SportsPulse: Can Loyola-Chicago make history by beating a stacked Michigan squad? USA TODAY Sports’ Scott Gleeson says the Ramblers have a very real chance to. USA TODAY Sports
CHICAGO — As Sister Jean Dolores-Schmidt received a police escort following a filmed segment for Good Morning America, a small group of adoring Loyola-Chicago basketball fans followed her like paparazzi to her car.
“Thank you, Sister,” two of the fans yelled.
“No,” Sister Jean, the 98-year-old team chaplain, responded softly. “Thank you.”
Much of the same reciprocal appreciation was on display Sunday between the Loyola-Chicago men’s basketball team and the Ramblers’ rapidly growing fan base, as players and coaches returned home to Chicago — ahead of this week's Final Four — to a welcoming party at Gentile Arena on the city’s North Side.
As a raucous crowd erupted into a boisterous “Final Four” chant, coach Porter Moser addressed fans with gratitude while recapping the team’s four March Madness upset wins — which included three last-second game-winning shots — and earned the Ramblers (32-5) a matchup with Michigan in San Antonio on Saturday.
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“We’re in this together. This is your team,” Moser told the crowd. “I can’t tell you what this means to us, to come in here and see the maroon and gold, to see the city of Chicago lit up. You can see what spirit does to a university. I’ll tell you what, we’re never going back.
“This has been an unbelievable ride for this team and university,” Moser added. “And now, it’s an unbelievable ride for our country.”
Jim Sredzinski, an alumnus and loyal fan, recalls a much different time. In 2013, in Moser’s second year with the program and the university celebrating the 50th anniversary of the 1963 national title Loyola team, Sredzinski said he spotted a frustrated Moser outside the arena.
“He didn’t have a ride. His car was late. This was before (Uber),” Sredzinski said. “So I offered him and his wife a ride. Now, he can’t go anywhere without being recognized.”
Sredzinski raved about Loyola’s 1985 Sweet 16 team, and when the Ramblers beat Larry Bird’s Indiana State team in 1979. “We used to be a respected program,” he said. “Now, this team (2018) has resuscitated that and more.”
“This team, all the players, they’re so likeable,” said Julie Hiskes, who along with her daughter Jamilyn Hiskes, a senior at the university, were first in line camping outside the arena before security let fans in.
“They’re unselfish,” the younger Hiskes added. “They’re about each other, not themselves. And the way they play, what they’ve done, it’s a once in a century team.”
The “once in a century” team has brought out new fans in one of the country’s biggest sports cities, including 49-year-old Sean Corbett and 6-year-old Logan Hill — two Chicagoans who have been enamored by the Ramblers’ success but admittedly didn’t attend any regular-season games.
“This team has electrified the city,” Corbett said. “I guess you could call it Loyola-itus. We’ll definitely be at games next season. This is how you garner a huge following. People fall in love with one team, and that one experience garners a following. Now, we’re Loyola faithful.”
Sredzinski added: “Chicago fans are the best around. The bandwagon is always open.”
In Moser’s speech he echoed the special team sentiments, emphasizing that four different catalysts — Donte Ingram, Clayton Custer, Marques Townes and Ben Richardson — all took turns in the hero spotlight with breakout games in the tournament.
“This group on this stage is what’s right about college basketball,” Moser said.
At the end of the team’s assembly, Richardson, the star of Loyola’s win against Kansas State in the Elite Eight with 23 points, made a bold proclamation.
“We’re not done yet,” he said, holding the South Regional trophy and alluding to another national title banner to join the ’63 banner in Gentile Arena.
And the way Moser and the fans see it, Loyola’s trip to San Antonio is just the beginning.
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