Analyst compares Bill Self and Kansas’ “underwhelming” efforts in transfer portal to Duke building a team around Cooper Flagg

Head coach Bill Self and the Kansas Jayhawks have not played up to their normal standard of success over the past three seasons. After winning the NCAA Tournament in 2022, the team has gone three straight seasons without getting past the second round.

However, things could be looking up for the Jayhawks as they added the No. 2-ranked recruit in the 2025 class, according to ESPN, Darryn Peterson. He should bring a spark that the Jayhawks have needed for the past few seasons.

A new episode of 'The Field of 68: After Dark' was released on Thursday. In the episode, analyst Rob Dauster spoke about how he is concerned about the roster construction of the Jayhawks around Darryn Peterson, comparing it to how Duke built around Cooper Flagg (starts at 0:00).

"What about Kansas? I remain once again underwhelmed with the work Kansas did in the portal. Getting some of these guys back mattered. I do think that Tre White and Melvin Council are two guys that in theory are really nice fits, but I look at what Duke did when they were building a roster around Cooper Flagg where they had some really good freshman.

"They went out and got some guys in the portal that were just role players who could go out there and do a job. I don't know if that's necessarily what Kansas has done but like, Jayden Dawon's a shooter, Tre White's a shooter. How are you going to make this all work with those guys with Darryn Peterson?"

Rob Dauster continued to question the roster construction of Bill Self and the Kansas Jayhawks:

"You got to have Flory (Bidunga) on the floor. You gotta have Darryn Peterson on the floor. How is this all going to work with what Bill Self has put together?"

Kansas head coach Bill Self has three transfer portal additions to support recruit Darryn Peterson

Despite the doubts coming from Rob Dauster, Bill Self has made additions to support Darryn Peterson in his freshman season. He has made three transfer portal additions: St. Bonaventure's Melvin Council Jr., Illinois' Tre White, and Loyola Chicago's Jayden Dawson.

Although none of them were stars before their arrival in Kansas, they were all effective scorers. However, transferring to Kansas is a big step up in competition for all three players. So, they will all be dealing with a new environment next season, along with Darryn Peterson.

Peterson has a high chance of being a one-and-done college player, likely declaring for the NBA draft after next season. So, the Jayhawks will probably only have one chance to win a championship with him.