The No. 15 seed that stole opening week of March Madness

Every year we prepare for the madness that is the men’s NCAA basketball tournament.

And every year, somehow, we end up completely caught off guard by a remarkable story.

This year, the Saint Peter’s Peacocks have stolen everyone’s hearts, unless you had Kentucky going deep in your bracket.

The Peacocks picked up their first ever win in March Madness with a stunning upset over No. 2 Kentucky as +18.5-point underdogs, cashing on the moneyline as high as +1500 at some sportsbooks.

They followed that up by becoming just the third No. 15 seed to advance to the Sweet 16, in the men’s event, with a 70-60 win over No. 7 Murray State as 8.5-point underdogs.

Now, they will look to keep this Cinderella story going against No. 3 Purdue, with the odds still stacked against them.

Saint Peter’s enters their matchup against Purdue as 12.5-point underdogs, and they are the only team getting double-digit points in of the eight Sweet 16 games, with the next closes being No. 4 Arkansas getting nine against No. 1 Gonzaga.

There’s so much more than meets the eye when it comes to this basketball team, and we’re going to dive into every reason why they stole our hearts in the first week, and just how improbable this run is.

Saint Peter's University is a private Jesuit university in Jersey City, N.J. 

The school was founded in 1872.

The student population was just 2,355 in fall 2020, while the capacity at Yanitelli Recreational Life Center, where the Peacocks play their home games, is just 3,200.

The best part about their home games? They don’t sell out.

According to the box score of their Feb. 2 game against the Siena Saints, the Peacocks picked up a 70-59 win in front of a total of 340 people.

Now, they’re playing in the Sweet 16, one of