For most, the month of March houses no excitement. It’s dreary, gross, and the season change is completely bipolar. But for NCAA basketball fans, this month is full of intensity and nerves to have the most accurate bracket. So far, this year’s March Madness Tournament has been nothing short of a major upset. 

From the devastating loss of the number one seed, Baylor, against the number eighteen seed UNC in the second round of the tournament to Michigan State messing up everyone’s bracket—winning against Tennessee, this year’s tournament has been nothing but unpredictable. 

The biggest and most unsettling bracket buster, however, is one no one expected: the Peacocks. The Saint Peter’s Peacocks from Jersey City, New Jersey, are currently dominating the court. Barely beating the number two seed Kentucky in overtime during the first round of March Madness, they were shown to be unstoppable and had something great to prove to the world. 

This astounding win for Saint Peters is legendary, seeing as though they haven’t won an NCAA tournament game until this past Thursday. But, it’s led to further investigations on just how different this school is from the University of Kentucky, and how sometimes, drive plays a bigger role than talent and money.

Kentucky has a campus population of around 32,000 and has won eight NCAA championships. Their men’s basketball head coach John Calipari’s base salary is around 8.5 million dollars, and Kentucky’s basketball revenue between 2019 and 2020 was 29.3 million dollars. Let’s compare that to the minuscule population of St. Peters—standing at about 2,300 students and has no NCAA championship wins let alone a singular game till recently. Their coach, Shaheen Halloway, makes less than 300,000 dollars a year, and their 2019-2020 basketball revenue was a mere 1.6 million dollars.

Just by the statistics, it’s easy to tell which University puts forth a more advanced basketball program. Kentucky’s statistics live up to their coveted spot in the NCAA Southern Conference. This team formerly believed to be unbeatable is also loaded with guards, shooters, and forwards who, straight out of high school, had more talent than anyone else can even imagine. 

Led by players like Oscar Tshiewbe, Jacob Toppin, Daimion Collins, and Savir Wheeler amongst others, the University of Kentucky’s roster is packed with three, four, and five-star commits. Saint Peters, however, has not a single ranked player out of high school, yet continues to play their game, their way, and prove themselves. 

It’s still strange how a team from such little funding, and that is outmatched in player areas, can beat an SEC school in such a big tournament. After dominating again and beating Murray State this past weekend, the Peacocks are set up to play against Purdue on Friday, and who knows, maybe the underdogs will finally take home their first NCAA championship trophy.