The NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament is an enormous time commitment for student-athletes. The event takes them away from the classroom for weeks. For Loyola’s players, making it to the three-week tournament’s final weekend meant an extended absence from campus.
Throughout it all, players were still responsible for keeping up with their academics on the road and making up the work they missed after the run ended.
Between when Loyola headed to the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament Feb. 28 and its season-closing Final Four loss against Michigan March 31, the players traveled to four different cities — St.