Shaheen Holloway, who stepped into the nationwide highlight because the coach of the plucky St. Peter’s Peacocks throughout their deep run via this 12 months’s N.C.A.A. males’s basketball event, left the college on Wednesday to grow to be the pinnacle coach at Seton Corridor.
The transfer had been anticipated ever since Kevin Willard departed Seton Corridor for Maryland two weeks in the past, with Willard overtly expressing hope that Holloway — his former assistant — would return to the college the place he starred twenty years in the past.
Holloway, 45, has been within the nationwide highlight during the last three weeks, starting when the Peacocks, enjoying with a confidence and a fearlessness atypical for a second-place group within the Metro Atlantic Athletic Convention, took down Kentucky within the event’s opening spherical.
It was not lengthy earlier than a group of under-recruited and ignored gamers from a tiny commuter faculty in Jersey Metropolis, N.J., grew to become a event darling by following that upset with others, first of Murray State after which of Purdue, earlier than being trounced, 69-49, within the East Regional ultimate on Sunday by North Carolina. The Peacocks grew to become the primary No. 15 seed to advance that far.
Holloway captured the essence of his underdog squad when he was requested after the Murray State victory the way it had held up in a rough-and-tumble sport. “I’ve bought guys from New Jersey and New York Metropolis,” Holloway mentioned in his Queens accent. “You suppose we’re fearful of something?”
If the remainder of the nation was launched to Holloway this month, he was hardly a secret among the many Northeast school basketball teaching fraternity. After Iona beat St. Peter’s earlier this season to grab management of the convention race, its coach, the Corridor of Famer Rick Pitino, complimented Holloway, calling him a future star.
The Pirates are relying on it.
Seton Corridor was a middling program when Willard arrived in 2010, earlier than he regularly made the Pirates fixtures within the N.C.A.A. event. His finest group could have been in 2019-20, when Seton Corridor shared the Large East regular-season title with Villanova and Creighton and climbed to fifteenth within the ultimate Related Press Prime 25 rankings. However the pandemic minimize the season quick, and Willard leaves having received just one event sport in his 12 seasons.
The Ultimate 4 within the Males’s and Girls’s Tournaments
The nationwide semifinals. March Insanity is narrowing right down to the highest groups, and can culminate with the Ultimate 4 groups dealing with off within the ladies’s and males’s tournaments on April 1 and April 2, respectively. Right here’s a better have a look at the semifinals:
In his ultimate sport, amid hypothesis that he was departing, eighth-seeded Seton Corridor was routed by ninth-seeded Texas Christian within the opening spherical of the N.C.A.A. event, 69-42. Willard additionally pissed off the fan base along with his disinterest in enjoying the Pirates’ in-state rival Rutgers, a collection that resumed through the 2021-22 season, with out his blessing.
Seton Corridor followers, although, shall be getting certainly one of their very own in Holloway.
A former highschool all-American who spurned Duke to remain house — he grew up in Queens earlier than transferring throughout the Hudson to attend the St. Patrick in Elizabeth, N.J. — Holloway had a profitable profession. He was inducted into Seton Corridor’s Corridor of Fame and stays the profession help chief. His final season was his finest, when he delivered a game-winning layup on the buzzer to beat Oregon within the opening spherical of the 2000 N.C.A.A. event.
However his tenure with the Pirates additionally featured a merciless ending — he severely injured his ankle within the following sport.
When the Pirates misplaced the following week to Oklahoma State, 68-66, in a regional semifinal, Holloway was on the bench in road garments. Seton Corridor hasn’t been again since.
