As Saint Peter's readies for Sweet 16, sport psychologist reveals why fans are rooting for Peacocks

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Saint Peter’s will play Purdue in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament on Friday night as the Peacocks hope to write the next chapter of their Cinderella story.

The Peacocks, who came into the tournament as the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference tournament champions and the No. 15 seed in the tournament, upset Kentucky and Murray State on their way to the regional semifinal. The run has galvanized college basketball fans.

According to Twitter data provided to Fox News Digital, tweets using the peacock emoji grew 99% over the previous week and the team’s official hashtag #StrutUp has been tweeted 10.6x more in March than when they were playing in the regular season in February. The data also says the school is the fifth-most mentioned school of the men’s tournament behind Michigan, North Carolina, Tennessee and the school they defeated in the brackets, Kentucky.

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Saint Peter's Peacocks guard Doug Edert (25) reacts after a play against the Kentucky Wildcats at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Mar, 17, 2022 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Robert Goddin-USA TODAY Sports)

Dr. Chelsi Day, a sport psychologist at Ohio State University and a former NCAA Division I diver at Miami University, told Fox News Digital fans can identify with the little guy going up against a powerhouse school, which makes the Peacocks and easy team to root for this far into the tournament.

"Kentucky has been a basketball powerhouse for a long time. That’s the sport I would argue they’re most known for. So you’ve got this team with a storied history being taken down by a team I would argue most of us don’t know where