The Saint Peter’s Peacocks were the talk of the 2022 NCAA Tournament after their miraculous run to the Elite Eight. Their national championship dreams were cut short in a loss to North Carolina but it was a special experience nonetheless.
However, there is a reason that we often don’t see Cinderella teams repeat the following season, and that usually stems from coaches leaving and valuable players transferring from the program and going to a high-major school.
We saw this from Saint Peter’s head coach Shaheen Holloway, who parlayed his success this postseason into a head coaching job with the Seton Hall Pirates, his alma mater.
The Peacocks will also likely be without three key players in the 2022-23 college basketball season, as a number of notable names have decided to enter the transfer portal, including star guard Doug Edert.
Edert was very appreciative of all of the support he and his team have received throughout their NCAA Tournament run in a statement to On3.com.
“I want to start by thanking my family, friends, coaches, teammates, and Peacock Nation for an amazing three years at Saint Peter’s University,” Edert said. “I have nothing but love for everyone who has been by my side throughout my journey.”
“With that being said, I have entered the transfer portal. I’m excited for what is to come and looking forward to exploring other opportunities for my basketball career.”
Edert will be joined in the transfer portal by teammates Daryl Banks and Matthew Lee, according to On3’s Matt Zenitz.
This is a huge blow for the Peacocks, who will likely be losing three of their top five scorers with these announcements.
Without these three players, it is highly unlikely that we will see this program make this type of run in the near future again, but fans will always be able to look back at how special this 2021-22 team was this past season.
[On3.com]
