Credit: (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)

Before this month, the public perception of the Saint Peter’s men’s basketball program paled in comparison to fellow New Jersey teams like those from Rutgers and Seton Hall. But that has done nothing to hold them back as they have risen in the ranks of this year’s NCAA Tournament.

Seton Hall lost in the first round of the tournament to Texas Christian University, while Rutgers failed to even make it into the official bracket after losing to Notre Dame. Now, after one of the greatest upsets in college basketball history, the Peacocks are the only New Jersey team with a chance at this year’s NCAA trophy.

And Saint Peter’s run this year is even harder to believe when comparing the numbers. Rutgers has been a member of the Big 10 Conference since 2014 and has one of the largest athletics budgets in the country, topping over $118 million. In 2021, Saint Peter’s spent about $6 million on its entire athletics department.

Jaw-dropping disparities

Seton Hall’s basketball revenue was over $7.5 million in 2019-2020, while Saint Peter’s, the smaller Jesuit university, collected $1.6 million. Saint Peter’s men’s basketball coach Shaheen Holloway, a Sweet 16 veteran as a player with Seton Hall, had a salary of $266,344 in 2019. Rutger’s men’s basketball coach Steve Pikiell just signed a $16 million contract extension that is set to last through the 2029-2030 season, not including benefits and bonuses.

The financial disparities between these universities are jaw-dropping, but Saint Peter’s has proven that it can compete against some of the most famous collegiate basketball programs in the nation.

The Peacocks are scheduled to play Purdue in the NCAA Tournament’s Sweet 16 on Friday at 7 p.m. in Philadelphia. If they can pull off another upset, they will be the first No. 15 seed to make it to the Elite Eight in the tournament’s history.

— Graphics and analysis by Colleen O’Dea.