INDIANAPOLIS – Loyola Chicago led 101-year-old superfan sister Jean to a T on Sunday and moved to the Sweet 16 with a 71-58 victory over Illinois, the first number one to jump from this year’s NCAA Tournament.
Cameron Krutwig delivered a masterpiece of 19 points, 12 rebounds and the fast, eighth-seeded Ramblers (26-4) led wire after wire. They strayed a powerful offense from Illinois to return after the second weekend three years after their last magical run to the Final Four.
The Ramblers then play in Oklahoma State or Oregon State, which will meet later Sunday.
Their trip to the Final Four in 2018 is through the headline of Sister Jean Dolores Schmidt, the Honorable Team Chaplain, who received both COVID-19 vaccination shots and clearance to travel to Indianapolis to see what inspiration she can offer in 2021 .
Before Jean took most of the game out of the luxury suite – sitting in her wheelchair and decorating it in her trademark maroon and gold scarf – Jean delivered a pregame prayer that could be removed directly from a John Wooden textbook.
“While we are playing the Fighting Illini, we are asking for special help to overcome this team and achieve a good victory,” she said. “We hope to score early and make our opponents nervous. We have a great chance of converting setbacks as this team makes about 50% of the layups and 30% of its three points. Our defense can take care of that.”
From her mouth to their ears.
Illinois (24-7) scored the best seed for the first time since its final Final Four run in 2005, but fell behind by double figures in the first half and never came within striking distance. The Illini made 16 turnovers and scored 23 points less than their season average.
Illinois All-American Kofi Cockburn, second team from Illinois, finished 7 points on 7-for-12 shooting, but worked hard for every shot against Krutwig & Co.
And Loyola’s handy guards, Lucas Williamson and Keith Clemons, prevented All-American Ayo Dosunmu, the first team, from ever finding his comfort zone. He finishes with nine points, 11 below his season average.
The other All-American on the floor was a third drinker, Krutwig, who looked like this one worldwide.
The 6-9 senior plays bigger, plays up, turns when needed and causes all sorts of problems on defense. He also had five assistants. Krutwig was with Loyola for the final Final Four trip, and has since become one of only four players in Missouri Valley conference history to score 1,500 points, 800 boards and 300 assistants.
And there is a chance for more.
It’s a twist that Sister Jean can see happening. Before the match, she suggested that Loyola, the MVC champion who had won 25 matches this year, might have gotten a raw deal with a number 8 seed who pronounced it so early against a 1.
There was only one way to handle it, and for anyone outside of Champaign – or now a freshly wiped bracket – it’s hard to argue that this Loyola team is not a fresh air this tournament-in-a-bubble much needed.
Sure, there was upset, a little drama and little teams doing great things.
But there is no one like Sister Jean to put the matter into perspective. The Ramblers and March Madness – this is a difficult habit to break.