Darryn Peterson, by nature, isn't a terribly public person. That's not a bad thing — Kawhi Leonard, Tim Duncan and others have had Hall of Fame NBA careers while taking extra steps to maintain their privacy.

However, that limited communication can become an issue when the waters get rough — and they were rough for Peterson this season at Kansas. He's missed 11 games — some to a sprained ankle, others because of a couple of illnesses — and then there were the early exits that drew a lot of attention. Multiple times, Peterson checked himself out of games because of cramping concerns, including against BYU and the other potential No. 1 pick, AJ Dybantsa — Peterson was dominant in the first half but left early in the third quarter. He has yo-yo'ed in and out of the lineup all season.

Peterson nor his family talked about any of it. They were private. The problem is, the Internet abhors a vacuum. So do media talking heads. That empty space gets filled with speculation and commentary from people on the outside looking in. In this case, it led people to question Peterson: If availability is the best ability, should NBA teams trust him? Does he love the game?

NBA teams are not worried.

The scouts and team officials NBC Sports has spoken with in recent weeks about Peterson still remember the guy who was clearly the top player in an elite class coming into this season. Those same executives acknowledge that, for stretches of the season, he has not looked as explosive as he did a year ago, but to a man, they said, "We want to see the medicals" (he will undergo a full medical workup at the NBA Draft Combine). Teams are being patient until then, with an expectation that this is not a long-term issue. Many said in the games where Peterson has looked healthy, he has looked like the No. 1 pick.

Peterson has the chance to answer those questions and his critics on the court in the NCAA Tournament, which starts Friday for Kansas against Cal Baptist.

Peterson also answered questions about all of it speaking to the media about his season.

The cramping issues started a week after Kansas coach Bill Self's "boot camp" before traditional practices began at Kansas (a week of intense conditioning Self does every year). Peterson was fine throughout camp, but a week later at a traditional practice, he suffered intense full-body cramps for 45 minutes. The pain was intense, he was taken to the hospital and given two IV bags of fluid. His quote, via CJ Moore of The Athletic, was telling.

"It was a traumatic experience," Peterson said.

After that, when he would start to feel cramping during games, he would take himself out to prevent what he had experienced before. The cramping, the injuries and illnesses have slowed Peterson this season, something he admitted to The Athletic.

"I'm still getting in shape," Peterson said. "I haven't played as many minutes, so you probably tell that by the shots that I'm missing. A lot of easy shots that I usually make, I miss now. I've missed a lot of games, so people have a lot more games than me, so I'm still adjusting."

Peterson's struggles have opened the door for Dybantsa to potentially be the No. 1 pick, and several teams have the BYU star atop their boards right now, league sources told NBC Sports. It may come down to which way the lottery ping-pong balls bounce and which team gets the No. 1 pick. A scout put it this way to The Athletic.

"Everything that's going on with Darryn not playing well and not shooting it well during this time, it is definitely leaning people into AJ at one is a real conversation," the scout said. "AJ, what he's been doing at his size, is different. But all this stuff that now is being made public that we knew, a lot of people in the media had said he doesn't love the game, he's not competitive and that other bulls***, we knew was all crap. But who goes No. 1 is a conversation now."

Peterson can start to change that conversation with how he plays in the NCAA Tournament, which, for the Jayhawks, begins Friday when Kansas faces California Baptist in San Diego.

For teams, the medical and individual workouts will matter more. They know Peterson's game and his potential. It would be nice to see it on college basketball's biggest stage, however.