The Cinderella team of the 2018 NCAA Tournament, Loyola Chicago, is playing for much more than just their second championship in school history.
They’re competing and demanding respect for mid-major programs all around the nation.
Since the NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Tournament was first created in 1939, only four No. 11 seeds have reached the Final Four, with Loyola adding to the list this year.
Loyola’s road was far from easy. In fact, they were put in a South Region that drew powerhouse programs, like Virginia (31-3), Arizona (27-8) and Kentucky (25-10).
However, it wasn’t the ACC Champion Cavaliers who made it out of the South Region, nor was it the pair of Wildcat teams, who have NBA talent on their roster, it was the 11-seed Loyola—whose biggest star is a 98-year-old nun, Sister Jean-Dolores Schmidt, that says prayers for the team before every matchup—that made it out alive of their region.