Bachelor Nation Investigation: Has Peter ever played basketball before?

How can someone who looks so athletic also look like he’s never picked up a basketball before?

If there was one massive takeaway from The Bachelor hometown dates episode, it was how bad Peter was at basketball. Nothing else, that was the moment we’re all talking about. While there is nothing wrong with being brutally unathletic, it is worth a deeper dive.

Peter’s basketball skills, or rather, lack thereof, were put on display during his hometown date at Madison’s alma mater, Auburn University. It was there that Peter took a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be coached by both a phenomenal athlete in Madison AND Auburn men’s basketball coach Bruce Pearl, and squandered it.

Okay, I’m being a little hard on Peter, but come on, the guy can’t even dribble a basketball. I wasn’t the only one evaluating him on Monday night.

Let’s go back to the beginning of the date. Madison is connected. Her family is intertwined with Auburn basketball, as her father is the director of operations for the program. On that note, Chad is a whole other investigation. Let’s not dig too deep into that one as he seems to toe the line between being a great father and constantly speaking with scary/dated religious overtones.

Peter is bad at basketball. That’s fine. When he claimed he was “pretty good at half court shots” he probably meant that he’s actually sunk one or two in his lifetime. As he is someone who doesn’t play at all, he doesn’t realize what the spectrum of “being good at half court shots” is (it ranges from Peter to Damian Lillard).

Madison, on the other hand, is extremely talented. As a four-time high school state champion (and one-time MVP), she obviously has everything Pete lacks on the court. You could make the argument that this is a perfect representation of why they should be together. Everything he lacks on the court, she possesses and the one thing she doesn’t have experience with, he’s an expert at.

After the Auburn hometown date, a video of Madison’s high school basketball team surfaced and needless to say, she has definitely earned herself an invite to the next FanSided Bachelor Nation Basketball tournament.

Madison’s ability to finish around the basket is superb. She’s able to take the ball up the court with ease and has no problem dishing to open teammates. She has a mean crossover, and also isn’t afraid to stick with her left hand if a lane opens up. Overall, she gets an A.

Peter, on the other hand, lacks some game tape. What we do know is that his range is limited, his ball handling is sub-par at best and he’s been known to pass up a lot of great options (eyooo). He does, however, have the ability to finish when it matters — including the half court shot he took later on in that date. He gets an F, but a B+ for this ending.

A quick glance through Pete’s Wikipedia page tells us he bears some athleticism. He played high school football, and looking back, he did display a decent arm during his Cleveland football date early this season. That date as a whole was one of the better performances that FirstEnergy Stadium has seen as of late.

His Wikipedia page also displayed something many of may not have known about Peter, that he was a child actor. Pete played a young Roman Brady in one episode of Days of Our Lives back in 2003. That sentence means absolutely nothing to me but my mom will probably get it. Back to basketball.

This wasn’t the first time we cringed through Peter’s attempts to hoop (why do they keep making him do this?). Earlier this season, Pete dazzled us with his basketball pedigree on a date with Victoria F. While the whole Chase Rice scenario was probably upsetting, his shooting was worse.

Despite all of this, Peter is great at what he does. Thankfully, what he does has absolutely nothing to do with basketball. If he chooses Madison, he has a few months to practice with a top-notch teacher before the next Bachelor basketball tournament occurs — perhaps including a half-court shooting competition to take the edge away from current champion Clay Harbor.

(Speaking of Clay, he recently joined FanSided’s Bachelor podcast, Can I Steal You For A Second? and hasn’t forgotten about how dominant he was on the court.)

Perhaps the next time these friends get together, it’ll have to be a football competition instead. Not that it would be any more balanced, with a nine-year NFL veteran involved, but if we’re being honest, neither was the basketball. Either way, for Peter to have a chance, he’s going to need Madison by his side.

The Bachelor airs Mondays at 8:00 p.m. ET on ABC.