Loyola will forever be national champions in our hearts
By Josh Hill
Sister Jean took the wheel, but the Loyola players will leave the true lasting legacy.
For the duration of March, the country has been obsessed with a 98-year old basketball obsessed nun. Sister Jean will undoubtedly go down as one of the most memorable mascots in March Madness history, but it’s the players who she blessed before every game that are the real legacy the Loyola Ramblers etched into college basketball.
Only three other 11-seeds had marched to the Final Four before Loyola did it this year. They failed to become the first to make it to out alive, losing to Michigan in a game that simply got away from them. It was, if nothing else, the proverbial tank running out of gas just before the beat up Ford Pinto could cross the finish line.
The Ramblers held their own the best they could but were eventually rattled by Michigan’s prowess. Adorable nuns and national admiration only get you so far; at some point basketball matters.
Losing to Michigan stings, but it doesn’t taint the legacy of Porter Moser’s team. It doesn’t make the coming together of guys like Clayton Custer or Donte Ingram any less special. The Ramblers won’t win the national championship this year, but they’ll always be champions in our hearts.
That sounds super cheesy, and it absolutely is. But it’s also true: in 15-years when we look back on this tournament we will remember the Ramblers.
Porter Moser managed to do something that both the University of Illinois and DePaul failed to do — mine Chicago for basketball gold. Six players who were on Loyola’s Final Four roster hailed from Illinois, with Donte Ingram and Lucas Williamson touting homegrown Chicago status. Eight players were upperclassmen, which is virtually unheard of from a team still standing this late in the tournament.
Everything about this run for Loyola was earned, from surprising everyone by dominating the Missouri Valley, to surprising everyone by getting to the Final Four. Against all odds, this was a team that belonged.
Loyola was a kite dancing in a hurricane. The fact that it not only persisted but carved out an actual place for itself amid the madness is the lasting legacy no loss will ever be able to take away.