00:00Welcome back. Grant and Danny on the fan. We are excited for the Wizards to pick first,
00:04and we're excited to get to the Rude Guest Hotline, learn a little bit more about their
00:08options. C.J. Moore covers college hoops nationally for the Athletic. He's based in
00:13Kansas and sees a lot of the Jayhawks, and he joins us now. C.J., thanks for a few minutes.
00:18How are you?
00:19Doing well. How about yourself?
00:21Doing very well. So can we just start with Darren Peterson's season? There was a time
00:26this year where he was the perceived 1-1 over DeBonsa, yes? And then it all came crashing
00:31down with some of the oddities and coming on and off the floor, and he thinks it was a creatine
00:36issue. Just tell us that story, if you would.
00:40Yeah, I think Darren came in with obviously a lot of hype the way Bill Self was talking
00:46about him as a prospect is unlike any player he's ever talked about before, just the way
00:52he was hyping him. He thought he was coming in to be he was the most prepared guy to be
00:57a dominant player for him that he's ever coached. And we saw glimpses of it early. You know,
01:04he had a exhibition game against Louisville where I think he scored like 20-some in the
01:10first half. And, you know, there were flashes of it throughout the year, but he has the cramping
01:17issue in the preseason that put him in the hospital. And, you know, then I think he had
01:24the fear of that happening again. He had other cramping issues going forward, missed a lot
01:29of games. There were other stuff that was going on as well. Sicknesses, injuries, he sprained
01:34an ankle at one point. So we, you know, a lot of stops and starts and I don't, I'm not
01:40sure
01:40we ever saw the full Darren Peterson experience while he was at Kansas. I went to a practice last
01:50July, right at the end of their like summer, you know, series of practices. And he was awesome.
01:57And just the way he was able to, he dominated that practice with his passing and, you know,
02:03setting guys up and doing those things that, you know, he's kind of started to talk about at the
02:07combine the last few days of how he wants to be more of a playmaker than he was at Kansas,
02:12where they kind of put him off the ball because they were worried about his stamina. So it was a
02:17very, very odd thing to cover and experience. And, you know, one of the more odd seasons, I think,
02:25of for college basketball player we've seen in a long time, I've seen covering the sport, but
02:30he is still, you know, a really, really good talent. And Washington's got a difficult decision to
02:36to try to figure out, you know, how, how you evaluate him, how you judge what's happened to
02:42him this year and whether it's something that's going to continue to bother him or if it was just
02:46kind of a one-off this year. CJ, he left 11 games or didn't play 11 games, left others early,
02:53et cetera. You, I mean, you, you, you have it more well-documented than I do. Certainly saw it up
02:56close. Here's what it looked like to me down the stretch, whatever you want to call that. He was
03:01playing more than 30 minutes a night, but it looked to me that that wasn't Darren Peterson. It was
03:05like a guy with Darren Peterson's name that was tentative and didn't want to do anything that
03:09would cause this issue to maybe flare up. But it reminds me, I had a teammate who had Tommy
03:13John surgery before like every kid who's 15 gets it now. But when I was in college, it was a
03:17big
03:17deal. And when he was coming back to throw, he was really tentative. Understandably, by the way,
03:22he didn't want that pain again. And after a while he got over it, it looked to me like Peterson
03:26never
03:26got over it. Just kind of give me your thoughts there. Yeah. I think, you know, if you look, if
03:30you're,
03:31comparing him to a pitcher, it's like he was throwing his fastball at 75%. Right. Um, like
03:37he, he wasn't putting all of the, of the steam behind it. So, um, I don't think like he still
03:44was putting up numbers, but, um, like the, the, you know, creating for teammate, there were,
03:49there were still things that he wasn't doing. If you go back and watch his high school tape,
03:52as I've done, and then compare it to his college tape, he just doesn't quite have the same explosion
03:58in his legs. Um, you know, it's like, he's, he's moving at a seven where he moved at a 10
04:04in high
04:04school. So, um, it's, it's, it's, it's hard. Cause like, usually with these one and done guys,
04:11like they have a, um, you know, and they, they have a whole season of, while it's not as long
04:18as
04:18the NBA season, they have, you know, 30 to 38, 40 games where you can kind of, you know, really
04:25read
04:25into it and judge them. And you've got plenty of data and tape to go off of. Well, if you're
04:31drafting Darren Peterson, number one, you're probably draft him off of moments he's had in
04:36college, but also his, his high school tape. And that's what makes it really, really difficult
04:42is to make that decision when you didn't get to see, um, you know, like the full scope of what
04:47he can be in college. CJ Moore covers college hoops for the athletic joining us on G and D.
04:52Okay. So help me with this. My big issue was, it seemed to me like Bill self was annoyed
04:58and bothered. Like there was a time when he basically was being grilled by reporters about
05:05what was going on. And he was like, I don't know anymore. Talk to him. I didn't know he
05:09wasn't going to play or like, I didn't know he was coming out of the game. I'm just, I just
05:12work here. And that really gave me pause. If the coaches that bothered and upset by, we
05:20could call it the saga, the antics, whatever it is. Am I perceiving that correctly? I mean,
05:25that, that feels like an issue.
05:27I think that the bill self really, really liked Darren Peterson, the young man and was all
05:36about that and, and thought that he was trying and thought that he was trying to get back.
