Winning a big game in the NCAA Tournament is more than just excitement for the players and their fans. It can also mean exposure for the program that can help transform a school forever.
Saint Peter's men's basketball team, a No. 15 seed, defeated No. 2 Kentucky in the first round of the men's NCAA Tournament. The upset left many people on the Saint Peter's bandwagon. The New Jersey-based school got even more exposure when they defeated Murray State to advance to the Sweet 16.
One person who is giving more notice to Saint Peter's is legendary Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski. Coach K is familiar with winning when it counts most, and said it's likely that Saint Peter's will turn their two tournament wins into "tens of millions" of dollars -- possibly"a hundred million" dollars.
Here's more of what Krzyzewski said on his SiriusXM show, "Basketball and Beyond with Coach K," via NJ.com:
"I just wanna mention about St. Peter's, what Shaheen Holloway has done, and his team, is worth tens of millions, maybe a hundred million dollars over the course of time for Saint Peter's … It will transform an already outstanding university. It will give it more resources, more attention, more visibility. People do not understand completely what sport does for a school. It not only provides the spirit within the school, togetherness, but if you do really well it translates into visibility for everything in that university, and money."
Coach K went on to give an example of something similar happening to Butler in 2010. Duke won the national championship that season, beating Butler in the final, but Krzyzewski said it wasn't a total loss for Bulldogs.
"I remember when we played Butler in 2010, Brad Stevens is a good friend, I said, 'Your life has changed, but your university's life has changed also with what you've done,'" Coach K explained.
The Saint Peter's Peacocks will look to keep their miraculous tournament run going when they face No. 3 Purdue on Friday.