"This is a, I'm not a social media guy, but I have gotten on X and read some of the things and narratives that are out there about him, and it's really not remotely true," said Self. "The thing about it is, when you're honest, people don't believe you, and when you don't comment on it, people create their own narratives. And you know what? I do the same thing about things I don't know about: 'Well, it must be this, you know, geez, it has to be that if they're not going to talk about it.' But here's the bottom line. Was his hamstring legit? Hell, yes.
"Would you risk injuring it more in November? No," he added. "Was his cramping legit? Yes, positively, it was. Did he turn his ankle bad to the point where he couldn't practice for nine days, and then practice one day and play BYU? Yes. And that was adrenaline kicking in, in the BYU game. And then, of all things, he gets sick. And this is what blows my mind. Well, he didn't play because he's sick, isn't a big deal. But he didn't play because he was sick when he didn't play the other games added together becomes a big deal in people's minds. He's got a string of bad luck. But was he sick? Yeah, he was sick enough that he couldn't practice. But he said he was still going to give it a run. And he came to shoot around, and he gave it a run. And he went out before, and he gets lightheaded, and I walk in, and the doctor says, 'Bill, you're not going to be able to go.' But the negative was that people saw him out there. What could have happened between being out there and not playing? Bottom line is, he was just trying to see if he could go."
Peterson, to date, has missed 11 games with seven regular-season games remaining. Many have speculated that "load management" is a big reason for his absence on the court this season. However, according to Self, load management has never been an issue with Peterson.
Self said Peterson was back at practice yesterday and today, with the hope that he's close to full speed at Iowa State on Saturday.
"If he wanted to run from it or hide from it, he wouldn't have gone out there," said Self. "So the narrative is BS in many ways. I'm not sure. Load management, this kid hadn't talked about that one time or anything. Load management, geez, that's when you play four games in seven days. That's not when you play one half a week or anything like that. So those aren't true. The narratives have, at least some of the ones I saw, are inaccurate. But the whole thing is, it's true. He's really sick. Is he better today? Yeah, he was out there yesterday. Was he full speed? No.
"Was he full speed today? No," he added. "I'm hoping he can be closer to full speed tomorrow, and hopefully he can be full speed on Saturday. But that's what he's dealing with. And it's a lot, I would think, when you're 19 years old and you're dealing with everybody having a narrative about everything that's going on, or you're sitting on the bench and you've got heat warmers on your legs or whatever, and now everybody's got a narrative about a heat warmer. I mean, but that's what he's dealing with, and that's the world he's getting ready to enter. But the narratives haven't been accurate."
