Shaheen Holloway’s Seton Hall homecoming a testament to who he is, and has always been

Shaheen Holloway may be changing scenery moving from Saint Peter’s to Seton Hall, but that might be only thing different about Pirates’ new head coach. (Photo by Bob Dea/Daly Dose Of Hoops)

SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. — How do you say no to home?

For Shaheen Holloway, the answer — the feeling, appropriately for a man who injects real-life emotions into every fiber of his being — was complex, yet at the same time, simple.

He couldn’t.

“It’s home,” Holloway simply stated as he replaces Kevin Willard, his former mentor. “I was here last night just walking around and remembering everything, when I first came here in 1996 as a little boy who didn’t know anything too much. It’s a surreal feeling right now. I’m blessed, I’m humbled. It’s an unbelievable opportunity I can’t put into words. Dreams do come true.”

“It means everything. My wife went here, I met her here. My daughter went here, my son (Xavier) is named after the dorm that me and my wife met at. It’s full circle, right? It’s a great moment for all of us.”

Perhaps it is also apropos that Holloway notices and embraces the full-circle moment he now gets to live, because the man in charge of bringing him back to South Orange — a second home of sorts for the South Jamaica, Queens native — had a similar epiphany not once, but twice.

“It kept coming back to Shaheen every time I did it,” Seton Hall athletic director Bryan Felt, who pulled the trigger on Holloway four years ago at Saint Peter’s, recalled of his search process, which was his first as a neophyte athletic director. “It validates what I always knew, that he would be a phenomenal head coach.”

“The foundation of Shaheen is a foundation of loyalty, trust, honor, integrity, literally everything that he’s about. “He’s a guy who literally tells you how it is. He wears his heart on his sleeve. That’s who he is. You always get the real Sha. There is no different persona. That’s who he is, and he’s never changed since day one. As we’ve seen with Shaheen Holloway, only good things come from that.”

After winning the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference championship three weeks ago, Holloway waxed nostalgic about everyone who advised him against taking the Saint Peter’s job and its perceived pitfalls. But in his customary fashion, his convictions, and the inherent knowledge that he could take what was handed to him, improve it and carve out a masterpiece, won out.

“You kind of believe in yourself, you bet on yourself,” Holloway reiterated. “I knew that going in, there was going to be some challenges, but I knew the work I was going to put in, just like I know there’s challenges here and the work I’m going to put in. Did I think it was gonna happen this quick? I can’t sit here and say yes. You never know. But the opportunity came, and I’ll be honest with you guys, it was hard to leave. If it wasn’t for those guys, I wouldn’t be here right now. The way they’d come to work every day, the way they understood what it took to try to get where we wanted to go, they made it easy for me.”

“We were in there for three hours (Wednesday) just talking about everything. They were making fun of me, the way I talk, the way I coach, the drills and this and that. It was just a great time.”

And as he leaves Jersey City and takes on a stronger task under a larger microscope in South Orange, Holloway remains undaunted. Returning to your alma mater after serving as a conquering hero can be a Waterloo for some, ask Chris Mullin or Clyde Drexler, but there is only one Shaheen Holloway. And as expected, he is heading to the window to place another bet on himself.

“I just want to take it to another level,” he proclaimed. I’m ready to go, I’m ready to get after it. I can’t mess this up, and I’m not going to mess this up. It’s too important.”

“When you’re home and you’re here, it’s a difference. It’s a big difference. You put more time, more effort, more sweat, more tears. This is everything to me. Getting the opportunity to coach at my alma mater? I’m not gonna mess this opportunity up. It’s too important.”

With Holloway's track record already established and prevalent, how can you bet against him? The answer, just as it was for him to accept a new challenge, is complex, yet at the same time, simple.

You can’t.

Stars align as Holloway comes home to The Hall

Shaheen Holloway is introduced Tuesday as head coach at Seton Hall after taking Saint Peter’s to Elite 8. (Photo by Seton Hall Athletics)

By Jason Guerette (@JPGuerette)

SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. — First off, a brief history lesson.

March 31, 2010 was a big day in the history of Seton Hall basketball. At historic Walsh Gymnasium, a press conference was called to introduce new head coaches Kevin Willard and the late Anne Donovan to lead the men's and women's basketball programs. A dais was set up around midcourt, with a few rows of seating for members of the attending media.

Both programs were in need of a change, with the men's program having just been rocked by the utter tumult that was the end of Bobby Gonzalez's tenure as coach, and the women's program having sunk to the bottom of the Big East. I was a student media attendee at that press conference, and I came away thinking that both programs were in good hands.

I was correct. Under Donovan, there came an infusion of talent the women's team had lacked in the past few years, and while the Hall of Famer was not around to see it flourish, it did so in spades under Tony Bozzella, a Seton Hall alum whose passion runs deep (sound familiar?) and who has since made the Pirates a fixture in the postseason. And, of course, for the men's program under Willard, it took a little more time, but the Pirates also regained their reputation, then got that same infusion of talent, and then started winning and making themselves a March regular as well.

Fast forward exactly 12 years later, and there comes another press conference at Walsh Gymnasium, but a newly renovated version. There is a dais set up, but in front of the stage at the east end of the gym, with many more rows of seating set up, many more media in attendance, and several hundred Pirate fans joining them. It was quite a scene that illustrated how far things have come in the last decade for Seton Hall.

It had been one of the worst-kept secrets in college basketball that Shaheen Holloway was going to succeed his mentor Willard as the head coach of the Pirates. I mean, it seemed like it was destiny. When you looked at his resume, Holloway checked off numerous boxes. To wit:

— A former star player for the Pirates who led them to their last Sweet 16 in 2000.

— A proven recruiter with deep ties to the New York/New Jersey area who was Willard's right-hand man for eight seasons and who played a large role in bringing some of the Pirates' best players in the last decade.

— A charismatic coach who could turn on the charm just as easily as he could turn up the heat on the sidelines while coaching his team, who was given his first shot at Saint Peter's by athletic director Bryan Felt, who is now Seton Hall's AD.

— A favorite son of Seton Hall fans everywhere, who met his wife, Kim, while they were students in South Orange. His daughter, Shatanik, is also a Seton Hall alum, and his son, Xavier, is named after the dormitory in the center of campus where he and Kim met.

And that list doesn't even take into consideration the fact that his Peacocks became the all-time Cinderella team in the NCAA Tournament, capturing national attention by beating Kentucky, Murray State, and Purdue to reach the Elite 8, making Holloway one of the hottest names in the business. 

Bringing in a former great player to be a coach is usually a road fraught with difficulties. It didn't work with Chris Mullin at St. John's, or Eddie Jordan at Rutgers, just to name two examples. But this feels different. Mullin had never coached anywhere before going back to Queens, and Jordan had had success in the pro ranks, but never coached in college. For all the reasons listed above, Holloway's hiring has been universally praised from all sides, and rightfully so. There aren't too many instances where a coaching hire feels like this much of a slam dunk. And instead of a program in need of resurrection as it was when his mentor was hired, Holloway comes in poised to take his alma mater to new heights. 

