MIRACLE WORKERS
Hardly happy just to be there, Loyola Chicago grinding for title that eluded other mid-majors
SAN ANTONIO — This Nunbelievable Little Basketball Team That Could — America’s Darlings and, thanks to Sister Jean, perhaps God’s Team in the Final Four, as well — embraces the love always reserved for angels of the hardwood, and is fueled by it.
And inside their cramped Alamodome locker room that overflowed with national media, unwavering belief oozed from the dreamy Loyola Chicago Ramblers, certain that they have so much more than a prayer Saturday night against Michigan.
“We’re not here for the sights and sounds,” a freshman forward from Los Angeles named Dylan Boehm was saying Thursday. “As cool as it is to be here — we had that last night, we went to a restaurant on the River Walk which was nice, so we saw a little bit of San Antonio.
“Like Coach [Porter Moser] always says, ‘ We’re not really here for the theatricals or for the city.’
“We want to win and we think we can.”
They all think they can, of course. George Mason thought it could against Florida in 2006, and couldn’t. Butler thought it could in 2010, and did against Michigan State, before losing in the title game to Duke, and then the following year to UConn.
But George Mason didn’t have Sister Jean, and neither did Butler. Loyola Chicago does. Boehm, who has played only seven minutes all season, has had a bird’s-eye view of all the divine inspiration.
“It’s kinda helpful for us to be honest because she’s kinda the face of our team,” Boehm said. “She’s like the face of the tournament. So she takes a lot of that attention away from us so we focus. There’s a meme on Twitter right now [smile] and Sister Jean’s sitting in the driver’s seat of our bus and she says like, ‘Get in losers, we’re going to the Final Four’, like to us.”
The U.S. Hockey team believed it could beat the Russians in Lake Placid. An upset of Mi c h i g a n , 5-point favorites, wouldn’t be a miracle. To the Ramblers, it wouldn’t even be a surprise.
Jim Va l va n o dared to believe his N. C. State team could beat Houston in 1983. Rollie Massimino and Villanova believed could beat Georgetown in 1985.
“Coach always says, ‘We have no finish line,’ ” Boehm said. “We’re here now, we have a right to be here, we deserve to be here. “We’re not scared of any name, of any team, of any coach, anything like that.
“We think we can beat anyone in the country.”
John Beilein isn’t concerned that Michigan will be the villain in this one. The howling for the Ramblers inside the Alamodome will serve as an emotional and psychological headwind for them. And a spiritual headwind for Sister Jean.
“That’s a definite, definite help for us,” Boehm said. “It’s gonna be like almost a home game I’d like to say, we’re gonna have so many fans here. This year we’ve played a lot better at home actually, so if we can get that kind of environment going with the fans involved and rooting for us, I think that’s a real big competitive advantage.”
Loyola’s Gentile Arena holds no more than 5,000.
“For me, it didn’t hit me until we got here today and walked into that dome out there, and you see 72,000 seats around the stage and it’s insane,” Boehm said. “You’re walking in the hallway and see Villanova, Loyola Chicago, Kansas and Michigan — it’s really really cool to see our name up there with the best of ’em.”
March Madness has gotten them acclimated to the atmosphere.
“I’m excited to see how it’s gonna look when it’s full,” senior guard Ben Richardson said. “I know it’s gonna be electric, and I can’t wait.”
He understands the roar of the crowd alone won’t beat Michigan.
“We’re gonna have to do it by ourselves, we’re gonna have to do it as a team,” Richardson said. A Dream Team. “I think we just have the togetherness ... maybe not the names or the talent that some teams have,” Boehm said. “But we have the togetherness that we can compete with anybody.”
The 1963 NCAA champion Loyola Ramblers undoubtedly believed it, too.
“We have a bunch of guys that are unselfish and don’t care who scores,” 6-foot-9 freshman center Cameron Krutwig said. “The way we move the ball and play defense and the toughness that we have. It’s not about the number on the jersey, it’s about the name on the jersey. We’re just playing for Loyola to win.”
Sister Jean will be made available to the national media Friday morning for 15 minutes. Nun the worse for wear at age 98.
“Don’t get me wrong,” Boehm said, “we’re happy that we made it this far, but we’re not saying like, ‘Oh, we got here now, we can just pack the bags and call it a day,’ No no no.
“We want the whole thing.”