John Calipari's history with Saint Peter's coach Shaheen Holloway

Tomorrow won’t be the first time John Calipari and Saint Peter’s coach Shaheen Holloway have crossed paths. While Calipari was at UMass, he recruited Holloway’s teammate Winston Smith at St. Patrick High School in New Jersey. Holloway, considered one of the top point guards in the 1996 recruiting class, ended up staying home to play for Seton Hall, but left a big impression on Calipari.

“What Shaheen was as a player was a competitive will to win, fight — and I’m not saying fistfight, I’m saying fight for balls, 50/50, get his team together, lead,” Calipari said today. “And you know what? I’m watching his team now, and I’m like, whoa! And not only do they play for forty minutes, they never let go of the rope. They’re not going to against us. I don’t care. They will not let go of the rope.”

“He came to the school a few times,” Holloway said of Calipari today. “I know Coach Cal a little bit. He didn’t come to recruit me. He came to recruit Winston. It was a different time.”

How good was Holloway? He beat Kobe Bryant out for Most Valuable Player of the 1996 McDonald’s All-American Game. At Seton Hall (1996-2000), he led the Pirates to the Sweet Sixteen his senior year and hit the game-winning layup in overtime to beat Oregon in the first round. He played overseas for several years before becoming a coach, taking a job under Kevin Willard at Iona and following him to Seton Hall. In 2018, he landed his first head-coaching job at Saint Peter’s, and in his fourth season, has the Peacocks dancing for only the fourth time in school history.

“I’ve watched tape and, again, I’m telling you, that’s a culture,” Calipari said today of Saint Peter’s. “That’s what Shaheen has built. They take unbelievable pride in that and they are physical, they’re long…They run really good stuff, they run good stuff for their team. They’ve got really good players.”

“I’ve watched him coach, and I’m telling you, he’s phenomenal”

Saint Peter’s players took every opportunity to praise their coach today during their time at the podium.

“Coach Holloway was a great player,” guard Doug Edert said. “He brings a lot of the intensity with his coaching, and I think he gets that from when he was a player. He only cares about winning, and that’s what he brings to this program. So we all do the same as well.”

“His passion, his intensity. That’s what he instills in us,” leading scorer Daryl Banks added. “And we bring it every day to practice, the games. That’s overall what we picked up from him.”

Tomorrow will be all about the two teams on the court, but today, Calipari took a moment to reflect on coaching against someone he’s been following since high school.

“And, you know, you look at them, and you’re like — I’m not that old, I’m sayin’ I’m old, I’m not, I’m 54, but you look at them and you say, man, I’m proud that I’ve watched him in his career and what he’s done as a player and then being able to carry it over.

“Because it’s not easy to say I’m a good player so now I’m a good coach. No! And part of it is you have to learn how to be a great teammate yourself to be that coach, servant leader. And I’ve watched him coach, and I’m telling you, he’s phenomenal. Phenomenal.”