The advantage Darryn Peterson had over AJ Dybantsa has vanished. For the longest time, despite all the injury troubles, Peterson was considered a No. 1 lock in the 2026 NBA Draft. That is regardless of which team got to pick.  His talent was considered just that good. Yet, come March, AJ Dybantsa has caught up. After an underwhelming performance in Kansas’ blowout loss to Houston in the Big 12 Tournament semifinal, College basketball insider revealed what the mood was among NBA executives.

Peterson was held to just 14 points in 28 minutes against Houston. He added 4 rebounds and an assist but went 3-11 from the field and 2-5 from the three-point line while going scoreless in the second half. On the other hand, AJ Dybantsa is coming off three of his best performances of the season. In the 77-66 loss to the same team, Dybantsa finished with 26 points. His 93 points in three games are one more than Durant scored in three games in 2007. These contrasting performances in the past few games mean NBA executives now have Dybantsa as their favorite.

“I’ve talked to the NBA Guys and almost every one of them now has said to me they would take AJ. Dybantsa over Darryn Peterson with the number one pick,” Jeff Goodman said on the Field Of 68.

That’s not limited to Goodman either. Multiple reports suggest Dybantsa has gone past Peterson as the No. 1 pick. “I think Dybantsa is the easy No. 1,” an East executive told ESPN. “He’s special. There’s just so much for him to still grow into.” CBS Sports’ latest mock draft also has Dybantsa at No. 1, citing Peterson’s “durability and availability” as a reason behind his No. 2 spot. For Goodman himself, there is a wide gap between the two. 

“If you watch, it’s not even close if you’re watching the two of them right now. And you haven’t had that past kind of vision of what Darryn was before, and hopefully he’ll get back to that,” He said. “But if you didn’t know that, if you just came here and watched them for the last few days, you’d be like, it’s not even close between the two.’ ” Honestly, even raw numbers show that Dybantsa has performed better in his college basketball stint. A look at their season-long production tilts the conversation toward Dybantsa.

Dybantsa has played more games and more minutes and still managed to average more points, rebounds and assists. Yes, there are some doubts about his defense. His defensive rating of 108 is higher than Peterson’s 100. His Defensive Bayesian Performance rating of 2.62 is lower than Peterson’s 3.21 (via Evanmiya). 

However, his athleticism and explosiveness just keep that as a sidenote. Fans and probably executives expect that defensive maturity to arrive as he steps up to the NBA. However, this change in fortunes also has a lot to do with Peterson’s injuries and cramping. After the Houston loss, Peterson revealed the ‘traumatic experience, of his injury.

Darryn Peterson Opens Up On His Cramping Issues Ahead Of March Madness

Darryn Peterson’s fitness has been a matter of controversy from day 1 of the season. It started with Hamstring strain which graduated to cramps. While we see it as a one-time condition, Peterson was struggling game to game with his game time limited. There were also rumors that his agent and his father were influencing his return. However, he has now played 8 continuous games. However, the mental struggles still continue. 

“The previous week we had boot camp where we were just running, no basketball,” Peterson said. “The previous week caught up to me and my body just locked up on me, I guess.” His exact condition has not been explained by Bill Self yet. There can be a host of factors that his previous injury could have caused this escalation. The problem is even the program itself doesn’t have a clear idea. “I had like a full-body (cramp), super serious,” he further said. “You could say it was traumatic. I would say it was a traumatic experience.”

After his TCU game, he said he felt 100% for the first time this season. So, it feels like the worst is behind him. But you can’t expect that he returns to his old self immediately. There is still the psychological baggage of his injury. Darryn Peterson needs to trust his body completely before showing everything he can do. Will that come in college basketball at March Madness? Only time will tell.