For the past couple weeks, the NCAA National Tournament known as ‘March Madness’, has captivated basketball fans all across the nation and the world. Many of the fans following the tournament have filled in brackets trying to accurately pick the teams that would make the Final Four and ultimately pick the National Championship game.
This past weekend, the tournaments eight remaining teams played for a spot in the Final Four with Villanova, Kansas, Michigan, and Loyola Chicago claiming these spots for next weekends Final Four.
Out of all the four teams remaining, Loyola Chicago seems like they are the odd ones considering the other three teams have multiple Final Four appearances as well as several national championship victories. Despite all these odds, Loyola Chicago was able to reach their first Final Four in nearly half a century.
Loyola Chicago was able to claim a birth in NCAA Tournament due to the team winning the Missouri Valley Conference title which gave them an 11th Seed in the South Region of the tournament bracket.
In Loyola Chicago’s first game of the tournament, they were able to pull off an upset over sixth ranked Miami in a 64-62 victory. The Ramblers didn’t stop there, they would go onto winning their next two games beating third ranked Tennessee by a score of 63-62 and as well as beating seventh ranked Nevada 69-68 to earn a spot in the Final Four.
The Ramblers have caught the attention of the entire world with their dynamic play style, their nail-biting victories, and their unofficial team mascot being Sister Jean Dolores-Schmidt, the 98-year old team chaplain. Sister Jean has charmed audiences with her grandmother appearance, her dedication to the team, and her words of wisdom she gives to the players and coaches before and after games.
Loyola Chicago will go down to the Alamodome this weekend to play the University of Michigan on Saturday at 6:09 PM in what hopes to be an exciting game. If you have some spare time on Saturday, you might have to tune in to see if the Ramblers can pull off another upset and hopefully gain a spot in the National Championship game on Monday night.
