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Good timing earlier today, eh? Suitland point guard Roddy Peters has been showing out all summer long and getting noticed for it, and now he's apparently earned his long-coveted Maryland offer.
As Terrapin Times reported today, 2013 D.C. Assault guard Roddy Peters has picked up an offer from Maryland. #MDHoops
— Edgar Walker (@Edgar_Walker) July 13, 2012
There's actually quite a bit to unravel here. To start: Peters love of Maryland hasn't been a secret - it was his top school even when they hadn't offered him, and there's been speculation that he'd jump on an offer if it came. And, well, here it is. Assuming, of course, that it's actually committable, and I have my doubts over that. With both the Brothers Harrison and Rysheed Jordan ostensibly on the market, offering Peters without a lot in the way of scholarships seems an unusual decision. Instead, I'm guessing it's more likely one of those tricky "noncommittable" offers - a way for the staff to indicate heightened interest in the recruitment but still keep him on the backburner.
The other big question is what this implies for Maryland's standing for those other point guards, Jordan and the Harrisons. I'm inclined to say that it means less than some will read into it; I certainly don't think it means Turgeon knows the others are headed elsewhere. Peters has had a very good summer, and even if the offer never becomes a committable one at the very least D.C. guys can't complain about Maryland ignoring the best the city has to offer. Don't get me wrong, there's almost certainly some serious interest, too, but it's just as likely to be of the "covering the bases" variety as it is of the "this guy's our new top target" variety.
And that's not a bad idea, if we're being honest. I've always been bullish about the Harrisons but the longer that recruitment's gone on without a paradigm-changing event the less optimistic I've become. And while I think Maryland has a great chance with Rysheed Jordan, it was a lot greater when the competition was St. Joe's and Temple instead of Syracuse, Kansas, and Georgetown. I'm not inclined to think that this really changes anything, but it does reflect the difficulty of the situation Turgeon's facing. At the very least, it's not a positive indicator.
So Peters is a local, newly-minted top-100 type at a position of need. Keeping him in the loop, on the off-chance Plans A1 and A2 don't turn out, is a very good idea, especially if his love of Maryland will keep him from getting offended at the "non-committable" thing.
Whether or not things will get any further, I expect we'll find out shortly. If he loves Maryland as much as some have made out, and if this offer is real, I'd be surprised if took too long for things to get really serious.