Two kinda-interesting days to start out this school basketball season had been adopted by two crammed with blah — proof being that, between Wednesday and Thursday, solely 4 groups within the CBS Sports activities High 25 And 1 every day school basketball rankings took the courtroom, by no means towards one another.
All 4 video games with ranked groups featured an excellent high-major vs. an overmatched mid-major or low-major with the common margin of victory in these contests being 38.5 factors. As I write each season, in some kind, that is among the many largest flaws with the game in November and December, how there are just too many video games between groups that should not even be competing towards one another. However I digress.
Anyway …
Friday ought to get us again on observe and supply one thing compelling with essentially the most notable recreation originating on the Dean E. Smith Heart, the place Darryn Peterson and the Kansas Jayhawks will play North Carolina.
Kansas vs. North Carolina prediction, decide, odds, unfold: Jayhawks face Tar Heels in showdown of blue bloods
Cameron Salerno
“Definitely taking part in at their place, in entrance of 21, 22 (thousand followers), regardless of the quantity is, might be a troublesome, robust, robust problem,” mentioned Kansas coach Invoice Self. “However [it’s] one which we have to undergo to sort of see the place we’re at and hopefully study from.”
The prospect to see Peterson on this stage, so early in his school profession, is particularly cool. The 6-foot-6 guard is among the many apparent candidates to be chosen first total within the 2026 NBA Draft. In his debut towards Inexperienced Bay, Peterson took 11 pictures, made seven of them and completed with 21 factors, 4 rebounds, three assists, two steals and a block in 22 minutes. I can not wait to see how he’ll carry out in his first street recreation, towards his first high quality opponent.
Kansas is No. 15 in Friday morning’s up to date High 25 And 1. North Carolina is No. 24. The Jayhawks and Tar Heels are set to tip a bit after 7 p.m. ET.