Eleven months a year, Buzz Peterson loved coaching college basketball. Appalachian State. Tulsa. Tennessee. Coastal Carolina. It didn’t matter — he embraced them all equally.

Just to hear the sneakers squeaking across the glistening hardwood courts. Or chalk squealing its way across a blackboard filled with X’s and O’s and players’ names. Or riding a bus or airplane with those players, sharing a bond that only athletes and former athletes can fully appreciate.

At least he loved that except for July, when Peterson had to be inside hot gyms searching for hotter prospects, his efforts increasingly critiqued by the white-hot spotlight of Internet Einsteins.

“It’s what I’ve always called ‘the Chase,’” Peterson said this week about college hoops’ monthlong evaluation period. “You’d probably seen everyone you were going to see after the first four or five days, but you had to continue the chase, had to wear the shirts advertising your school everywhere you went, had to make sure the players saw you every day.

“And the worst part was that by the last week or so of the month, a lot of kids were so tired they just wanted to go home. They didn’t want you around anymore. There’s a lot I miss about college basketball, but I don’t miss July recruiting at all.”

So where is Peterson this July?

“I’m in Las Vegas,” he said, then chuckling slightly. “I’m evaluating our players for the NBA Summer League.”

The irony may be too rich to ignore, but Peterson insists there’s a big difference between evaluating talent for college hoops and evaluating it as director of player personnel for the Charlotte Bobcats, which is his job title after leaving Coastal Carolina last summer.

“It’s pure basketball,” Peterson explained. “And if the players get in trouble off the court, you can just fire them.”

Character does matter, he insisted, but talent rules in the NBA, as if that’s news to anyone.

“When you evaluate talent at the college level, you’re not just looking at basketball skills or athletic ability but how that person will fit in with your team,” he said. “Is he coachable? Will he be a good teammate? Will he be a problem academically?

“At this level, it’s more about individual talent. Does he have the natural ability and skills to play in the NBA? A lot of times in the draft, you’re drafting on potential.”

To that end, Peterson helped draft University of Texas underclassman D.J. Augustin as a backup point guard to Bobcats starter Raymond Felton. The Bobcats then chose French center Alexis Ajinca with their other first-round pick and Washington State guard Kyle Weaver in the second round.

“Right now we’ve got 17 players here for tryouts,” Peterson said. “We’ll keep 12 on the summer league roster. We’ve got a couple of SEC kids — Chuck Davis of Alabama and Donnell Harvey of Florida — trying to make the team. And we’ve got some of our own players — Jermareo Davidson of Bama and Jared Dudley (Boston College) — out here for the summer league. And we’ve got our rookies, of course.”

He’s also got the question of why there aren’t more former North Carolina players on the summer roster. Given that ex-Tar Heels Felton and Sean May are with the main club, UNC alum Peterson said, “Some people think we’ve got too many North Carolina ties already.”

Really? Just because all-time Tar Heels great Michael Jordan is the managing member of basketball operations? And Baby Blue alum Larry Brown — the only coach ever to win both an NCAA title and an NBA crown — is the new coach? And on Brown’s staff are three ex-Heels: Jeff Capel, Phil Ford and Dave Hanners?

“We’ve all known each other a long time,” Peterson said.

He’s also tried to reconnect with some of his former ties to the University of Tennessee. The Bobcats brought Chris Lofton in for a predraft workout. Peterson inquired about Lofton playing for the summer league team, but his agent reportedly wanted the player to look elsewhere.

Peterson also keeps up with ex-UT point guard C.J. Watson, who worked his way onto Golden State’s roster this past year after playing in Europe and the NBA’s developmental league.

“C.J.’s a great lesson for both Chris and JaJuan (Smith, who also began his UT career under Buzz),” Peterson said. “He went to Europe for a year, played a year in the D League. He just kept getting better and better until he got a break. If Chris and JaJuan keep working, I think they’ll get a chance at some point.”

But will Peterson get a chance to return to the college game? Would he even want to?

“I had some conversations in the spring,” he said. “Mercer, Toledo and TCU. It just wasn’t the right time. But if it’s the right situation, if the school has the resources to be successful, I’d certainly be interested. I know I still have the enthusiasm to coach.”

For years, Peterson has been known as one of the college coaching fraternity’s most enthusiastic golfers, especially when it comes to challenging His Airness.

But if anything can emphasize his focus on his new career it may be this: Asked about his golf game, Peterson said, “It’s awful. I haven’t played once since I got to Charlotte. There isn’t any time.”

Especially in July.

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