Ahead of No. 14 Kansas’ monster clash against the No. 13 BYU Cougars, ESPN was granted the confines of Allen Fieldhouse to host “College Gameday.”
With so much talk about the upcoming matchup duel between Darryn Peterson and AJ Dybantsa, the crew was asked to do a blind ranking of five freshmen in the game right now.
How high can Kansas go with Darryn Peterson?
While the list ultimately did not involve Peterson, ESPN’s Seth Greenberg made a bold take on how far KU can go in March.
“If that guy's [Darryn Peterson] healthy the rest of the season, Kansas is going to the final Final Four,” quoted Greenberg.
Peterson’s potential is through the roof
When on the court this season, Peterson has looked worthy of comparisons to several legends of the sport.
Earlier this week, head coach Bill Self was on Jon Rothstein’s “Inside College Basketball Now.” When asked about Peterson’s jaw-dropping performance against the Baylor Bears, where Peterson shot 11-13 from the field and combined with Flory Bidunga to storm past the Bears, Self called it the “closest thing to [Kevin] Durant that I've seen.”
Peterson has spent prolonged periods on the KU bench this season, thanks to a hamstring injury, cramping problems, and a recently endured ankle sprain, which have limited the former No. 1 overall player in the nation to just 10 games. However, when Peterson has been on the court, his mind-boggling 21.6 points in just 27.2 minutes per game have been more than enough to keep the Jayhawks dreaming of a late run in the NCAA Tournament.
Tipoff against the Cougars and fellow superstar AJ Dybantsa is set for 3:30 p.m. CT with streaming available on ESPN.
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