Loyola-Chicago savoring sweet NCAAs after rebuild

Porter Moser wants his Loyola-Chicago players to savor every moment of the NCAA Tournament. It took the Ramblers a long time, and last-moment shots in consecutive games, to go from what he termed a “grassroots rebuild” to the Sweet 16. “It’s amazing when you have a group of people who believe,” Moser said. “I mean, just this group is resilient. They believe.” Maybe on this Sunday, when they returned home to Chicago from Dallas, they took the chance to catch their breath a bit — and say a prayer or two of thanks. “We knew we were having to win and win the conference and then get to the conference tournament, and it’s been this mentality of you win, enjoy the moment,” Moser said. “I’m letting them enjoy it because it’s a mature, close group. And I want them to enjoy it. Then the next day, we all say put it in the bank, next one up.” In 100 years of basketball at Loyola, a Catholic college in the heart of Chicago with of about 16,000 students, no team has won more games than this year’s Ramblers (30-5), the No. 11 seed in the South Region. “It just means the world to us to bring that pride back to this program,” senior guard Ben Richardson said. They matched the 29 wins of their 1963 national championship team when Donte Ingram’s lastmoment 3-pointer beat Miami in the NCAA opener Thursday. They broke that mark two days later, when Clayton Custer’s jumper got a friendly bounce off the rim with 3.6 seconds left for a win over Tennessee. “It just means our season is not over,” senior Aundre Jackson said. “We’ve reached no finish line.” Loyola plays in Atlanta next Thursday night against No. 2 seed Cincinnati or No. 7 seed Nevada, whose second-round game was Sunday night. The Ramblers will get another pregame prayer from Sister Jean, their 98-year-old team chaplain who also provides her own scouting reports and notes of encouragement to the Ramblers.