52°
Those are not our words — it's how the team described itself in a Tweet, thanking the nation for its support after its Elite Eight run.
The Peacocks' jest and heightened self-awareness might be what make them so loveable: They don't take themselves too seriously, but man, do they work hard.
They made history as the first-ever No. 15 seed to reach the Elite Eight, following their victory over No. 3 seed Purdue on Friday.
The consecutive and unexpected wins shocked fans and shot players to fame, many scoring the highly-coveted blue checkmark and thousands of followers on Instagram.
Their time came to a heartbreaking end on Sunday, in a fall to UNC 49-69. But it seems no one will ever stop telling their Cinderella story, even with the Final Four under way without them.
Sports Illustrated wrote a tribute to the Peacocks titled simply, "An Ode To Saint Peter's."
“Nobody will remember the way the Peacocks went out, only that they got here without a fluke,” Jeremy Woo writes.
“Say whatever you want about the school’s budget, the circumstances, the randomness, but [Daryl] Banks, KC Ndefo, Doug Edert and his mustache, and that entire group deserved these moments, proving it with their fearless play.”
Point guard Daryl Banks III hails from Hillside and stands 6 feet 3 inches tall. While he wasn't at all a top prospect in high school, he grew under Coach Shaheen Holloway to become a top scorer for the Peacocks.
Then there's 6' 7" forward KC Ndefo, who earned the All-MAAC Defensive Player of the Year Award in all three seasons of college basketball. His coach has been quoted saying he simply wanted the March Madness wins most.
Doug Edert, of Nutley, has become one of the most celebrated Peacocks players. Nicknamed Dirty Doug and Dougie Buckets, the Bergen Catholic alum stands at 6' 2", and might be best known for his mustache — which he later speculated was "giving him powers." Oh yeah, he's got 140K followers on Instagram, and 25.7K followers on Twitter. He even landed a paid partnership with Buffalo Wild Wings.
Junior guard Matthew Lee made headlines when he kipped up from the floor after a fall, but his dad, Butch Lee, got even more social media attention for the tears he shed watching his son play in the Elite Eight.
A parade honoring the Peacocks is in the works in Jersey City, apparently, so we can get one last look at that dude with the mustache and the gritty group of underdogs.
"Thank you for making these past 10 days as special as they were," the team said on Twitter.
Click here to follow Daily Voice Fair Lawn-Glen Rock and receive free news updates.