In short, I feel the same way I felt when walking out of Walsh Gym 12 years ago today, that Seton Hall has hired the right person for the job, maybe even the most right person for the job. With Willard back in 2010, there was a need to get to know the former Rick Pitino protege. With Holloway, everyone knows who he is, what he's about, and what he can do.

Case in point: What outgoing head coach has his entire roster come out to celebrate him getting a new job? The Saint Peter's men's basketball team was also in South Orange today to support Holloway, and they received a standing ovation from the fans for what they had accomplished in the Big Dance. Ever gracious and loyal, Holloway made sure that they received a large amount of credit for helping him get to where he stood on the stage today.

And I get a sense there will be a lot more such ovations for Shaheen Holloway before all is said and done.

Shaheen Holloway returns to Seton Hall, replaces Kevin Willard as head coach

Shaheen Holloway’s next stop is Seton Hall as Pirates replace Kevin Willard with native son who guided Saint Peter’s to Elite 8. (Photo by Bob Dea/Daly Dose Of Hoops)

The breakout star of March will once again shine upon his alma mater.

Shaheen Holloway, who became a household name as his Saint Peter’s team went on arguably the most improbable run in NCAA Tournament history, is leaving Jersey City to take the reins at Seton Hall as the next head coach of the Pirates.

Holloway, who made history as Saint Peter’s became the first No. 15 seed to advance to a regional final, replaces his former mentor, Kevin Willard, who was introduced last week as the new head coach at the University of Maryland. Seton Hall will hold a press conference Thursday to reintroduce the former Pirate point guard and assistant coach to the South Orange community.

Athletic director Bryan Felt, who gave Holloway his first head coaching opportunity in 2018 when he hired him at Saint Peter’s to replace John Dunne, did not have to look very far to find a successor to Willard, who openly campaigned for Holloway to be his heir apparent after Seton Hall was eliminated from the NCAA Tournament by TCU in its first round. Given his history at the school, Holloway quickly became the logical, and sole, candidate to helm a program in the midst of a resurgence that has seen the Pirates reach five NCAA Tournaments in the past seven seasons, with a sixth that would have come in 2020 if not for the pandemic.

As a player at Seton Hall, Holloway quickly lived up to the reputation that made him a McDonald’s All-American coming out of what is now The Patrick School, solidifying himself as a physically and mentally tough point guard whose hard-nosed defense would later become a calling card for the Saint Peter’s teams he would coach. His game-winning shot lifted the 10th-seeded Pirates past Oregon in the 2000 NCAA Tournament before Seton Hall would go on to defeat Temple en route to the Sweet 16, the last time the program advanced to that round and before this past weekend, the last time a New Jersey team had been to a regional semifinal.

Upon getting into coaching, Holloway’s first break at the collegiate level came at his alma mater, serving as Seton Hall’s video coordinator in 2006-07 during Bobby Gonzalez’s first season as head coach. He turned down an eventual promotion the following year to join Willard at Iona, where the two needed just three years to turn a team that had gone 2-28 the season before their arrival into a 21-win outfit, recruiting future MAAC Player of the Year Scott Machado in the process. When Willard succeeded Gonzalez at Seton Hall in 2010, Holloway was his first hire.

Over the next eight years, Holloway recruited a majority of the Pirates’ roster, responsible for the commitments and signings of players the likes of Fuquan Edwin, Sterling Gibbs, Khadeen Carrington, Desi Rodriguez, Ismael Sanogo, Michael Nzei, Myles Powell, Myles Cale and Jared Rhoden. His work with Seton Hall’s guards turned Edwin and Carrington into all-Big East selections, and Powell into the conference’s Player of the Year in 2019-20.

Long regarded as an effective communicator with an innate ability to relate to almost anyone, Holloway began his tenure at Saint Peter’s by implementing a defense-oriented style mixed with unprecedented depth. A 12-man rotation soon became a trademark for the Peacocks, whose rotation of fresh bodies and vigorous on-ball pressure enhanced their reputation as one of the MAAC’s premier defenses. After a rocky first year, Saint Peter’s emerged to win 14 league games in 2019-20, arriving ahead of schedule and earning Holloway MAAC Coach of the Year merits before the pandemic scrapped a season that had serious championship potential after the Peacocks upset Iona and appeared to have ended the Gaels’ dynasty.

Saint Peter’s maintained its uptick in each of the past two seasons, finishing third in the MAAC last year before a runner-up finish in the 2021-22 regular season. Holloway’s commitment to embracing his unit’s defensive roots took flight in late February and continued through March, as the Peacocks allowed a mere 56.5 points per game in a 10-game win streak that encompassed the MAAC tournament — where Saint Peter’s defeated Monmouth for the program’s first conference championship since 2011 — and the historic upsets of Kentucky, Murray State and Purdue in the NCAA Tournament. Saint Peter’s 85-79 overtime victory over the second-seeded Wildcats was only the tenth for a No. 15 seed over a No. 2 seed since the tournament field expanded to 64 teams in 1985, and the 70-60 triumph over a Murray State team that had won its previous 21 games marked just the third instance that a No. 15 seed reached the regional semifinals. The Peacocks made history on March 25, as their 67-64 takedown of Purdue was the first instance of a 15-seed reaching the tournament’s final eight.

Holloway leaves Saint Peter’s with a 64-57 record over four seasons, going 44-32 in MAAC play. A search for his replacement is expected to begin immediately, with Ryan Whalen, his lead assistant coach the past four seasons, viewed as the leading candidate.

Bonnies’ valiant last stand embodies what Schmidt’s senior class personified

Even though St. Bonaventure lost in NIT semifinals, reaching Madison Square Garden was cause to celebrate Osun Osunniyi and his fellow seniors. (Photo by Bob Dea/Daly Dose Of Hoops)

By Ray Floriani (@rfloriani)

NEW YORK — The clock at the final media timeout read 2:22. They were down nine points. It didn’t matter. 

There was a feeling that once again, they could somehow summon up a way to pull this off. St. Bonaventure had been staging comebacks all season long. The NIT run itself was one big comeback.

A win on the road at Colorado. Another narrow victory at Oklahoma. Finally, the one that got them to New York. The rally from five down with two minutes to go (KenPom gave them just a 5.5 percent chance at that juncture) to defeat Virginia. All on the road. 

In this scenario, the Bona faithful inundating Madison Square Garden, transforming it into Reilly Square Garden for the evening, had hope. It was not to be. Dominick Welch drained a three with 88 seconds left to make it a two-possession game. Xavier answered, breaking a full-court trap and finding Zach Freemantle for an easy two. Mark Schmidt’s group ran out of miracles, and time. Xavier defeated the Bonnies, 84-77.

Before exiting the court, as their 23-10 season closed, the Bonaventure players stopped, faced their adoring fans and acknowledged them, a thank-you for a campaign of unmatched support and devotion. There were a few among the crowd getting misty-eyed, emotional over the NIT run and the season’s conclusion, emotional over saying goodbye to an outstanding group of seniors who gave the fans and school so much in these four years. 

