Three key members of the Saint Peter’s Cinderella run in the NCAA tournament are leaving the men’s basketball program.
Junior guards Doug Edert, Daryl Banks III and Matthew Lee all entered the transfer portal Tuesday morning.
The decisions come one week after coach Shaheen Holloway left Saint Peter’s to become the head coach at Seton Hall.
Banks and Lee were starters for the Peacocks this season, Edert came off the bench but was the breakout star of the NCAA tournament.
Banks was the team’s leading scorer this past season, averaging 11.3 points. He scored 27 points, including five 3-pointers, in the upset win over 2-seed Kentucky in the first round.
Lee started 25 games this season, averaging 6.8 points. His best game in the NCAA tournament came against Murray State, when he scored nine points and dished the ball out for four assists.
Edert was the face — and mustache — of the Peacocks’ run to the Elite Eight. He had 20 points in the MAAC tournament championship game against Monmouth, then followed it up with another 20-point performance in the win over Kentucky. He averaged 14.3 points in the first three games of the tournament, hitting double figures in all three games. Edert averaged 9.5 points on the season.
He turned his March stardom into a name, image and likeness deal with Buffalo Wild Wings.
Saint Peter’s was arguably the biggest story of the NCAA tournament, becoming the first 15-seed to reach the Elite Eight. The Peacocks beat Kentucky, Murray State and Purdue along the way before falling to North Carolina one step short of the Final Four.