The Jesuit Cinderella story that baffles basketball fans

By Jackson Feiner | Staff Writer

If you’ve been online or turned on the news in the last couple of weeks, chances are you have probably heard of the St. Peter’s Peacock’s historic Cinderella story in the NCAA March Madness Tournament.

St. Peter’s University is a small school in Jersey City, New Jersey, with an enrollment of about 2,200 students. The University of Scranton and St. Peter’s have something in common, they are both Jesuit universities.

In fact, there were five Jesuit universities participating in this year’s tournament. Loyola University Chicago, Gonzaga University, Marquette University, the University of San Francisco and of course St. Peter’s University.

Only one Jesuit school made it to the elite eight, St. Peter’s. Gonzaga entered the tournament as the highest ranked team in the tournament while St. Peter’s was a fifteen seed, which is the second lowest seed a team can be in the tournament.

St. Peter’s captured the attention of college basketball fans when they defeated the Kentucky Wildcats, who were predicted to go far in the tournament. With the world’s brackets now busted, everyone wanted to see the Peacocks fly.

They continued their Cinderella story with wins over Murray State and Purdue. After their win over the Purdue Boilermakers, the Peacocks became the first ever fifteen seeded team to reach the elite eight.

One of their star players, Doug Edert, became an internet sensation, popping up on everyone’s social media feeds.

St. Peter’s only needed one more win to make it into the final four but came up short against the North Carolina Tarheels.

The Peacocks shocked the college basketball community and accomplished the impossible. They not only had the entire Jesuit community rooting for them, but most of the country too.

Congratulations to St Peter’s on their historic run, go Peacocks.