Suitland (Md.) point guard Roddy Peters picked his “dream school” in Maryland, choosing the Terps over Rutgers in the end.
“It came down to Maryland and Rutgers,” George McClure, Peters’s high school coach, told SNY.tv Tuesday morning.
“Rutgers was last minute, he went back and forth [between the two schools],” McClure added. “They did a great job of recruiting him. He had a great visit there. They have some D.C. guys on their team so he would’ve felt very at home.”
He added: “As his coach I had to tell him last year that he couldn’t verbalize that Maryland was his dream school, but there’s no doubt that Maryland was his dream school at the end and that’s what showed up at the end. And the opportunity to play for them he just couldn’t pass up.”
The 6-foot-4 Peters is the Rivals No. 9 points guard in the Class of 2013. He averaged 23.0 points last season, including 30.5 in four playoff games, to go with 5.2 assists and 2.4 steals per game.
McClure said Kansas and Georgetown were also in the mix but Kansas was no longer an option after shooting guard Wayne Selden committed to the Jayhawks.
“Roddy really liked Georgetown,” McClure said.
“Once Kansas signed Wayne Selden that took them immediately out of the picture,” he added. “They had more than enough guards. Once they got Frank [Mason], they felt they could take one more guard for 2013, which we understood.”
McClure said Peters will have the chance to run the point after Pe’Shon Howard departs following this season.
“I think it will be a great fit,” he said. “He’s going to get the opportunity to get the ball in his hands, maybe not right away because Pe’Shon will be there next year.
“He’s called a combo guard. He has great feel. His decision-making is very good. He has a bright future in the ACC playing the point.
“Coach [Mark] Turgeons’s put some really nice pieces at other positions and because of that Roddy’s very excited.”
Peters’s commitment comes two weeks after the Harrison twins committed to Kentucky over Maryland and McClure said he “wrestled” with the idea that Peters would be perceived as a consolation prize.
“I didn’t want him to be anybody’s consolation prize,” he said. “Coach Turgeon felt like the opportunity to get two kids on the caliber of the Harrison twins, he had to go for it, which I understood. What it would’ve done for his program, you can’t even measure.”
Still, McClure said Turgeon and his staff had “been on Roddy” since the playoffs last year.
“For a while before they even got Dez Wells, there was talk of the Harrison twins and Roddy going there,” McClure said, referring to the former Xavier wing who transferred to the Terps in a story first reported by SNY.tv. “We were aware of the Harrison twins, was that going to have an affect on whether he was going to Maryland.
“Once they didn’t, Roddy’s’ a hometown guy. He’s been a fan since the Juan Dixon days. He couldn’t pass up the opportunity to play for his hometown team.”
