Evanston’s Blake Peters picks Princeton

Blake Peters was more than ready to make his college decision.

The bright, articulate and engaging Evanston guard says he has been “vetting the schools recruiting him for two years.”

Princeton made the cut. The sharp-shooting, three-point specialist committed to the Ivy League school on Saturday.

The homework Peters put in before making his decision was meticulous. He created a detailed spreadsheet on all the schools, analyzed the rosters, the style of play, three-point shooting numbers, academics and more. He made sure to watch their games, even if it meant watching them on ESPN3.

“I put in a lot of time, so even when recruiting cooled off during the season because college teams are so busy in the middle of their seasons, and the quarantine came and AAU and summer play and college visits were in doubt, I felt prepared,” Peters said.

Even with its elite academic reputation in the world, Peters says it wasn’t just one thing that stood out about Princeton. There were so many things, which he says ended up making it a pretty easy choice in the end.

“It’s really a perfect situation for me with what I wanted in a school,” Peters said. “Yes, it’s one of the top five academic schools in the country. That was important to me. But there was the coaching staff, the basketball tradition there, their facilities. It all just fit.”

Princeton became an option last fall when an assistant coach checked in on Peters in a fall open gym. He ultimately became close with the staff and players.

“There is a really good connection I have with coach [Mitch] Henderson, and I felt it with the whole coaching staff and the players as well,” Peters said. “I could see he really cares about his players. There is a family atmosphere there.”

Peters was also impressed with Princeton’s basketball, including the schedule it plays, history of the program and the facilities.

“Their out-of-conference schedule is really good with several high-major opponents,” said Peters of a Princeton schedule that has included Indiana, Arizona State, St. John’s, Duke, USC, Butler, BYU and Miami in the past few years. “Their facilities and arena are the best in the Ivy League, and their basketball tradition is great. All of it was appealing to me.”

Princeton has been to 25 NCAA Tournaments, the last coming with Henderson as coach in 2017. And Peters has grown accustomed to winning –– a lot –– in his three years at Evanston.

Peters entered high school as a freshman and immediately made an impression. While he’s regarded as one of the top shooters in the state, Peters impressed with his confidence and composure. The moxie and cool he played with, particularly in big games and in key moments, defied his age.

He promptly helped Evanston to Peoria and a third-place finish in 2016-17. He averaged 10.5 points a game and hit an eye-opening 79 of 206 from the three-point line as a freshman.

As a sophomore he not only helped the Wildkits to a second-place finish in Class 4A, the 6-0 guard added 114 three-pointers at a pinpoint percentage of 45 percent from beyond the arc. And he had already buried 91 three-pointers this past season while averaging 14.3 points before the coronavirus shut down Evanston’s bid for a third straight trip to Peoria.

Now with his recruitment over, Peters says the sole focus from a basketball perspective is winning a state championship.

“That’s the only goal for us,” said Peters, who has won a whopping 88 games at Evanston in three years. “I’ve learned throughout my high school career to appreciate those moments that we’ve enjoyed. But nothing would bring me more joy than a state championship.”