In the summer of 2009, two Iona assistant coaches walked out of an event together. Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski draped his arm around one of the men and told him about his niche in Duke lore.
He had visited Duke twice as a recruit. In 1996, when he walked into the stadium as a senior, a scene he described as being like a movie, unfolded as eight students painted the letters of his last name on their chests.
Kobe Bryant, Richard Hamilton and Mike Bibby were the other players in the 1996 McDonald's All-American game. Duke, Kansas and Syracuse were all turned down by him to attend Seton Hall.
The friendly parking lot headlock was caused by Krzyzewski not committing to me after taking two visits.
As Krzyzewski walked away, the defiantly understated Holloway shrugged his shoulders and said that he just couldn't leave his barber in Jersey.
Coach K forged a path through staying home and staying loyal that has now been joined by Shaheen Holloway. One of the most amazing stories in the history of the NCAA tournament has been the success of Saint Peter's.
The 15th-seeded Peacocks beat Kentucky and Murray State in the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament. The commuter school in Jersey City, New Jersey, has been thrust into the role of America's darlings.
In a phone interview this week, Holloway said that he didn't want to wake up. I want to keep dreaming. It is an unbelievable dream. Let's keep going.
Pick the winner of the games in the NCAA tournament from the Sweet 16 to the championship. The tournament challenge had a second chance.
He said that he wanted to go to a place that he could change around.
He turned St. Patrick's High School into a power with his play and now has Saint Peter's in the running for the national championship, despite the historical and economic realities of the school.
Those who have watched him rise from a point guard to a college star are not surprised by his success. The theme of extreme loyalty has been a theme in the rise of Holloway.
"That is me as a person, that is who I am," he said. The loyalty is given back when someone is loyal to me. I am the type of person who would like to go for challenges.
In the spring of 2000, the senior year at Seton Hall unfolded in storybook fashion. He led the Pirates to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1994 and hit a game-winning coast-to-coast layup against Oregon in the first round.
A freak injury ended his college career and changed the trajectory of his professional life after four years of adversity. He remembers vividly the play when Samuel Dalembert blocked a shot, he sped out on a 3-on-2 break and he Eurostepped into a layup attempt.
Chris Collins, who was an assistant at Seton Hall, said that he could almost hear it from the sideline. You knew he was tough because he was so tough.
The game was won on an overtime 3-pointer by Ty Shine. He didn't play again at Seton Hall, sitting out a Sweet 16 loss against Oklahoma State that saw Doug Gottlieb dish out 12 assists and teammate Darius Lane shoot 2-for-18 from 3-point range.
Collins said it was heartbreaking. He was the leader of the team. To not be able to play. I know how much that hurt him.
The game is drawing attention because it is the last time a team from New Jersey or the New York City area made it to the round of 16 of the NCAA tournament. There is a chance that the ending will be right.
The ankle injury derailed his NBA career, which led to his entry into coaching. He said that he ripped 10 different ligaments in his ankle. He was unable to work out for NBA teams and was only able to play in the pre-draft camp. He was never going to be a lottery pick, but he also never got a chance to show he belonged.
Collins doesn't know if it ever fully healed. He was fast and powerful. He took a half-step off his game. He really needed that to be pro.
After trying out for the Knicks, he was cut and bounced around Europe for a while before eventually moving back to spend more time with his daughter, Shatanik. She was born when she was in high school.
After his playing days were over, he was able to show that he had been preparing for his next phase for years.
There was a scene in Syracuse when the team was preparing to play Oklahoma State, and that is what people remember about the run to the Sweet 16. At one point, he was getting tutored in English literature while sitting in the whirlpool as he tried to get his ankle ready for the exam.
Robin Cunningham, the team's tutor who worked at Seton Hall for 37 years, forged a strong bond with Holloway. Cunningham asked him to take 20 minutes to write an essay, and he spent two minutes on it. He spent three hours on an assignment that should have taken two.
The scene cuts to the essence of the man. He didn't complain about an injury that robbed him of his final career game and hindered his NBA chances, instead he focused on becoming the first person in his family to graduate college. This return trip to the Sweet 16 was set up more than two decades ago.
"That is just who I am, and I don't let things bring me down," he said.
In a shocking 85-79 win over Kentucky, Saint Peter's got the lead late in overtime on a layup by Drame.
New-age and old-school virals were created from the news conference. When he was asked about Murray State pushing around Saint Peter's, he smiled.
I have guys from New Jersey and New York City.
After a column by Steve Politi of NJ.com suggested the words should be written in a New Jersey way, the quote was posted on a billboard on the New Jersey toll road.
You can watch every Men's NCAA Tournament game live. March Madness is live.
