Valpo's Peters Participating at Nike Basketball Academy
Valparaiso University rising senior Alec Peters (Washington, Ill./Washington) is among an elite group of collegiate players participating in this week’s prestigious Nike Basketball Academy, being held in Los Angeles July 25-27.
21 collegiate players were invited to the three-day academy, which is in its second year being run as the Nike Basketball Academy, shifting three previous position-based skill academies all under one umbrella. The academy affords some of the nation’s top basketball talent the opportunity to come together for player development, drills and controlled scrimmages. The camps traditionally draw elite NBA talent to help guide the players and even take part in the scrimmages.
Peters is one of just four players out of the 21 invitees from outside the Power Five conferences and the Big East, as the Pac-12 sent five players, the Big East four, the Big Ten and Big 12 three apiece, and the ACC and SEC one each. The Atlantic Ten sent one player and the American Athletic Conference two as well, as Peters is the only player at the academy from a league outside the top-eight in the nation in RPI last season.
Peters is preparing for his senior season in 2016-17, looking to put a stamp on an already stellar career. An All-American candidate and likely frontrunner for preseason Horizon League Player of the Year, Peters was an AP honorable mention All-American as a junior, averaging 18.4 points and 8.5 rebounds per game as the Crusaders advanced to the NIT championship game and set a school record with 30 victories.
Peters became only the second Division I player in the last two decades to average at least 18 points and eight rebounds per game while connecting on at least 80 3-pointers, joining Kevin Durant’s freshman year at Texas. He ended the campaign second in a single season in program history in scoring and fifth in rebounding, and will enter his final year at Valpo fourth on the Crusader career charts in scoring and seventh in rebounding – on pace to break the program’s career marks in both categories.
