BEHIND THE 8-BALL
Loyola’s Elite tourney run has been inspiring
ATLANTA — This is when the slipper is supposed to tighten, when the pixie dust turns to ash. There have been plenty of improbable March journeys that made it unscathed through the first weekend. It’s when the bandwagon bounces into Week 2 that the engine starts to seize and the carburetor starts to whine.
That’s the way it happens with a lot of Cinderellas, anyway.
Of course, those Cinderellas didn’t have Sister Jean sitting courtside.
“Here we come, Next Team, whoever you are!” crowed America’s favorite nun, Sister Jean Dolores Schmidt, Loyola’s chaplain, in the moments after her beloved Ramblers of Loyola Chicago claimed another challenger on their merry path through this NCAA Tournament.
Here they come, these Ramblers, hanging on for dear life but still very much alive. This time it was Nevada that came after them hard, seizing a 12-point lead early then erasing a 12-point lead late, and hanging around just long enough to become victim No. 3 on this secular mission.
This time the final was 69-68, which makes the tally so far: Three games. Three wins. By a total of four points. And now, a team that hadn’t even qualified for an NCAA Tournament since 1985 sits 40 skinny minutes — against fellow upstart Kansas State, a No. 9 seed, no less and not mighty Kentucky after K-State pulled the 61-58 surprise — from a most improbable trip to the Final Four. And it would be a return trip — the 1963 team, many of whose members were stomping their feet in the first row at Philips Arena, won the national championship once upon a time.
“I just can’t even begin to talk about how proud I am of these guys,” said Loyola coach Porter Moser, the man who has engineered this magical mystery tour of a season. “They don’t quit. They’re resilient. It’s different guys, different nights.”
On this night, it looked like they were going to get run out of the gym and out into nearby Centennial Park by a fellow flag-bearer of the mid-majors. Nevada was one of only three non-Power-6 schools to earn an at-large bid to the tourna- ment and had already made the most of it, including a 22-point comeback win against powerful Cincinnati that had punched the Wolf Pack’s ticket to Georgia.
And when the Pack raced to a 20-8 lead early, they did so with a shocking amount of ease. They looked like the better team. It was only around 7:35 or so when the lead hit 12, but it felt like the clock had struck that number as well for the Ramblers.
Of course, we should know better by now.
“They caught fire,” Nevada coach Eric Musselman said, “and when they do that, it’s awfully hard to get things going in the other direction.”
By halftime, the run was 20-4, and the Ramblers had seized a 28-24 lead. Before the second half was even four minutes old, the run was 32-8, the Loyola lead was 40-28, and the Ramblers were in the midst of going 13-for-13 from the field to start the second half, almost all of them drives and layups.
The maroon-and-gold army had taken over the gym.
But there is no such thing as a blowout in the script the Ramblers are authoring for themselves, and so the 12-point lead shrank slowly, deliberately, almost inevitably. Nevada tied it at 59-all with 4 ¹/2 minutes to go but never could get the lead. Cody Martin made two free throws with 36 seconds left and it was 66-65 Loyola.
Musselman had a choice: extend the game, start fouling, force Loyola to hit a rash of foul shots; or make one stop, get the ball back with around six seconds left. He chose the latter. It almost worked. But with one second left on the shot clock, Townes let one fly. It splashed clean. The slipper would fit just fine.
“This” Sister Jean would soon say, “has strengthened my faith in human nature.”
Nevada’s Wolf Pack may have a quibble with that one, actually. But that might be the only dissenting voice.