When he moved to New Jersey at the age of 14 to attend St. Patrick High School, he referred to it as his adopted home. The rise of the first New Jersey program he helped transform happened when he moved in with a host family.
It was a move I knew I had to make. It turned out to be the best move I have ever made.
St. Patrick had a small basketball history. His magnetic play, charisma and reputation is seen as a turning point for then-coach Kevin Boyle's program becoming a national power and eventually recruiting top talent, including Al Harrington, Kyrie Irving and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist.
Chris Chavannes, the current coach and president of The Patrick School, said that he was ahead of his time.
As a player, he was so feared that the coach of St. Anthony's started a game against St. Patrick's in a 1-3-1 zone. It is the only time he can remember doing that to stop an opponent.
He said that the 1-3-1 is the zone that you play when you don't think you can control penetration and his ability to create shots.
St. Anthony's came back and won after dropping the strategy. He impressed the administration there by remaining grounded while his reputation grew. To this day, he doesn't bring up his playing accomplishments to his players.
He was an impact at St. Pat's and everyone loved him.
While at Iona and Seton Hall, he could have moved to bigger high schools and taken higher-profile assistant coaching jobs.
It is in his blood to be here, and that is something that Hurley appreciates.
Tommy Amaker is the coach at Harvard and he calls the relationship between the two schools a true love affair.
During a time when the program had dipped from its peak under P.J. Carlesimo, Holloway committed to Seton Hall over a host of blue bloods. George Blaney, the coach who recruited him after his freshman year, was fired by the school.
Before everything coalesced, the numbers dropped under Amaker. He finished his career having evolved into a quarterback, as Amaker describes.
He captained that Sweet 16 run and put up 1,588 career points, but still holds the school's all-time assists record. The love affair blossomed as he earned his degree in communications and moved to North Jersey.
Collins said that he was on the Mount Rushmore of that school. He meant what he said. He believed in the program. He brought the program back to national relevance.
As much as he poured into the school, the school poured back into him. One of their sons is named after the man who met his wife in Xavier Hall.
Miami has the best chance to continue its Cinderella story.
Cunningham pushed him to believe he could do things he couldn't do academically.
He watched his daughter graduate from the school and it was one of the biggest accomplishments of his life. I am not an emotional person. It brought tears to my eyes.
The full-circle moment showed how much the faith in the school has been rewarded.
The former dean of the Seton Hall law school who is now the Rutgers athletic director said that he demonstrates the promise of what the school has to offer. You go and do the work.
In this world of NIL and free agency in college sports, he is an example of someone who picked a college and people helped them grow and mature. It set him on the path that he is currently on.
It is hard to overstate how unlikely this March run is for Saint Peter's. The MAAC schools set in a hardscrabble Jersey City neighborhood have long regarded the university as the least invested and resourced.
A former staffer at Saint Peter's posted a thread on social media this week detailing a Spartan environment that included leaking roofs, flooded offices, and a computer that wheezed through film sessions.
At least four assistant coaches and multiple players on Kentucky were reported to make more this season than the last listed salary of nearly $266,000 for Holloway.
The Peacocks won by taking on the personality of Holloway. KC Ndefo is a defensive anchor who is undersized at just 6 feet. Reserve guard Doug Edert and guard Daryl Banks III both scored 27 points against Kentucky.
In his fourth season, it was shown that he could bloom exactly where he left off. He has a team that doesn't flinch and doesn't make excuses.
The ball is thrown into the air by Banks III before he goes out of bounds and almost sinks a bucket for Saint Peter's.
I think this weekend was a culmination of the last 25 years of his life, said McHale, who became close to Holloway while at Iona.
The Boilermakers have the second-best offense in the country, according to KenPom, and Saint Peter's has the country's No. 5 effective field goal percentage defense. There are two big guys in the post, with 7-foot-4 Zach Edey and 6-foot-10 Trevion Williams. Saint Peter's has the potential to get Purdue to pucker.
This run is destined to be sad. There was a question about the Seton Hall job opening in the news conference on Thursday, but it was brushed aside.
When it ends, the reality is that he will become the next coach at Seton Hall. Kevin Willard, who was his boss at that time, accepted the Maryland job and was scheming to get the Seton Hall job before he left. As a player on the Mount, with a daughter who is a graduate and a son named after a campus dorm, it would be hard for a generation of former players and fans to forgive him if he is not the coach after this electric run.
Greg Herenda, who was an assistant at Seton Hall and is now the head coach at Fairleigh Dickinson, said that he thinks he took a chance on the school when not a lot of people were doing it. I think it will hit him hard if it were to happen.
Cunningham said that the expected next move would show that he had a plan in mind when he turned down Coach K.
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