A few words about the exploits and careers of each are warranted: 

Kyle Lofton: The lead guard who played at Union Catholic in New Jersey and then Putnam Science Academy in Connecticut. Lofton was underrecruited, but when Schmidt and assistant Steve Curran saw him, they knew he could evolve into a special player. A four-year captain who was elected in that role his freshman year before playing a single minute, Lofton was a mainstay at the lead guard position. Lofton missed two free throws with under two seconds remaining in the Atlantic 10 tournament semifinal against Saint Louis a few weeks back. Given another chance in the NIT, Lofton nailed two from the charity stripe with seconds left to allow the Bonnies to win at Virginia. Those examples speak volumes of Lofton’s competitiveness and character.

Osun Osunniyi: “Double O,” or “Shoon,” was originally recruited by La Salle. When coach John Giabnnini was let go, Osunniyi reopened up his recruitment and decided to join his Putnam Science teammate Lofton at Bonaventure. In four years, Osunniyi emerged from a raw big man to a polished threat in the middle. He has been Atlantic 10 Defensive Player of the Year the past two seasons, and was the most outstanding player of the 2021 A-10 tournament. The Bonnies’ all-time leading shot blocker’s signature rejection was the one in the final seconds that sealed the Bonnies’ 52-51 win at Virginia.

Jaren Holmes: Recruited after he led Ranger Community College to the NJCAA championship game, Holmes was a product of powerful Romulus (Michigan) High School prior to Ranger. The 6-foot-4 Holmes was a solid swingman with the ability to penetrate and breakdown defenses. He played three years for the Bonnies, averaging double-figure scoring in each. Holmes was a second team all-A-10 selection in 2021, as well as a 2021 Charleston Classic all-tournament honoree. Holmes excelled in the classroom, earning A-10 all-academic honors each year, as well as being selected academic all-district in 2021 and 2022.

Jalen Adaway: After he missed a last second shot and lost a tough home game to Dayton last season, Adaway went back on the Reilly Center court and shot for over an hour. That tells you a lot about the Logansport, Indiana native. Adaway transferred to St. Bonaventure from Miami University. He sat out in 2019-20 after transferring, then playing his last two seasons with the Bonnies. Adaway was chosen to the A-10 all-tournament team in 2021, and was first team all-conference this season. The 6-foot-5 guard paced the Bonnies with a 15.7 point-per-game scoring average, hitting 39 percent of his attempts from long range. Adaway surpassed Schmidt’s expectations due to hard work over these two seasons.

Dominick Welch came to Olean as the all-time leading scorer in Western New York boys’ basketball history, but struggled early in his freshman year. The 6-foot-5 guard suffered an injury, and after sitting out and observing a few weeks, returned a different player. A threat beyond the arc, Welch connected on 37 percent of his 3-point attempts for his career. Welch was a model of consistency, hitting 36, 37, 39 and 36 percent from long range over his four years. Welch’s late-game three was the proverbial dagger in the Bonnies’ A-10 championship game triumph over VCU in 2021. In the NIT, Welch hit a crucial three late to spark a rally in the win at Virginia. He followed up with a game-high 25 points, on seven triples, in the semifinal loss to Xavier.

The five seniors comprised what came to be dubbed the iron five this past season. The quintet averaged over 32 minutes per game and contributed 89 percent of the Bonnies’ scoring. Their four years included an appearance in the 2019 A-10 championship game, the A-10 regular and postseason championships in 2021, and an NIT appearance that took them to Madison Square Garden and the other Final Four.

After discussing his team’s rough first half on the offensive end in his postgame press conference, where he credited Xavier for making the big second half shots when the Bonnies made their run, Schmidt took time to discuss his seniors.

“They’ve been terrific,” Schmidt praised. “It didn’t start off that well when they were freshmen. We started off 1-5 and had some injuries. Even then, they showed mental toughness. We had the last shot to win to go to the NCAA Tournament their freshman year.”

The Bona mentor also commented on how they epitomized the attributes of a student-athlete.

“Great leadership and great character on and off the court,” he said. “They represent Bonaventure the right way. They go to class and are all going to graduate, they keep their nose clean socially and can really, really play basketball. Those kids are special. I wouldn’t be here sitting here and I wouldn’t have the opportunity to coach in Madison Square Garden without their efforts. They have given me a lot, and more than I’ve given them.”

Bonnies reach MSG intent on winning NIT

By Ray Floriani (@rfloriani)

They exited the Atlantic 10 Tournament with a gut punch. St. Bonaventure, the preseason favorite in the conference, went to Washington with hopes of defending its title and moving on to the Big Dance. It all ended in heartbreaking fashion, as Kyle Lofton missed two free throws with under two seconds remaining, sending the Bonnies home on the short end against Saint Louis.

Two days later the NIT would come calling. Coach Mark Schmidt reached out to his team to gauge its feelings about playing in the NIT. The Bona mentor recalled how in 1999, he was an assistant at Xavier under the late Skip Prosser. Xavier went to the NIT Final Four, dropping a heartbreaker to Clemson before routing Oregon in the consolation game. Schmidt remarked that the entire experience was one of the highlights of his coaching career. Schmidt’s Bonnies, featuring five senior starters, embraced the opportunity and challenge. They were all in on the NIT.

The Bonnies were sent to Colorado for the first round. They defeated the Buffaloes, 76-68. Next up was a trip to Oklahoma where St. Bonaventure again prevailed, 70-68. Two days later, they were in Virginia for the quarterfinals. Lofton’s two free throws with seconds left, followed by Osun Osunniyi’s rejection at the buzzer, sealed a 52-51 victory and ticket to New York. By the time the Bonnies arrived in Charlottesville, they had traveled 5,559 miles in less than seven days.

Xavier had a solid year before losing five of its last seven regular season games. The Musketeers dropped a first-round game against Butler in the Big East tournament due to poor free throw shooting in the stretch. Xavier accepted an NIT bid and defeated Cleveland State in the first round. The following day, head coach Travis Steele was surprisingly fired, with assistant coach Jonas Hayes was promoted to interim head coach. Sean Miller will return to Xavier next season, but Hayes will finish out the season. Xavier, which played all three rounds at home, defeated Florida in the second round. The Musketeers lost point guard Paul Scruggs to an ACL injury against Florida. Xavier then defeated Vanderbilt to earn the trip to Madison Square Garden.

It is an interesting matchup at the Garden prior to Washington State meeting Texas A&M in the other contest. St. Bonaventure and Xavier have a history extending prior to their days as A-10 adversaries. Xavier defeated the Bonnies in the NIT semis en route to the 1958 championship, and the overall series dating back to 1955 sees Xavier with a 25-16 edge. However, St. Bonaventure won 11 of 15 between 1960 and 1974. Xavier won 12 of the last 13 contests before exiting the league after the 2013 season. The one loss on Xavier’s record was the 2012 Atlantic 10 championship game, in which the Bonnies prevailed, 67-56, in Atlantic City’s Boardwalk Hall, to secure the first A-10 title in program history.

St. Bonaventure is making its 17th NIT appearance and seventh trip to the tournament semifinals. Its most recent semifinal appearance was in 1977, when the Bonnies captured the championship. Xavier is in its ninth NIT, and first semifinal since the aforementioned 1999 tournament.

