So, about St. Peter’s and March Madness in 2023. I was pretty pumped, I gotta say. After what they pulled off in 2022, who wouldn’t be keeping an eye on them? Those Peacocks, man, they were something else. Talk about an underdog story for the ages. Everyone loves those, right? That whole “unexpected victories alongside unlikely triumphs” thing the tournament is famous for? They were the poster child.
My Big Hopes for Twenty Twenty-Three
Anyway, leading up to 2023, I started my usual March Madness prep. You know, casually checking in on teams, thinking about my bracket. And St. Peter’s? Oh yeah, they were on my mind. I wasn’t, like, obsessively tracking every single game they played in their conference, but I was definitely curious. I thought, “Could they do it again? Even a little bit?” That’s the magic of March, you start believing anything can happen.
So my “practice,” if you wanna call it that, involved a lot of daydreaming. I pictured them getting a bid, maybe pulling off one upset. Just one! That would have been enough to get the buzz going again. I even mentioned it to a few buddies, like, “Keep an eye on St. Peter’s, they might surprise people… again.” Felt like I had some insider info after their big run the year before, you know?
Then Came the Actual Tournament… Or Not
Then Selection Sunday hit. I was parked in front of the TV, bracket sheet ready, pen in hand. Waiting. The announcer is going through the regions, team by team. I’m scanning, looking for that name: Saint Peter’s. Kept looking. And looking. And… nothing.
Yeah, they didn’t make it. Turns out, they lost in their conference tournament before they could even get a sniff of the NCAA bid. That was a bit of a letdown, not gonna lie. All that mental prep, the little bits of hope I’d built up? Just kinda fizzled out. My whole “watch the Peacocks” angle for 2023 was dead before it even started. It was a quick end to that particular “practice” session.
It’s funny, really. You see a team catch lightning in a bottle like they did, and a part of you just expects it to happen on repeat. But that’s not how it works, especially with those smaller programs. The pressure, the changed expectations, new players… it’s tough.
So, What Did I Take Away from My St. Peter’s Watch?
So, this whole St. Peter’s 2023 non-story, what did I really do with it? Well, it got me thinking. My bracket, obviously, didn’t have them causing any major upsets this time around, which was probably for the best. But the main thing was realizing how special that 2022 run truly was.
I actually found myself rewatching some highlights from their 2022 games. Just to feel that excitement again. And it hit me: you can’t really plan for that kind of magic. You can’t just expect it to show up every year like clockwork.
It reminded me of this one time I tried to bake my grandma’s famous cookies. I had her recipe, followed every step, or so I thought. And the cookies were… alright. They were decent. But they weren’t grandma’s cookies. They didn’t have that same magic. Trying to recapture the St. Peter’s 2022 feeling in 2023 felt a lot like that. The ingredients were there – new season, March Madness, hope – but the specific amazing taste just wasn’t replicable.
And that’s okay. It actually made me appreciate that original 2022 Cinderella story even more. It stands on its own. My “practice” for 2023 might have been a bust in terms of cheering for St. Peter’s, but it was a good reminder that some things are just uniquely special, one-time deals. And you just gotta enjoy them when they happen.
