) and the possibility of legendary head coach Bill Self retiring before the team's mindset can be fully geared towards the next campaign.
While the 2025-26 season was by no means bad, Self’s description of “disappointing” on Jon Rothstein’s “Inside College Basketball Now” podcast feels appropriate.
“I'm not putting blame on anything; obviously I could have done a better job. But the reality of it is, I don't think we were ever whole the whole season,” opened Self.
Unfortunately, the biggest story of the year was Darryn Peterson’s injury issues, which saw the former 5-star be hampered with cramps, resulting in Peterson playing in 24 of Kansas’ 35 games, along with constant substitutions in several of the games he did play. Peterson also experienced hamstring tightness, a sprained ankle, and flu-like symptoms which kept him sidelined.
“Darryn is so good. He's so good. But we never had a chance to see him when he was so good. We saw glimpses of it, but health didn't allow him to actually do it over an extended period of time.”
Peterson’s sole season with KU saw the Prolific Prep product notch 20.2 points per game, on a solid 43.8% field goal rate, and a stellar 38.2% rate from beyond the arc.
Peterson also added 4.2 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.4 steals. The No. 2 overall pick in the 2026 NBA Draft had highs of 32 points in a come-from-behind win against TCU, but couldn’t consistently string together games until the end of the season, and by then, it was too little , too late for the Jayhawks, who would go out of the NCAA Tournament against St. John’s in the round of 32.
Self goes on to mention the solid seasons of both Melvin Council Jr and Tre White.
Council ended his only season with the program notching 12.7 points per game on 39.2% from the field, to go along with 5.1 assists and 5 rebounds. While Council’s shooting rates were his biggest inconsistencies, his lockdown defense and perseverance on every possession made him a fan favorite and one of the best transfers in college basketball last season.
White meanwhile averaged 13.5 points on a 45.0% field goal rate, 6.7 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game, standing out in big games against Duke and Houston, where White went for 22 and 23 points, respectively.
While Self went on to mention that Peterson’s injury problems weren’t “A big deal from an injury standpoint…It was a frustrating deal for our teammates because you have him for a half, you don't have him for half, you have him for a half. So that made it a little bit more challenging for all the guys.”
With 12 new players on the roster next season, Self and Co. are now aiming to make his 24th season as special as ever before, as a talented but unproven roster will be taking on a challenging 2026-27 schedule in hopes of getting past the first weekend of March since winning the lot in 2022.
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