The Bonnies rely on their iron five starters, each of whom averages double-figure points per game, with Jalen Adaway (15.7) leading the way. Jaren Holmes (13.4) can penetrate and break down a defense. Lofton (12.7) has handed out 165 assists against 76 turnovers. Dominick Welch (11.9) is a 36 percent 3-point shooter, and Osunniyi (11.3) is the leading rebounder (7.7 RPG) and shot blocker with 90 rejections. Abdoul Karim Coulibaly has been effective of late, spelling Osunniyi when he gets in foul trouble.

Xavier counters with 6-foot-9 Zach Freemantle (13 PPG in NIT play). Seven-foot junior Jack Nunge is an inside threat with the ability to step outside. Senior Nate Johnson is scoring at an 11.0 point-per-game clip in NIT play, and sophomore Colby Jones, at 6-foot-6, is a strong rebounder. Jones is scoring more productively as of late, contributing 13.9 points on average over the last nine games. Dwon Odom, a 6-foot-2 sophomore, has taken Scruggs’ place at the point.

The two teams have a history, as noted, dating back 67 years. The present sees some similarities. Xavier, despite faltering down the stretch, has seen new life in the NIT and seized the second chance. Schmidt’s Bonnies were dealt a tough hand by the committee, with three road games, yet never complained. Schmidt’s in-it-to-win-it mantra has earned full buy-in from the Bonnies, who have epitomized the survive-and-advance concept.

Notes:

● Bona alumni raised over $50,000 over the weekend to secure eight coach buses to take students to New York. Approximately 400 students will be on those buses. Add several hundred more getting to New York on their own, and you have over one-third of the 2,100 undergraduate enrollment at St. Bonaventure venturing to the Garden on Tuesday.

● Add the alumni coming out in numbers and MSG may be renamed, at least for a short time, “Reilly Square Garden.”

● “The goal was to take one game at a time. We needed to win three to get to the Garden. Playing at the Garden is a dream for every kid. We accomplished that goal by winning a game at a time. We got to Madison Square Garden, and now we are not satisfied. We want to win it.” - Mark Schmidt

Saint Peter’s storybook run captured essence of why we love March Madness

Even as its dream season ended Sunday, Shaheen Holloway and Saint Peter’s illustrated college basketball’s inner beauty in historic Elite 8 run. (Photo by Bob Dea/Daly Dose Of Hoops)

PHILADELPHIA — Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.

When you capture the imaginations and minds of a nation, it is almost impossible not to marvel at the accomplishments and masterpieces created over four months when the canvas was blank just a short while ago, even if it far too often ends in a loss.

Josh Adams, a longtime colleague behind this outlet’s sister site, College Hoops Digest, has another piece of advice that is incredibly apt at this time and place: Buy the ticket, take the ride.

And for those who paid to see Saint Peter’s four months ago, when the Peacocks drew just 434 patrons to the newly-christened Run Baby Run Arena, what a ride it was.

From hungry contender to MAAC champions, to upsets of Kentucky, Murray State and Purdue, anyone who pegged the Peacocks as the first-ever No. 15 seed to reach a regional final may as well head to Las Vegas — or Atlantic City if such a soothsayer resides in close proximity to Saint Peter’s Jersey City home base — because he or she is on the roll of a lifetime.

The clock struck midnight for the Peacocks on Sunday, as North Carolina ended the fairytale and reached yet another Final Four, but for the underdog who made a living off silencing the doubters, nothing but positives can be gleaned from not only dreaming the improbable, but having the gumption to make it a reality.

“What we did was amazing,” KC Ndefo, the lone senior on a gritty, lunchpail team, reflected. “Words can’t describe what we did out there. For us to be the only team that did this is just historical. The sky’s the limit for anybody if you put in the work. Don’t get too high, don’t get too low, just stay in your lane and it’ll work out for you. We caught the attention of everybody who wants to come here. What we did will have an impact on everybody.”

The significance of a moment like this, a season like this, can often get lost in the immediate scenes following its conclusion, but to not have it absent in the minds of the Saint Peter’s players and coaches is a credit to the culture that Shaheen Holloway not only cultivated, but trusted sight unseen, with full buy-in from the young men who reciprocated his desire with a laser focus and iron will.

“Coming in, Coach established the vision that he had and all of us went on board with that, that anything was possible,” said Daryl Banks III. “We came to work day in and day out, and it just paid off for us this year. What we did is something no one’s ever done before, so we’ll walk out of here with our head high.”

Saint Peter’s, as presently constructed, should be forwardly placed in the MAAC next season barring any drastic movement in the transfer portal, as everyone but Ndefo returns from the core group. Banks, Doug Edert, Matthew Lee, and Fousseyni and Hassan Drame will be seniors next season. Oumar Diahame and Marty Silvera enter their junior years, Clarence Rupert and Juju Murray — integral pieces in the stretch run as freshmen — become sophomores, and this season’s experience will only be a boon for a team that prides itself on proving skeptics wrong and punching above its weight class.

“I think the future’s bright,” a proud Holloway declared. “Everybody got a chance to see our brand of basketball, to see us play and what we’re all about. When you get a lot of e-mails and calls about ‘I want my son playing for you, I admire what you guys are doing,’ I think the future’s bright.”

“I thought everybody grew. I thought the team grew, I thought I grew. It was a great experience for all of us. We learned from the good, we learned from the bad, and we kind of moved forward as a program.”

As the curtain descends, the memories remain. And again, anyone who purchased a ticket to the exploits in Jersey City at any point during the year are certainly walking away satisfied after sharing the highs and lows, the thrills and the final heartbreak that is engulfed in the eternal flame of history, ignited by individuals who may not have been number-one choices, but now carry that ordinal designation in the hearts of all tried-and-true basketball junkies.

“Words can’t describe and explain how happy I am for this group,” Holloway reiterated. “A group of guys came in here that no one gave a chance to, no one believed in but the people in our locker room and the people in our program, and they made history. They shocked the world, and you've got guys that are going to be remembered for things that they could tell their kids and grandkids.”

“They came in and they made history. Point blank, period. Saint Peter’s made it to the Elite 8. Great story, you guys should write about it.”

We will. And we will do well to remember it.

Family bonding, more than anything else, has strengthened Saint Peter’s through Cinderella run

Matthew Lee (15) and Doug Edert (25) celebrate Saint Peter’s upset of Purdue Friday with teammates behind them. (Photo by Jaden Daly/Daly Dose Of Hoops)

PHILADELPHIA — If you’ve watched the pregame and postgame press conferences throughout the NCAA Tournament, you’ve seen it. If you are among the fortunate ones blessed to have covered Saint Peter’s at any point this year, you’ve expected it.

Six players, the half-dozen veterans who comprise the core of the Cinderella Peacocks, are mainstays in media availabilities. For they are the six who not only subscribed to a vision that had yet to be placed into practice, saw it through, and have now broadened that horizon to the brink of college basketball’s largest stage.

Welcome to Shaheen Holloway’s extended family.

So many things for Saint Peter’s have been intangible, sometimes inexplicable, as the Peacocks have shocked the world on the way to Sunday’s East Regional final against North Carolina. But for those with even a slight knowledge of the Jersey City school, the close-knit nature of a group of players that reflects its leader’s effervescent charisma and magnetic personality has made it even more formidable.   

