What’s Next: What they gonna say now?
via doggyorama.com
After watching Saint Peters amazing March Madness run the world has a lot to say! On Friday the Peacocks became the first 15 seed to make it to the elite 8. Before Saint Peter's historical run the Peacocks went 19-11(14-6 MAAC play). So even with them having a decent record overall, nothing from their season would have foreshadowed the success they have had in March, the highest profile school they had played all season was St. John’s and they lost by 21… So is this truly just a Cinderella story, or can we attribute Saint Peter's rise to something or someone else?
The peacocks are headed by Shaheen Holloway who has made a name for himself as a coach during March. “As a coach” is mentioned due to him being a former hooper who was the McDonald’s All American MVP in 1996, in a game that included Kobe Bryant. Holloway was a hard-nose guard who loved the ball in his hand to create, but could also be a reliable off the ball threat. He averaged 13.7 points and 5.9 assists per game during his 4 years at Seton Hall. One would think with Holloway having a solid basketball career that he would try to shape his guards exactly how he used to play. However, a good coach has to know that he has to let his players be themselves no matter how much of an influence they might have on them. In a post game press conference Holloway says “I never make it about me…these guys might come in and say oh you did this oh you did that and I kind of downplay it…if you give me hard work on defense I’ll let u play on offense”. So even with coach Holloway’s status as a player being known his squad doesn’t have to prove anything to him, they just have to give him 100 percent, and in return they can play on offense freely. This is why guards like Daryl Banks lll, Matthew Lee, or even Doug Edert who has blown up all over social media, for his play and his trademark moustache have been so successful. They all are just able to work with such a fluidity on offense, that the teams they’ve faced haven’t been able to match. My dad said their guards style of play reminded him of “Kemba Walker in 2011” and we all know how his run ended.
Saint Peters steps on the court every game knowing all they have to do is stay true to themselves and the chips will fall their way more times than not. I feel like this is different for high major teams who kind’ve rely on their star players to win. In their win versus Purdue they slowed down Jaden Ivey, which forced them to feed their bigs who weren’t able to generate enough points for them to get the victory. Saint Peters doesn’t have this problem being that there isn’t one person you can key in on that will disrupt their gameplan. They all move as one, what one player lacks the other one makes up for. Their lack of egos is huge, you can really see the comradery when they play.
With that being said, can the peacocks keep their run going against a more than capable UNC team? With Armando Bacot not being a huge post threat, I feel the game plan should be to force the ball out of Caleb Love’s hand as much as possible and make them score in the paint. Saint Peter's backcourt has matched up evenly with everyone they faced so I’m sure it will be a back and forth game with crafty plays being made. With Saint Peters mentality and momentum I do think they can pull out the win and continue dancing.
