SAN ANTONIO - The Loyola-Chicago men's basketball team's plane pulled into a private hangar, and the players were serenaded by a brass band playing "Deep in the Heart of Texas" while they walked a festive carpet to a bus emblazoned with their logo and colors.
The 11th-seeded Ramblers, champions of the NCAA tournament's South Region, sure looked like they belonged when they rolled into San Antonio in style for the Final Four.
Several hours later, the excitement still hadn't worn off when the biggest underdogs in recent NCAA tournament history joined powerhouses Kansas (Midwest), Michigan (West) and Villanova (East) on Thursday morning at the Alamodome for the teams' first workouts before Saturday night's semifinals. Loyola (32-5) will take on third-seeded Michigan (32-7) at 6:09, with No. 1 seeds Kansas (31-7) and Villanova (34-4) to follow.
Villanova's Jalen Brunson, front, drives past Texas Tech's Zhaire Smith during the second half of an NCAA men's college basketball tournament regional final, Sunday, March 25, 2018, in Boston. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)"We dreamed of getting to this moment, and now we're here," said Loyola senior forward Aundre Jackson, a native Texan. "It's a challenge to deal with all of this, but I think we deserve the attention. We've worked really hard for it."
The teams and their legions of fans arrived in a downtown decked out in vibrant colors, with the Final Four logo plastered on most available surfaces from the River Walk to the Alamo. The players even had brightly colored socks on their chairs in their locker rooms - and several Loyola players had already pulled on their new gear moments after they arrived.
"We love it. It's all hype," junior guard Adarius Avery said. "I feel like we have a lot of confidence, even though it's our first time doing anything like this."
The unlikely Ramblers were downright dazzled by the Final Four festivities, but it's also a new experience for the players at Kansas, which hadn't made it since 2012, and Michigan, which last played in the national semifinals in 2013.
Several Villanova players already won it all in Texas two years ago when Kris Jenkins' buzzer-beating 3-pointer took down North Carolina. The media obligations, fan frenzy and difficult game preparations are nothing new to junior Jalen Brunson and other Wildcats who played on that team.
"I think it's definitely an advantage for us that we've been through it before," Brunson said. "But we still have to go through it. There's going to be a lot of things going on in the next couple of days, but I'm enjoying it because I'm out here with my brothers and getting to be in this moment."
For Brunson, the moment includes Thursday's announcement that he is The Associated Press men's college basketball player of the year. He earned 36 of 65 votes from the same panel that selects the AP Top 25, with ballots submitted before the start of the NCAA tourney.
Brunson was joined at the trophy presentation by coach Jay Wright as he became the first Villanova player to win the award. It came two days after the efficient-shooting 6-foot-3 guard, who has averaged 19.2 points per game this season, was the leading vote recipient on the AP All-America first team.
"It's written on my wall," Brunson said of being an All-American and player of the year in a recent interview with the AP. "It's something that I strived for but never really focused on. I just knew that the more team success that we had, the individual honors would come. I just really focused on what the team needed and how I could be a key contributor."
A trio of freshmen who have declared for the NBA draft were next on the list, with Oklahoma's Trae Young receiving 15 votes, Arizona's Deandre Ayton receiving seven and Duke's Marvin Bagley III getting four. Saint Mary's senior Jock Landale received one vote.
The AP's coach of the year was also announced Thursday, and Virginia's Tony Bennett was the overwhelming pick with 50 votes from the 65 ballots submitted before the NCAA tournament. Tennessee's Rick Barnes was second with five votes, ahead of Ohio State's Chris Holtmann (four votes) and Xavier's Chris Mack (two). Receiving one vote apiece were Texas Tech's Chris Beard, Nevada's Eric Musselman, Buffalo's Nate Oats and Auburn's Bruce Pearl.
Bennett's Cavaliers (31-3) set a program record for wins, swept the Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season and tournament titles and were named the No. 1 overall seed for the NCAA tourney. But they also became the first No. 1 seed to lose to a No. 16 seed, falling 74-54 to the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.
"They experienced things a lot of guys don't," Bennett said in an interview with the AP. "That kind of success? Oh my gosh. And then that kind of loss? But again, their body of work deserves to be celebrated.
Bennett, 48, also won the award in 2007 at Washington State.