The last day of 2024 will bring two major events to Allen Fieldhouse and the men’s basketball program.
First, the 7th-ranked Jayhawks (9-2) will be playing host to West Virginia (9-2) at 1 p.m. on New Year’s Eve in the Big 12 opener for both teams.
Second, prized Class of 2025 signee Darryn Peterson, the No. 3 player in the class according to both Rivals.com & 247 Sports, will be in the building for his first Kansas game.
KU assistant coach Kurtis Townsend, who was the lead recruiter for Peterson, told R1S1 Sports over the weekend that the dynamic 6-foot-5, 195-pound guard and his family would be in attendance for KU’s game against the Mountaineers.
And KU coach Bill Self emphasized it while previewing the game on Monday.
Self was bullish on Peterson throughout his recruitment. And his love of the electric guard has not diminished in any way since Peterson signed with Kansas back in November. In fact, it probably has intensified.
Self is constantly tracking Peterson’s stat lines and game results, and he reiterated on Monday that Peterson is one of the best players he has ever recruited to Kansas.
“When you talk about a combination of a player and a prospect, I think that's without question,” Self said Monday. “He’s a special talent.”
When examining where Peterson ranks on the list, Self mentioned Sherron Collins, Andrew Wiggins, Joel Embiid and Josh Jackson as the other options.
“To me, Darryn’s the best player we've recruited since we've been here,” he concluded.
The fact that Peterson never made it to Allen Fieldhouse for a game or visit during his recruitment is both not that rare and circumstantial. It happens all the time these days, as the in-season demands on the top high school prospects grow year by year, coast to coast.
“With his schedule, with the way that they do games in high school now, on those exclusive, travel-type teams, they're gonna play 40-something games,” Self explained. “They don't have weekends free very often. And so, yeah, this is a chance for he and his family to come down here and get a feel for what it's like.”
Self continued: “When he visited here before, Allen Fieldhouse was under renovation, you couldn't walk outside or be a part of anything because of construction and everything. So, he's really looking forward to seeing what it's really like.”
There was one other time Peterson and his family saw the fieldhouse.
“He visited when he was, like, in seventh or eighth grade, driving through,” Self said. “Parents came by, just driving through. He was an unknown to us at that particular time, but people said, ‘You know, he may have a chance to be a pretty good player.’ People were right.”
Peterson, a 5-star combo guard from Ohio, who is playing his final season of high school ball at Prolific Prep in Napa, California, chose Kansas over Ohio State, USC and Kansas State.
At the time of his commitment, he told KU fans to “expect a show next year in Lawrence.”
And Self is clearly ready.
Tuesday's tipoff is slated for 1 p.m. on ESPN+.