“That’s who we are,” Holloway again said after his team joined him in his postgame interview with CBS immediately after Saint Peter’s added Purdue to its collection of March victims. “Those are our guys, and that’s what we do. Every time we have a press conference, I make sure these six guys are up here. They’re the guys that started the foundation.”

“We’re like that. We’re for real. That’s genuine. If you watch us, you come to practice, you take bus trips with us, this is who we are. We’re not changing because we’re here. We’re a tight-knit family.”

For some of the elder statesmen on the Saint Peter’s roster, the relationships they currently enjoy began long before any of them even thought about where they would ply their wares in the collegiate ranks. Daryl Banks III and Doug Edert played against one another in high school, while twins Fousseyni and Hassan Drame teamed up with point guard Matthew Lee in AAU ball. The familiarity bred company, and later, fraternity.

“(Banks) was my roommate since day one,” Edert recalled, sharing the story of how his backcourt partner was the first person he met on campus. “It was nice getting to know somebody you’re going to be with for a really long time. Our friendship turned into a brotherhood, and it’s just amazing to be where we are now.”

“I really didn’t like (Edert) much neither,” Banks said with a laugh. “He used to always get me in the fall leagues. But moving in the first day and actually being roommates with him was kind of funny. We grew as a brotherhood and then added the twins and Matthew. We’ve been together for so long, and it’s just great to do what they’re doing now.”

Add that to a coach in Holloway who doubles as a father figure of sorts, and the mutual respect each has for the other is a driving force behind the ever-present all-for-one, one-for-all culture that has become unique in today’s game with the ongoing reliance on the transfer portal to build teams and expedite chemistry.

“You look to the sideline — you might have made a bad play or something — but you see somebody encouraging you and giving you kind words,” Lee said of Holloway and the method to his madness, so to speak. “He’s been here before. He’s been a player, he knows what we’re going through. It’s kind of just easy to play for him.”

“He has your best interest at heart,” KC Ndefo proudly said. “Just listening to the message and not the tone, you know when that happens, he’s going to pick you up after.”

Coaching was almost a natural segue for Holloway to continue his involvement with the game after his playing career was over. Needing a way to support his daughter, born while he was still in high school, only served to accelerate the proceedings.

“It was always in me,” Holloway said of the coaching bug, which began under Nick Mariniello at Bloomfield Tech and took flight at the Division I level when he served as the video coordinator at Seton Hall under Bobby Gonzalez. “I think when you’re a point guard, coaching is kind of in you.”

“It’s like (being) a quarterback. Most quarterbacks become coaches because you see the game, you know what everybody’s supposed to do. I think it’s important to learn from the bottom up. You appreciate it more, and I think it helped me identify who I am and what I could bring to the table.”

To say Saint Peter’s learned on the fly in each of the past two seasons would be an understatement. The Peacocks did not have a home gym last year, as Run Baby Run Arena was still in the midst of its multimillion-dollar renovation, shifting all home games up the block from the school to Division III New Jersey City University. And with the pandemic still yet to be controlled at the time, Saint Peter’s practiced off-site at the now-closed Marist High School in nearby Bayonne. Then, after being the only school in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference to not incur a positive COVID test last season, the Peacocks were sidelined for 26 days this year when two-thirds of the team contracted the virus during a break Holloway now cites as the turning point for his program.

“You’re practicing with each other for the last two years,” he said. “I didn’t let my guys go home because of COVID. I wanted to have a season, so we were together for Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s. When you start spending time like that, it’s real, it’s genuine. A bond happens, a connection happens. We spend more time with each other than we spend with our families.”

“I’m so happy for these guys. They put so much time and effort into it. For six, seven months of the year dealing with me, this is easy for them. We got a chance to really regroup and start all over, like a little mini-camp. And once we did that, this team started clicking because we started playing different lineups, other guys started getting confident. Once you get 11-12 guys competing at a high level, it’s going to make you better.”

Finally, the why factor motivates this group just as much. For Holloway, often dismissed for his small stature and cast aside, the chance to pay it forward after coaches the likes of Kevin Boyle, Chris Chavannes and Tommy Amaker threw him a life preserver led him to this position, and his unconditional love for his players is just as unbridled as the emotion and energy with which they compete.

“I wanted to be a coach because a lot of people took a chance on me when it was so easy to go the other way,” Holloway reflected. “I wanted to be that guy to take a chance on some kids that people don’t want or are pushing away, or got in trouble and need a second chance. That’s kind of what I’m about.”

That is Saint Peter’s basketball in a nutshell.

North Carolina riding its own wave of confidence and silencing doubters into Elite 8

Caleb Love has shot North Carolina off bubble and into East Regional final, where Tar Heels will meet Saint Peter’s. (Photo by Bob Dea/Daly Dose Of Hoops)

PHILADELPHIA — Most, if not all of the recent media attention at the East Regional has zeroed in on Saint Peter’s, creating a landscape where North Carolina is almost forgotten in a sense.

After all, hardly anyone expected the Tar Heels, the No. 8 seed in the East, to advance through the bracket the way they have, dominating Marquette, outlasting defending national champion Baylor, and bouncing UCLA behind Caleb Love’s second-half takeover Friday. But the message from head coach Hubert Davis was one where numbers did not matter, and UNC has heeded that advice as it stands on the precipice of a stage that may as well be a birthright in and around Chapel Hill.

“The four years I was at Carolina, I couldn’t remember what seed we were,” Davis said on Saturday, one day before UNC takes on national darling Saint Peter’s for a spot in the Final Four. “I just knew that we were in the NCAA Tournament and we were going against teams that were really good basketball teams that, any given day, can beat you if you don’t play your best. That was my communication to them.”

“When the tournament started, that was one of the first things Coach told us,” Armando Bacot echoed. “He never looked at seeding and he never really cared. It’s kind of funny how it played out now, an 8 and a 15 playing against each other.”

Something has to give inside the Wells Fargo Center Sunday, where a North Carolina team that has won 15 of its last 18 games clashes with a Saint Peter’s outfit that has been victorious in 10 straight over the past five weeks. Davis said he intended to reach out to King Rice and J.R. Reid, former teammates of his at UNC who are now the head coach and assistant at Monmouth, respectively, for pointers on how to handle a Peacocks squad that swept all three meetings — including the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference championship — with Rice’s Hawks, but praised the job that Shaheen Holloway has done guiding Saint Peter’s to this point.

“Saint Peter’s is an unbelievable team,” Davis said. “They have an outstanding coaching staff, and it’s a team that’s won 10 games in a row. They’re playing with a confidence and a toughness that has put them in the final eight, and at the end of the day, they’ve beaten two teams that we lost to. So as I said before, tomorrow will be our toughest game of the year.”

“I’ve given them this Bible verse, Proverbs 4:25. Keep your eyes straight ahead, ignore all sideshows and distractions. What’s straight ahead is Saint Peter’s. I don’t consider them David, I don’t consider us Goliath. I consider us North Carolina and them Saint Peter’s. They have our full attention, and rightfully so.”

“We don’t pay attention to Cinderella or the seeding or whatever,” Love admitted. “They’re another team that’s in our way. We’re going to treat them as such.”

