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.