On Friday April 10th, Bishop Luers forward John Peterson announced via Twitter that he had committed to play college basketball at Manchester University. He received a Director’s Scholarship to go there. He is considering majoring in either Criminal Justice or Physical Therapy.
“When I discussed it with [John] I told him I was very excited for him,” Luers’ head coach Fonso White said. “From the very beginning when [Head] Coach [Nate] Conley got the job, and they started coming by and coming in on practices and visiting us, I told John that I think it’d be a perfect fit for him because he gets the chance to be with another young coach that can help him develop further in his career and get better as he gets another four years of basketball underneath him.”
This year, Nate Conley finished his first season as Manchester’s head coach. Peterson has communicated frequently with Conley and has come to highly of him as a coach.
“He’s a real nice dude,” Peterson said. “He could teach me a lot, and [he’s] somebody I would like to play for.”
Peterson got to visit the campus before Indiana’s Shelter-in-Place went into effect. His visit played greatly into his decision to go to Manchester.
“When I went down there for a visit, I liked the campus a lot, I met with some of the administrators, they were all nice to me,” Peterson said. “It felt like a good place where I could thrive and learn. It’s somewhere I would like to call home.”
Peterson is listed as a forward on Luers’ roster. Though he knows what position he wants to play at Manchester, he is willing to make adjustments if need be.
“I’d probably at least want to play like a small forward, but it really doesn’t matter, as long as I can still play the game,” Peterson said.
Peterson and the Knights came off a 4-18 campaign in 2018-2019. They followed that up by clinching an SAC Title in 2020.
“The turnaround was great, we definitely deserved it,” Peterson said. “Coming off of four wins, that’s something I never went through before.”
Coach White has coached Peterson for the last two years at Luers. White has been impressed with the improvements Peterson has made in that time.
“He made leaps and bounds in a short period of time,” White said. “The biggest thing for him was that we just had to get him to be convinced and buy into working a little harder than what he normally does. I tell him like I tell all the other guys, his best basketball is yet to come if he commits to working hard and getting in the weight room and getting a little extra skill develop work in.”
White’s advice to Peterson as he gets ready for college would largely center around the importance of a good education.
“Education’s the biggest thing because you’re always going to have the education even when you can’t play basketball anymore,” White said.
