Sister Jean, 98-year-old subject of a third-edition bobblehead likeness, has become the symbol and soul of the small school’s surprising, exciting run to the NCAA Tournament semifinals.
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Kansas coach Bill Self said he was “happy for these guys because they deserve to experience what the best of college basketball is, and that will be what takes place Saturday and Monday”. “I could see the passion in his eyes”. “Her prayer is a little bit different than everyone else’s prayers”.
But Seltzer also can’t talk about the program that employed him from 2015-17 without wearing a big grin.
The game tips at 6:09 p.m. Saturday at the Alamodome. “You don’t”, the seventh-year Ramblers coach said. She’s been a chaplain for the men’s basketball team since 1994.
“I know they have watch parties for Loyola alums in LA and San Francisco and San Diego, I’m not going to make the drive”, said Mimnaugh. They’ve gone 22 games with the same lineup and love using the likes of big men Cameron Krutwig and Carson Shanks.
Since last June, when assistant coach Drew Valentine was hired by coach Porter Moser, his younger brother Denzel of the Bulls has been a fixture around the program.
Sister Jean Dolores Schmidt spoke at a press conference Friday morning while Loyola students boarded a bus for almost 20-hour drive to San Antonio, Texas.
As the coach of surprising contender Loyola-Chicago put it: “Why not us?” “This is the most fun I’ve had in my life, it is”. “She’d walk to work every day”. “We were barely.500 and she was right there, supporting us, doing whatever it took to lift us up”. “We might not necessarily be the biggest guys, we might not necessarily be the most talented guys”.
In his two seasons, Seltzer either helped recruit or develop nearly every member of the Loyola roster.
Interestingly, Loyola redshirt junior guard Clayton Custer said the same thing about the Ramblers playing in the underdog role. “It was the easiest decision, who was going to be his recruiting host”, Moser said. But it wasn’t because the kid from Kansas wasn’t good enough. Their chemistry on the floor is no myth, Seltzer promises.
“I never even imagined two or three, let alone this large group”, Sister Jean said. “When they say, ‘I came in from NY to do this, ‘ like three or four photographers, and I think to myself, ‘Oh my, don’t let it go to your head.’ I haven’t done that, nor has the team”.
And Loyola, a team branded on disciplined offense and cohesive defense, is no David. And why this particular time? The players even had brightly colored socks on their chairs in their locker rooms and several Loyola players had already pulled on their new gear moments after they arrived. “I think a lot of us don’t think of ourselves as that much of a Cinderella because we have had such a good year this year”. He sees some of himself in them, gym rats who have been overlooked.
“They’re hitting, walking, slapping each other’s head”.
The Ramblers’ chances of accomplishing what they’ve done this year by making the Final Four would have not likely happened if they had one bad conference tournament game and lost early on. The players say she’s stopped for more photos than any of them.
Matthews, a 6-foot-6 junior guard, chose to leave Kentucky, a program once considered One-and-Done U. Now Duke has taken over that distinction.
Sure, sure. This is certainly not the first time a Jesuit school has made a deep run in the tournament. Some get to do it together on a high school team. But Moser didn’t need another scholarship guard at that time and could no better than a preferred walk-on spot for Skaggs.
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WSU also had a run-in with Loyola while Seltzer was still with the Ramblers. No. 11 seed Loyola – simply by the fact that they play in the Missouri Valley Conference – and No. 3 seed Michigan, who many ignored while focusing on Michigan State and Ohio State. Ike Iroegbu was one of five Cougars to score in double digits with 19 points.
