Moser, Loyola and Sister Jean basking in glow of Final Four

MEN’S FINAL FOUR: NO. 11 LOYOLA VS. NO. 3 MICHIGAN, SATURDAY, 6:09 P.M. (CBS)

CHICAGO — The black-and-white photo on the back wall of his office serves as a constant reminder and inspiration for Loyola-Chicago coach Porter Moser.

Les Hunter, Jerry Harkness and John Egan are standing with the 1963 NCAA championship trophy, the net draped over it.

Coach George Ireland has his right arm extended in front as he shakes hands with someone whose face is not in the picture.

“I’ve had them both in there as a reminder of just where I wanted this thing to go,” Moser said. “This is what you want. I saw the excitement of the people in the streets. I saw them holding a national championship trophy.”

Everything he envisioned is playing out.

A captivating Final Four run has made a celebrity of a 98-year-old nun and shined a light on a program that went mostly unnoticed for decades.

With Sister Jean Dolores Schmidt by their side, the Ramblers will face Michigan in the national semifinals in San Antonio on Saturday.

It’s the first trip to the Final Four for Loyola since that 1963 team with four black starters helped break down racial barriers.

The Ramblers were never ranked in the AP poll.

They needed a few lastsecond prayers, winning their first three tournament games by a total of four points, before easily handling Kansas State in the South regional final.

That made them the fourth No. 11 seed to get to the Final Four. And now, the Ramblers (32-5) will try to do what LSU (1986), George Mason (2006) and VCU (2011) could not — advance past the semifinals.

Loyola figures to have a large cheering section in the stadium and in front of televisions.

After all, the Ramblers and Sister Jean are the darlings of the tournament.

Moser got off to a tough start, with a 32-61 record.

Since then? They are 89-49, with a program record for wins this season.

They even had their first sellout in 15 years, packing in 4,963 for the regular-season finale after drawing crowds of about 1,100 to 1,500 earlier in the season.

What a difference for a coach who in his early years handed out hot dogs to students and asked them to come to games.