05:41There was probably some frustration in the, like behind the scenes. Like I think his dad
05:46was, was trying to handle the narrative, handle everything. Um, you know, I'm, I'm sure it
05:54was a difficult position for Kansas to be in when like, um, you know, a lot of times it used
06:00to be, you get these guys and like, they're yours now, right? Like you're the dad. You can
06:06make all the decisions where I think the family still wanted to be very, very involved with
06:11his care and, and what was going on there. So, um, yeah, I think maybe he was thrown off
06:17by, okay, we think he's ready and then he doesn't play, but, um, there was definitely,
06:24and, you know, even for like, I'll give you a little background, like from my perspective,
06:27you know, I was trying to get a sit down with him for, for months. And, um, he's the one
06:33guy I've asked for, um, you know, as a college basketball writer, probably in the last like
06:39five years or something that I had, I wasn't able at some point to just sit down and talk
06:44to him when I want, if I wanted it. Right. Like I had to wait to interview him at the
06:49big 12
06:50tournament and I'll open locker room. And, and, you know, that's when I got them for the first time
06:54to say, um, you know, these cramps put me in the hospital and, um, yada, yada. So, um, it was
07:01kind of a different deal with, with Darren in terms of, you know, everybody that was involved.
07:06CJ Moore with us here on Grant and Danny. So this is not to, I think we're just asking fair
07:11questions here, but it sounded pretty negative and down on the player, but let me go the opposite
07:15way. There is no denying how special a talent this is. Like even at whatever percentage you want to
07:20say he was down the stretch, some of those moments, I mean, I, people have pointed to a bunch
07:24when he and Devonza matched up when they played BYU, a way worse team than Kansas, I might add,
07:29but his first half was unbelievable. Then of course you checked out the second half
07:32and that was that, but my God, when he's right, it's incredible. Just go into that part of it,
07:38just where he would rank among some of the top prospects here over the last few years
07:42that you've seen in your mind. He's up there. It's so hard though. Cause there was just glimpses
07:46of it. Right. It wasn't consistent. It wasn't. Um, and I do want to like reiterate, like he's,
07:52he's a good, he's a good kid. Like he's a young man. He's not kidding. Good young man.
07:58Like he's, he's not a guy that I don't think is an a-hole. Um, I think that he'll put,
08:04you know,
08:04I, from everything I've gathered, he's a pretty good worker. Um, I think he's going to put the
08:09effort and time in like the big question for me is like, is there anything medically that would,
08:15um, you know, put up a yellow flag in terms of like give, give, give a team caution because like,
08:22I'm not sure I believe all this creatine was the, was those, you know, the only cause of it.
08:30Um, you know, was there something else there? Um, and the end of the year, like you said,
08:34he did play all the games and wasn't coming out. And, um, was he going all the way? You know,
08:39we don't know, but, um, you know, I, I hope the pop in his legs is back, but if, if
08:44you,
08:44if you're able to watch him on workouts, um, I'm sure you can, you can see some of it,
08:50at least it's hard, it's just in a workout, but, um, you can maybe see some of it like is
08:54the,
08:54is the pop back. So I think all the medical stuff and like watching now is important in the term,
09:01but as far as your question goes, like, yeah, in the, in the moments when he was right. And when
09:05he would go on those little runs, the way he can score the ball, um, was pretty special and up
09:11there
09:11among some of the top prospects we've seen in college basketball. Um, I think his passing can be
09:16pretty good. And we really didn't get to see that during the season, CJ, more, the athletic CJ,
09:22more hoops on social before we let you go. We've talked a lot about Peterson who's in your backyard
09:29there, but you cover the game nationally. What would your top five board look like in terms of
09:35prospects? If you were putting one together with all the hoops you watched? Oh man, that's a,
09:41that's a good question. I haven't, uh, I haven't given that much thought, but, but I'll, I'll say
09:47off the top of my head, I have written about AJ too and profiled him. Um, you know, I think
09:52he's a,
09:53he's a special prospect as well. And his size and athleticism is, is something else. Um, I,
10:01I would say it will be some, maybe not in this particular order, but I think, you know,
10:06the Devonsa Peterson boozer is all fair. I'm not a hundred percent in on Caleb Wilson,
10:11but I think he's going to be pretty good. Um, Kingston Fleming's I think is really special.
10:17Um, Keaton Wagler is actually somebody that, that grew up and went to my, uh, old high school
10:26was classmates with my son and I've been playing pickup ball with him for a while. Um, so I,
10:31you know, I got to throw him in that mix. And I think he's, he's really, really special. And,
10:35um, I'm just hoping that somebody who's a little biased that he has an awesome, um, you know,
10:42NBA career. And then the other two guys, I'm giving you more than five, but I'll give you like
10:46seven. The other two guys that I would bet on that are maybe a little lower, um, on people's boards
10:52are LeBaron Phylon and, um, and then, uh, uh, the big, big fella at Michigan. Sorry, my brain's not
11:03Lindenborg this morning. No, not Lindenborg. Um, Oh, Mara. Uh, uh, yeah, yeah. Um, the center
11:11of Michigan, um, sorry, my, uh, a Di Mara, my, uh, I'm out of it for a little bit, but
11:17yeah,
11:17a Di Mara, I think is awesome. One of the best like individuals I've come across and just
11:23sitting down with him and how thoughtful and, you know, good young man he is. Um, and then his
11:27length and his passing ability. Um, I would bet on him to, to, to be pretty good. And I,
11:32you know, he seems to be rising on boards. Yeah, he already is. You've seen that process
11:37play out as the combines underway. Well, CJ, we've been looking for some info on just how
11:41the Peterson season and unraveled and good information from you today. Thanks so much.
11:46We appreciate it. All right. Take care guys. Yeah, you got it. CJ Moore, check them out in
11:50the athletic joining us on Grant and Danny, our double plays next. What's going on in our lives?
11:55Nothing to do with sports at four 25 today. We'll catch up with Pierre Garcon who
12:00thinks the commander should sign Stefan digs. We'll ask him about that right here on G and D.
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