The facilities were “awful,” Tidiane Drame recalled with a laugh. 

A glorified high school gym. Locker rooms and weight rooms that were badly in need of improvements. Saint Peter’s couldn’t compare to other mid-major schools recruiting Drame’s nephews, Hassan and Fousseyni. 

But Shaheen Holloway didn’t hide what he was working with at the time. He admitted the obvious, that the aesthetics of the program were in need of a significant overhaul. He was straight with the Drames as he was with other recruits: Come here, you will play, and I’ll make you better. He focused on himself, as a former star at Seton Hall who was known for player development as an assistant coach at Iona and his alma mater. 

“You got to sell what you know, and that’s me,” Holloway said this week as Cinderella Saint Peter’s prepared for the Sweet 16 on Friday in Philadelphia against No. 3 Purdue. “I was selling myself. Who I am and what I’m about and what I think I can do for them.” 

For the last week, the Peacocks have been the story of college basketball, the third 15th seed in NCAA Tournament history to reach the second week after upsets of No. 2 Kentucky and No. 7 Murray State. 

This story began to slowly develop in earnest four years ago, when Holloway and his coaching staff set out to formulate this roster that has taken the sport by storm. It started with the late spring signing of KC Ndefo, a raw forward from Elmont, NY, with no other Division I scholarship offers who had only played a portion of his senior season at Lincoln High School in Brooklyn after being ruled ineligible. 

The following year, Holloway landed a six-man class of unheralded and mostly unrecruited prospects. There was shooting guard Doug Edert, an in-state recruit from Nutley, whose other options were New Hampshire and Vermont. Point guard Matthew Lee, a Puerto Rican native with ties to Paterson, N.J., started his college career as a walk-on, preferring that to going the Division II route. Current leading scorer Daryl Banks III attended Holloway’s old high school, The Patrick School (N.J.), and chose Saint Peter’s over Wagner. Aaron Estrada, another New Jersey native who transferred after one strong season in Jersey City, had East Carolina, Robert Morris and Wagner as his other suitors. 

The toughest gets were the Drame twins. The 6-foot-7 brothers from Mali who attended Our Savior New American on Long Island, had looks from bigger schools with far better facilities. Saint Peter’s went after them hard though. Former assistant coach Matt Eisele was recruiting them at Rutgers before joining Holloway at Saint Peter’s, and he led the initial charge. 

The MAAC school’s limited facilities didn’t bother them. It reminded them of where they came from, Hassan said, and they were drawn to the idea of lifting a program up. Even when some high-major schools such as Kansas State and Oregon State came into the picture after the Drame’s led Mali to the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup 2019 Championship game, wanting both of them, they remained committed to Saint Peter’s. 

“They went there because of the coach,” Tidiane Drame said. “Shaheen is a no-nonsense guy. He’ll tell you what is true.” 

Added John Mattera, Edert’s adviser: “Sha’ is really good in the living room. He makes you believe.” 

Holloway and Co. found several diamonds in the rough, players schools at their level didn’t think were good enough. As Holloway did with Saint Peter’s in focusing on the positive, that’s how he viewed these players. He saw what they could do, not what they couldn’t. He loved the edge Edert played with. He was drawn to the Drame twins’ versatility and motor. Ndefo’s defensive skills jumped out at him, as did Lee’s determination and Banks’ team-first attitude. 

Most of all, they all had one thing in common: They weren’t finished products and took coaching well. They could be molded and were hungry to prove themselves. 

“You get to get guys that fit what you’re trying to do, and fit your personality,” Holloway said. “It’s not always the best guy. It’s the right guy.” 

This team’s success is about more than just the last week. This group has led Saint Peter’s to three consecutive winning seasons for the first time since 2004-06. Aside from Estrada, Holloway has been able to keep the group together because he has been true to his word. Everyone plays. The facilities have gotten better, most notably the renovation of the gym, and improvements that have been made to the locker room and weight room. Most importantly, as Holloway promised years ago, they have developed into better players. 

“We played Saint Peter’s when all these kids were freshmen and they were awful. By the end of the year they were leading the MAAC,” said a Division I assistant coach who faced Saint Peter’s three years ago, and again this past season. “He’s done an unbelievable job of making those kids better and making that team better. They don’t have any [high-major] mistakes, guys who should be playing at a higher level.” 

Individually, Saint Peter’s core may not be of high-major ilk. But together, playing under Shaheen Holloway at the tiny Jersey City school, they have advanced to a stage in March that plenty of bigger schools with significantly higher budgets and much better facilities are striving to reach.