SPORTS WRAP By William Hathaway, Jr.
The NCAA tournament is underway, and has lived up to the nickname “March Madness.” One of the biggest upsets in the first round came from a New Jersey based Cinderella team, the St. Peter’s University Peacocks out of Jersey City. The #15 seed stunned the basketball world by taking down one of the sport’s blue blood schools in an 85-79 overtime win over #2 Kentucky. After that shocker, the Peacocks then took down the #7 Murray State Shockers 70-60. St. Pete’s will now take on high powered #3 Purdue in the East Regional Semifinals, known as the Sweet Sixteen, in Philadelphia on Thursday.
Every win in the big dance is “the first ever” for the 21-11 Peacocks are coached by none other than St. Patrick’s High and Seton Hall legend Shaheen Holloway, who could wind up as the Pirates new head coach after Kevin Willard took the Maryland job. SHU could use him, as Willard’s last game was a 69-42 loss to TCU in the first round of this year’s tournament.
St. Peter’s is the only local team left alive, not considering Villanova. Connecticut lost to New Mexico State 70-63 in the first round, while Rutgers had already lost 89-87 to Notre Dame in one of the play-in games. #12 Richmond defeated #5 Iowa 67-63, and Coach K’s last season is still alive, as Duke has advanced.
In the women’s tournament, Steph Curry level shooter Caitlin Clark and the #2 Iowa Hawkeyes were stunned by #10 Creighton 64-62. All the #1 ranked squads have advanced – including in the men’s draw.
Finally, in NFL news, the Cleveland Browns stunned everyone by trading three first round picks for controversial quarterback Deshaun Watson, and then giving him a 5-year, $230 million contract – with ALL of the money guaranteed. Watson, who is facing over 20 civil suits for alleged behavior with massage therapists, now has the most guaranteed money in league history.
