'Thought I Was Going to Die,' Darryn Peterson Reveals Cause of Severe Cramping at Kansas

Coming off a difficult season at Kansas that saw him miss time for a variety of ailments, Darryn Peterson opened up about the one that caused him significant problems.

Speaking to ESPN's Ramona Shelburne, Peterson said "I thought I was going to die" as a result of creatine that he started taking when he arrived at Kansas. The supplement led to severe cramping issues during one scary incident following a week-long basketball boot camp with head coach Bill Self in September:

"I made it to the training room and just started begging them to call 911," Peterson said. "They were trying to get a vein to get me the IV, get me back hydrated. But I was cramping so hard they couldn't get a vein. I thought I was going to die on the training table that day."

Peterson told Shelburne that doctors were able to determine that creatine was the source of cramping issues through extensive testing in the lead up to the NBA draft as he is in the mix to be the No. 1 pick.

According to Peterson, he had never taken the supplement before arriving on campus and he went off of it for two weeks after the Jayhawks' season ended:

"I'd never taken it before [he got to college]. But after the season I took two weeks off and they did tests which showed my baseline level was already high. So, they said when I dosed [a process of increasing a dose over time to create maximum benefit at the beginning of taking a supplement], it must've made the levels unsafe."

During a high-profile game between Kansas and BYU on Jan. 31, Peterson sat out the entire second half. Self said afterward his star guard was dealing with cramps.

B/R's Jonathan Wasserman projected Peterson to be the No. 2 overall pick, behind AJ Dybantsa, in his most recent mock draft.

There was a lot of discussion during the season about Peterson's availability at times. Self told reporters in February that he could change the narrative by finishing games:

"Is it fair, or is a lot of the things that they said actually true?" Self answered in response to a question about the narrative around Peterson being fair or not. "He hasn't finished games. The reasons why they say he hasn't finished games is 100 percent false, at least in 70 to 80 percent of the reasons... but the bottom line is, there is a way to change the narrative. Play. Finish."

In addition to the cramping, Peterson also missed time due to hamstring/quad and ankle injuries. He appeared in 24 of the Jayhawks' 35 games last season.

When Peterson was healthy, he looked terrific with 20.2 points per game on 38.2 percent three-point shooting.

Now that it appears doctors have been able to identify the source of some of Peterson's physical issues from last season, there's a strong possibility he can improve his on-court performance quickly as he gets ready to work with NBA coaches.