Much like Saint Peter’s, UNC has relied on a multifaceted approach to author its March success, a welcome sight for a roster that had only one player — Leaky Black — with the experience of having won a game in the NCAA Tournament before last week. The Tar Heels, for all the history they have contributed to the sport, reached a milestone on Friday against UCLA, as Love’s 30-point performance gave UNC two different 30-point scorers in back-to-back NCAA Tournament games for the first time in program history, as RJ Davis scored 30 against Baylor while Brady Manek appeared well on his way to joining him at that plateau before being ejected for a flagrant-2 foul on Jeremy Sochan.

“One of the things that, throughout the course of the year, I felt like we needed is an extension of the coaching staff,” Davis revealed. “We needed a leader. One of the beautiful things that has emerged this year has not just been one leader, it’s been a host of leaders.”

“It’s not just Leaky who brings something to the table. Brady, RJ, Caleb, Armando, Kerwin (Walton), Puff (Johnson), Dontrez (Styles), everybody together has brought their piece. They’ve identified what allows them to be successful, and everyone has accepted their role in a place where they feel like it’s beneficial for them to be the best team that they can be.”

Saint Peter’s all business before Elite 8 clash with UNC

Shaheen Holloway and Saint Peter’s are all business as Peacocks battle North Carolina Sunday for trip to Final Four. (Photo by Bob Dea/Daly Dose Of Hoops)

PHILADELPHIA — They have captured the eyes and hearts of a nation, proven that anything is possible. But just 40 minutes away from the ultimate prize in college basketball, Shaheen Holloway and Saint Peter’s still have that pinch-me, is-this-really-happening moment.

Standing between the Peacocks and a trip to New Orleans to play on the grandest stage in the sport is North Carolina, a team few expected to get this far this year in its own right. But for Saint Peter’s, the fairytale is being acknowledged in equal parts with a businesslike approach that has gotten the Peacocks to the East Regional final after victories over Kentucky, Murray State and Purdue that followed similar scripts each time.

“How about that?” Holloway said with a smile when asked if the thought of Saint Peter’s advancing its improbable story with a trip to the Final Four had become real to him yet. “How about that, man? You hear all these stories about why we shouldn’t be here. My thing is this: Every year, a team like us is here. Stories like this don’t really happen. They happen once every year and everybody kind of gets behind it, especially the last two years with COVID and everything. It’s a great story, and I’m just happy that we’re a part of it.”

“It’s a dream. I don’t want to wake up and these guys don’t want to wake up. We want to continue living in this dream we’re in right now.”

Winners of 10 straight, the longest winning streak in the nation after Saint Peter’s stopped Murray State on March 19, the Peacocks have endured shooting woes with a stingy defense that has allowed just 56.5 points per game during its current surge. Still, the potential is ever-present, and according to point guard Matthew Lee, remains untapped in the face of a determined veteran core who follows the blueprint on the floor, but laughs in the face of logic and theory.

“I feel like each game, we get to learn more and more about each other and about this team,” said Lee, who has fought through Saint Peter’s shooting just 9-of-34 from 3-point range in its last two contests. “We may have had a few rough patches and rough shooting, but we feel like we’re just getting better day by day, and we’re going to continue to do that.”

“We’re just wearing people out,” Doug Edert said with regard to the Peacocks’ relentless defensive pressure. “I feel like it comes down to the end of the game, where it’s like, we either win this game or go home. And we refuse to go home.”

That stubborn nature, coupled with the close-knit bonds that have forged Saint Peter’s through a lack of resources, not having a gym of its own last season in the throes of the pandemic, and a 26-day COVID pause in the middle of this season, has only heightened the sense of urgency and gotten the Peacocks to come together as their coach felt they would at the end of the regular season, when he felt his team had started to grasp the magnitude of the March atmosphere.

“I just think we’re playing at a different level right now, being connected,” Holloway observed. “No one’s worried about who’s getting the shot, no one’s worried about who’s getting to shine, no one’s worried about this or that. They’re just happy for each other, playing hard and just kind of figuring it out.”

“There’s no switch,” KC Ndefo added, saying that the team’s mentality had remained constant. “Since day one, when we first came into the NCAA Tournament, that was our mindset. So that’s what we came out and did every day, just tried to execute the game plan and contend and go for the win since day one.”

One game separates the small school from the big stage, and while the underdog readily admits it would normally not be its own party, they are intent on showing its intent to crash before actually kicking down the door.

“It’s unthinkable, unreal,” Ndefo said, summarizing what awaits the Peacocks. “Just to do this, to make history for this program, doing this for our fans and our family is just an unthinkable thing to do. It’s just a great thing. We’re just thriving off of it, and we’re going to keep this going. We want it more, and it shows on the court.”

ALL ELITE!!! Saint Peter’s makes history, bounces Purdue to become first 15 seed in regional final

Matthew Lee exults after Saint Peter’s upset Purdue to become first No. 15 seed in Elite Eight. (Photo by Bob Dea/Daly Dose Of Hoops)

PHILADELPHIA — The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference champion stands 40 minutes from a Final Four.

Saint Peter’s, the breakout story of this year’s NCAA Tournament after its captivating upsets of Kentucky and Murray State last weekend, continued its historic run through March on Friday, knocking off No. 3 seed Purdue in a 67-64 decision to topple the Boilermakers and, in the process, become the first-ever No. 15 seed to advance to a regional final.

“We feel like we belong,” said Doug Edert as the Peacocks won their tenth straight game dating back to February 20 to earn themselves a meeting with North Carolina in Sunday’s East Regional final. “The more games we win, the more confidence we build.”

“I don’t think any of us were nervous or really cared about how many people were there watching us. We just went out there and did our thing.”

Playing just 93 miles from its Jersey City campus, Saint Peter’s (22-11) stayed true to its March blueprint once again, forcing Purdue to play at its tempo and luring the Boilermakers into nine first-half turnovers amid uncharacteristic off nights from both 7-foot-4 center Zach Edey and All-American point guard Jaden Ivey. The Peacocks survived the physical style, and regained the lead with a 10-0 run late in the first half before Purdue responded with eight straight points of its own. A Jaylen Murray layup at the horn cut the Saint Peter’s deficit to 33-29 at halftime, but the seeds had been planted for another shocker with the underdogs’ defensive exploits.

“We knew their tendencies and what they did,” said Daryl Banks III, praising Shaheen Holloway and his staff’s scouting report of Purdue. “We knew they were also going to go inside a lot with the height difference, but we just stuck to our defensive principles, executed when we needed to, and it worked out for us.”

Purdue led for the first 13 minutes after the intermission, but Saint Peter’s again refused to go quietly, answering the Boilermakers by counterpunching on offense and getting critical stops on defense before a Fousseyni Drame 3-pointer gave the Peacocks a 50-49 lead with 6:42 remaining in regulation. Purdue would score seven of the next nine points over a span of 84 seconds, opening up a 56-52 cushion and setting Cinderella up for its latest heroic dance.

“I told my guys, ‘just keep battling,’” Holloway recalled. “Keep battling, let’s see what happens. When you keep it tight, certain things can happen. I knew the ball was going to bounce our way, and it did.”

