Daryl Banks III (right) of St. Peters Peacock defends the ball from Eric Hunter of the Purdue Boilermakers in the second half of the game in the Sweet Sixteen Round of the 2022 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Wells Fargo Center on March 25.
St. Peter's University, a small Jesuit school just outside New York City in New Jersey, stunned the sports world on Friday with a 67-64 victory over Purdue University.
St. Peters is only the third 15 seed in men's tournament history to advance to the Sweet Sixteen and the first to advance to the Elite Eight.
Purdue was the No. 3 seed in the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament this year.
The leading scorer for St Peters was Daryl Banks III with 14 points.
The Peacocks are a number 15 seed team, meaning they were in the second lowest ranked group to enter the tournament.
He gained national attention by defeating second-seeded Kentucky in his first game, known as the Sweet 16, before proceeding to the third round of the tournament, before going on to defeat seventh-seeded Murray State.
Almost no one predicted that they would overtake that first game. For example, according to SB Nation, 95.6% of all ESPN brackets were advancing to the Kentucky first round.
Who are the peacocks?
With an undergraduate student enrollment of just over 2,100 students, St. Peter's is not a large school. To put this in perspective, their rival Purdue has just over 10,000 students in its freshman class.
If you're not from the Jersey City area, you may not have heard of St. Peter's before this year's tournament. But he has now garnered national attention, with celebrities such as former New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning recently tweeting in support of him.
What? I have been cheering for Saint Peter’s for years. They are my local New Jersey basketball team. Go Peacocks!! pic.twitter.com/lHrGPgW9NL
— Eli Manning (@EliManning) March 24, 2022
Peacock players have also been able to capitalize on their new-found fame by signing a name image and likeness (NIL) deal with guard Doug Edart, most recently with Buffalo Wild Wings as well as a line of clothing with Barstools.
OT +🍗 + 👨🏻 = 🚀 https://t.co/ZFIBMKBZPO
— Buffalo Wild Wings (@BWWings) March 23, 2022
This is the first year NCAA players have been able to sign endorsement deals during tournaments due to a Supreme Court ruling last summer allowing athletes to pay for the use of their names, images and likenesses.
And there's a lot of money when it comes to March Madness. Last year's tournament alone brought in $850 million in television rights.
It is not just players who can benefit financially because of their newfound national fame. Short sporting events that score runs in tournaments can be adapted. Legendary Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski suggested on SiriusXM that it is likely St Peters will turn their tournament winnings into "tens of millions" of dollars.