PEORIA — It was a couple of days before Christmas and the Loyola basketball team was returning home from a 45-42 loss at St. Joseph’s in Philadelphia to complete a 7-6 nonconference season.
This was not the kind of start expected from the defending Missouri Valley Conference champs and the darlings of college basketball after their improbable run to the Final Four as a No. 11 seed. The story of the Chicago Jesuit school, symbolized by their charismatic 98-year-old team chaplain, Sister Jean Delores Schmidt, captivated the nation.
“We had been under an incredible microscope and it was overwhelming,” said Loyola coach Porter Moser.