Dick Weiss on NCAA Tournament
BOSTON—Loyola of Chicago wasn’t supposed to make it to the promised land when the NCAA tournament began.
Top-ranked Virginia and perennial heavyweights Arizona and Kentucky dominated the media attention in this South Region during Selection Sunday. But, one by one, they all disappeared.
And the Ramblers were the last team left standing.
The 11th seeded Missouri Valley Conference champions proved that fairy tales can come true when they defeated ninth-seed Kansas State, 78-62, last night in Atlanta to become the lowest seeded to advance to the Final Four since 11th seeded Virginia Commonwealth in 2011. The Ramblers will play West third-seed Michigan in Saturday’s semi-finals.
To para phase a line from the movie “Hoosiers,” this one was for all the mid-majors who never had a chance to be there.
The private Jesuit college from the north side of Chicago, which defeated Miami, Tennessee and Nevada by a total of four points in the first three rounds of the bracket busting South Region, put on a clinic at both ends of the floor at Phillips Arena. The Ramblers shot 57 percent and carved up one of the best defenses in the tournament at one end while limiting the Big 12 Wildcats to just 35 percent shooting and 6-for-26 from the three at the other.
Senior guard Ben Richardson, the only Loyola starter who doesn’t average double figures, scored a career high 23 points and drained six threes for the Ramblers (32-5) who proved mid-majors are still capable of inspired performances. “Like coach said, it’s not the size of the dog in the fight,’’ he said. “It’s the size of the fight in the dog.’’ Richardson was the fourth different hero for the Ramblers during this Cinderella run. Forward Donte Ingram and point guard Clayton Custer both hit game winners in the final seconds against Miami and Tennessee and forward Marques Townes made a huge three in the last 6.3 of a one point victory over Nevada.
“We believed that we could do something like this—do something really special—because we knew had had such good chemistry and we’ve got a good group,’’ said Richardson, who was selected MVP of the region. “Everyone would say we were crazy. If we said this was going to happen, people would call us crazy, but you just got to believe.’’
Loyola’s 98-year old team chaplain Sister Jean Dolores had enough faith for all of this team. She led a team prayer in the locker room before the game, then was pushed onto the court in her wheel chair to join the celebration as the team cut down the nets. She left wearing a Final Four cap and clinging to a piece of the string.
“I’m going to San Antonio,’’ she said. “That’s going to be great.’’
Yes, it is because it was so unexpected.
The last time Loyola was in breathing rare air was back in 1963 when the Ramblers upset Cincinnati to win the national championship. Several players from that enchanted team were on hand to celebrate. Les Hunter, the starting center, was already predicting another miracle.
“I think they’re the best right now,’’ he said. “They work so well together. They can play with anybody—anybody—right now.’’
This Loyola team, which had not made the tournament since 1985, came out of nowhere to win the region. Ramblers’ coach Porter Moser, who got his doctorate in coaching when he was an assistant to the late Rick Majeras at St. Louis, made sure to thank one of the great, fundamentally sound coaches in the history of the game.
“I wish Rick was here to see this,’’ Moser said in a quiet moment outside the interview room.
Moser, who is a rising star in this profession, has found a home here with an unselfish, veteran team that starts two seniors and two fourth-year juniors.
“It’s been quite a metamorphosis because Loyola Phoenix was the only one in the press conference for about 20 games,’’ he said. “This is — we did. All summer long, we were like, why not us? The opportunity and how much they invested in it. This is not something where it just started. These guys have been investing for a long time on how hard they worked, how hard they believed, and we’ve kind of had this mantra about the process.
“People asked me out there, did you ever think you were going to the Final Four? And to be honest with you, after Selection Sunday, we didn’t say, hey, let’s go to the Final Four. We said, what do we got to do to beat Miami, and then it was the next game, and then it was the next game. These guys have done an amazing job on laser-like focus on what’s right in front of them instead of skipping steps. Why not us? You need to have high-character guys that believe to truly do that.”
Loyola refused to be intimidated by the moment. They raced to a 36-24 halftime lead, then increased the margin to 23 at one point in the second half. “They jumped out to that big lead and it was tough for us to come back,’’ said Xavier Sneed, who led K-State with 16 points. ‘They kept their foot on the gas.’’
Loyola might not have been the most imposing team in the NCAA tournament but they wound up hoisting the region championship trophy. “We’re just a bunch of guys that everybody laughed at. . . when we thought we were going to play Division I basketball,’’ Custer said. “Nobody thought we could do any of this.’’