After Edert uncharacteristically missed the front end of a 1-and-1 before a driving layup rattled out, the junior atoned for the missed opportunity when he drew a foul while shooting a three, proceeding to knock down all three shots to pull Saint Peter’s within one. Trevion Williams would extend the Purdue lead to two after splitting a pair of free throws, but a jumper and layup by Banks put Saint Peter’s ahead by two, with Hassan Drame draining two foul shots to double the edge to four points.

The lead would stay at four after Purdue's Mason Gillis and the Peacocks’ Matthew Lee traded free throws, and again after a Gillis layup and two foul shots by Banks, which he made after the Boilermakers took 11 seconds off the clock before fouling. Ivey answered with a desperation 3-pointer to make it a one-point game in the final seconds, but Purdue was forced to foul Edert, who sank the final two shots at the charity stripe to seal the victory, another war on the hardwood for a team that may not win pretty, but wins at the end of the night.

“That’s what we’ve been the whole year,” Holloway proclaimed. “That’s who we are. We’re not a team that’s going to blow teams out. That’s not our DNA. We try to keep it close and try to make them make mistakes down the stretch.”

The clock is nowhere close to midnight yet, and for Saint Peter’s, the mindset is all business heading into Sunday.

“We’re happy,” Edert admitted. “But don’t mistake, we’re not satisfied at all. The job is not finished.”

Davis’ experience, patient approach paying off as UNC heads into Sweet 16

 

Hubert Davis has guided North Carolina to timely surge entering Sweet 16 matchup with UCLA. (Photo by CBS Sports)

PHILADELPHIA — When Hubert Davis moved over one chair on the bench of his alma mater following the retirement of Roy Williams last April, the promotion was met with criticism as North Carolina replaced a Hall of Fame coach with three national championships on his resume with a longtime assistant who lacked experience as captain of the ship.

The Tar Heels struggled through the regular season, standing on the bubble as late as February before a resurgent finish to the year that included a drubbing of Duke in Mike Krzyzewski’s grand finale at Cameron Indoor Stadium. But as UNC refocused, and proved its mettle with a dominating win over Marquette to open the NCAA Tournament, followed by a resilient overtime victory over Baylor after the reigning national champions erased a 25-point lead, Davis’ steady hand and patient approach has affirmed he was the right man at the right time in Chapel Hill.

“We’re not doing anything different,” Davis assessed as UNC returns to Philadelphia — where it cut down the East Regional nets in 2016 en route to the national championship game — to meet UCLA in Friday’s regional semifinal. “We’ve identified the three things that make us successful, and that’s playing good defense, rebounding the basketball, and also taking care of the basketball. You want to call it buying in, but I think they’re experiencing the success of us doing a better job on the defensive end, and it’s obviously made us a better basketball team.”

“We all bought into the defensive mentality,” sophomore guard RJ Davis confirmed. “Leaky (Black) was able to go there and lock down the best defender, and then we tie into that. I feel like we feed off his energy and what he brings to the table.”

Black, cast in a role similar to Theo Pinson’s stature as the defensive stopper on the wing as the Heels reached back-to-back title games, prevailing in 2017, has been the leader on this UNC squad based solely on his past familiarity with this stage, but for Davis, the benefit of getting to see his entire team evolve has been his greatest — and perhaps most cherished — takeaway.

“To see not just the determination, the fight, the will and the want to, but also the excitement and enjoyment of being in a stage that they’ve never experienced before brings joy to me,” he said. “Every day, I get a front-row seat to be able to experience things with each one of these players, and to see how happy and excited and motivated they are to be in this position is something that I’ve really enjoyed.”

“For me, this is not a job. This is missionary work. It really is. It’s put me in a position where I can help and serve, coach and teach, and give back to these kids everything that Coach Smith and Coach Guthridge gave to me the four years that I was there, and also give back to the kids everything that Coach Williams gave to his players for 18 years. To be in that position is very humbling. I’m very thankful and appreciative, and it’s a great place to be.”

Davis’ own paradigm shift from Williams’ top lieutenant to calling the shots came under fire, but his experience around the program embodies the family atmosphere of UNC better than any other candidate to take the reins, something athletic director Bubba Cunningham valued heavily in the transition process. More importantly, the continuity — coupled with Davis’ past career as a player, which included trips to both the Final Four and NBA Finals — has yielded a payoff at the most opportune of times for a Tar Heel outfit hitting its best stride in an atmosphere that has been a longtime boon for the program.

“It’s important to have people around you that have experience and have been where you want to be,” he said. “Everybody on our coaching staff went to Carolina, played at Carolina, and with the exception of one of our assistant coaches, every one of our wives went to Carolina. It’s been tried, tested, proven successful. When we’re talking to the guys, they can look at us and say, ‘You know what? You’ve been there before.’ So I think it’s a huge factor.”

“He’s been in big moments,” Davis reiterated. “We like to pick his brain a lot and just learn from him because he’s been in our position and he knows what we want to accomplish. Just being able to pick up what he teaches us is a great thing to have.”

One of Davis’ main objectives this season, coming off a disappointing 14-19 campaign two years ago before bowing out in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament last March against Wisconsin, was to make sure his players got to enjoy and appreciate the full UNC experience for all it is worth. And while that goal is largely achieved, more work remains incomplete before the Heels’ rookie coach can marvel at the first team he can call his own being able to reach the same heights he enjoyed three decades ago.

“Overall, this season has been a success where we’re at,” said Armando Bacot. “And just these last few weeks winning these big games, it just seems alive again and getting back to where it was before my freshman year. It’s been a great experience and it’s been good for us all just to be a part of it.”

“If anybody asked me from a player’s perspective, for me personally, the greatest experience I ever had as a player, I would tell them it’s when I got to go to the Final Four in 1991,” Davis said. “I played 12 years in the NBA, and my number-one greatest experience personally as a player was to play in the Final Four. I said, ‘guys, I desperately want you to have that experience. I want you to get to the Final Four, I want you to get to the final game.”

But again, just getting there is only part of what the man trusted to lead his alma mater wants for the young men who place their trust in him. As Marcus Paige said in 2016, UNC did not come this far just to come this far.

“I definitely do feel like they have their own stories, their own testimonies, their own memories of being in big-time moments and coming up big in big-time games,” said Davis. “But I don’t want it to stop there. I want them to have more.”

Without looking ahead, Saint Peter’s faces prospect of what Elite 8 would mean

Doug Edert (25) drives past Monmouth in MAAC championship, and hopes to steer Saint Peter’s to a regional final. (Photo by Bob Dea/Daly Dose Of Hoops)

PHILADELPHIA — Part of the charm of Saint Peter’s magical run through the NCAA Tournament is how the Peacocks have never looked ahead of or past them in their storybook March.

But as just the third No. 15 seed to play in a regional semifinal, and with the hopes of a downtrodden and stagnant New York-New Jersey college basketball landscape resting squarely on its shoulders, Cinderella could not avoid the question:

What would it mean to live to fight another day, to take the court again on Sunday against another blueblood, with a trip to the Final Four hanging in the balance?

“It means everything,” Shaheen Holloway said as Saint Peter’s — the first local team in the Sweet 16 since he helped lead Seton Hall there in 2000 — seeks to become the area’s first Elite 8 participant since St. John’s in 1999. “Everybody keeps talking about my team that played 22 years ago, but you try not to think about that. You try not to put that kind of pressure on this team, but if that happens, that’d be tremendous, not just for Jersey, but for the tri-state area to have a team represented in the Elite 8. It’s hard to get to this point, so when you’re here, you’ve just got to continue to keep working and try to get further and further.”

The roll-up-your-sleeves, grinder mentality has been a trademark of Jersey City’s Division I program, even before Holloway arrived in 2018 and his predecessor, John Dunne, was extracting blood from a stone on an almost annual basis at Saint Peter’s, but the yeoman’s effort toward turning the Peacocks into a team that could scrap and fight with anyone on any given night has turned heads far beyond the Hudson River, garnering attention across the nation.

“I’m impressed with Saint Peter’s,” Purdue head coach Matt Painter, who now becomes the next man charged with making sure the clock strikes midnight, said Thursday. “I’m impressed with how hard they play, how competitive they are. We’re going to have our hands full. He might be 6’7”, but (KC) Ndefo’s going to block your shot. They have a lot of people that can be in two places at one time. (Holloway) does a good job, man. He’s a really good coach.”

“What he’s done is unbelievable,” UCLA’s Mick Cronin opined. “I love him. Where he comes from, what he’s accomplished in his career, in his life, at Saint Peter’s is the greatest story. If you’ve been there and you know him, to me, it’s a miracle.”

The Peacocks’ renaissance under Holloway has certainly emerged as a human-interest story as well as the latest tangible memento of how special this tournament and this month can be, but the platitudes and hyperbole ends there as far as Saint Peter’s is concerned. This Cinderella acts like it has been there before, and instead of a gown and glass slippers, it wears the look of a hungry veteran intent on making its adversary work for anything it is fortunate to receive in the heat of battle.

“We don’t feel any pressure,” point guard Matthew Lee — whose father, Butch, won a national championship in 1977 leading a Marquette team with a similar mindset — said. “We’re just here to play basketball. It’s something we’ve been doing our whole career. Even though it’s a bigger stage, at the end of the day, it’s just basketball.”

“We’re all looking to prove ourselves, as a program, as a basketball team,” Doug Edert added. “It starts in practice. Everyone’s looking to compete against each other so we can be able to execute the game plan for whatever game we’re about to play, and up until recently, the chip on our shoulder is getting bigger and bigger. We’re still trying to prove ourselves. We’re not satisfied with anything right now, and we’re going to continue to keep that going.”

Cinderella awaits latest dance as Saint Peter’s tackles Purdue in Sweet 16

Shaheen Holloway has kept Saint Peter’s focused on NCAA Tournament run amid distractions en route to Sweet 16 matchup against Purdue. (Photo by Bob Dea/Daly Dose Of Hoops)

PHILADELPHIA — In a city that embraces toughness and adopts underdogs that reflect the scrappy, blue-collar mentality of the nation’s sixth-largest metropolis lies a local group of hardwood pugilists whose presence here may almost be written in the stars.

Saint Peter’s, only the third No. 15 seed to survive the opening weekend of the NCAA Tournament since the field was expanded to 64 — and later, 68 — teams, takes its place in the City of Brotherly Love this weekend not only as the Rocky Balboa of college basketball, so to speak, but also as the darling of the nation who is still searching for new impressions to leave on its newfound aficionados.

“Everybody’s rallied around us,” head coach Shaheen Holloway, whose charisma and magnetic personality has helped endear the Peacocks to the masses, proudly declared. “It’s been tremendous. The support has been unbelievable. The sendoff we had last night was unbelievable.”

Winners of nine straight since a February 20 loss to Siena, Saint Peter’s latest challenge comes in the form of Purdue, the No. 3 seed in the East Regional, against whom the Peacocks battle Friday in the Sweet 16. The Boilermakers possess a pair of mountains masquerading as men in 7-foot-4 Zach Edey and 6-foot-10 Trevion Williams, not to mention a dynamic point guard in Jaden Ivey, but the imposing presence of the Big Ten power is only that on paper to an unfazed and unintimidated unit with nothing to lose.

“I feel like we’ve had that all year,” senior forward KC Ndefo said of his team’s fearless nature. “This is who we are. Just being on the big stage finally shows this is what we do, that this toughness and this chip on our shoulder is what we bring to the table. Coach thrives on it, and shows us we should bring that passion, that determination to the game and to practice every day.”

Holloway’s own mentality and image as a hard-nosed point guard-turned coach continues to be reflected and projected in his young charges, who he makes sure to highlight first and foremost despite his own exploits as the leader of the last local team to reach this stage, his Seton Hall outfit of 1999-2000.

“When you bring a group of guys in who kind of fit you, fit your personality and know what you want, it makes it very easy,” Holloway said of the manner in which he constructed his roster. “I’m the head of the snake, in practice, I’m this and that, but these guys have carried the mission out to a T. I don’t think they’re getting enough credit for what they’re doing, or what they did.”

“As far as my experience, I just try to share a little bit with them, but not too much. I want it to be about them, not about me. I want them to enjoy the ride, understand who we are and where we are, and continue to keep working hard.”

Saint Peter’s was 12-11 one month ago, standing 10-6 in Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference play after an 84-70 defeat at the hands of Siena in Albany. Since then, the Peacocks’ elite defense — something Holloway cited as the essence of his program, especially in a 26-day COVID pause during the holiday season — has allowed a scant 55.7 points per game, forcing opponents to place shot making at a premium while Saint Peter’s own confidence grows larger and stronger with each possession.

“The only difference, I would say, is everybody’s more confident now,” Holloway said. “Before, we had a lot of guys that weren’t sure of their roles on the team, a lot of guys still trying to find themselves. The COVID pause actually helped us. I know it messed a couple of teams up, but it actually helped us. Since the COVID pause, the team’s been a different team. We’re kind of locked in, following the goal, and the goal is to be a defense-first team.”

“I think a lot of teams underestimated them,” said Edey of Purdue’s next test. “They kind of doubted their ability because of the number next to their name, but we’re coming into this game like we’re playing the 2-seed because they beat the 2-seed (Kentucky). We have to have the mentality that they’re a really good team, and we have to respect them.”

Holloway admitted Thursday that he tried to insulate his players after Tuesday’s media blitz in Jersey City, as Saint Peter’s attempts to navigate the media attention and distractions that come with it, such as the future of the Peacocks’ coach. Holloway immediately said he was unaffected by the speculation of his potential hire at Seton Hall as the successor to his former boss, Kevin Willard, and praised his team’s ability to keep external noise to a minimum approaching the biggest game of the season.

“This team, they’ve been good,” Holloway reiterated. “They haven’t worried about too much, but for the most part, these guys have been level-headed and even-keeled. We’ve just got to try to keep that going.”

“This is an amazing opportunity,” Ndefo echoed. “It’s surreal and our feelings are surreal, but staying the course is our main focus. Being the underdogs and being doubted is what we thrive off of, and we’re just trying to keep that mindset and keep doing what we’re doing.”