SAN ANTONIO — Reserve senior center Carson Shanks said the significance of his Loyola basketball team advancing to the Final Four really hit him Thursday night at an event where all four Final Four head coaches shared a stage.
Shanks saw Villanova coach Jay Wright, Michigan’s John Beilein and Kansas head coach Bill Self all up there with Loyola coach Porter Moser.
That’s when it sunk in.
“It just hit me that we are with blue bloods. We are with basketball royalty,’’ Shanks said. “It’s just crazy to have our names next to these amazing programs. At the same time, we keep hearing the term ‘Cinderella,’ and while we all love a Cinderella story and what not, we believe that we should be in this position. We believe that we should be in this position and that we’ve earned the right to be alongside these teams and compete with them.
“It has been a long season, but we continue to chunk it up into little pieces, and all of a sudden we’re here in the Final Four and ready to play with anyone.’’
Loyola (32-5) is the feel-good story everyone wants to talk about at the Final Four. Just the fourth No. 11 seed in history to reach the national semifinals, the Ramblers have won 14 games in a row and 21 of their last 22. They will meet a Michigan team that has won 13 games in a row and is a No. 3 seed in the tournament.
The game tips at 6:09 p.m. Saturday at the Alamodome.
One thing Moser told his team before it arrived in San Antonio was he wanted them to enjoy the moment. That much is certainly clear.
Freshman forward Christian Negron said every time he sees a Final Four symbol and realizes his school is part of it, it gives him chills.
He also knows the Ramblers have been picking up a lot of fans around the country during their underdog run.
“I’ve noticed it just walking through the hotels and around that a lot of people are saying ‘we’re pulling for you guys’,’’ Negron said. “I don’t know if they have a hatred for the other teams or if they just see the way we play the game the right way.’’
Senior guard Ben Richardson seemed to play the card out of the movie "Hoosiers" when they talk about winning the championship for “all the small schools that never had a chance to get here.’’
Richardson said Loyola is carrying the banner for the mid-majors.
“We’ve gotten a lot of support from teams in our conference and other mid-majors,’’ Richardson said. “I know, personally, in previous years when Wichita State made good runs and was playing well, we were all supporting them. A lot of teams that are like us are definitely rooting for us to prove that teams in smaller conferences and mid-majors are really good teams.
“There are a lot of good teams, good programs, good coaches and good players. It’s very competitive at this level.’’
In most years, a team like Michigan (32-7), that finished tied for fourth in the Big Ten before going on a late run, would be getting the feel-good treatment Loyola is receiving.
But the Wolverines say it’s almost better to be the team everyone isn’t talking about.
“It’s a little bit different than the role we’ve played at times this year,’’ said Michigan senior forward Duncan Robinson. “We’re in the Final Four so we’re going to embrace whatever role that is. Obviously (Loyola) has had a really good year, and we’re two teams that are playing really good basketball right now. Saturday night should be a good one.’’
Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman said it’s kind of different for his Michigan team to be in the role of the favorite.
“It’s not often that we’re not considered the underdog,’’ Abdur-Rahkman said. “The roles are reversed, but we’re still sticking to the same plan. We still have the same chip on our shoulder.’’
Interestingly, Loyola redshirt junior guard Clayton Custer said the same thing about the Ramblers playing in the underdog role.
“I think it keeps the chip on our shoulder as throughout the whole process we have been the underdog every single game,’’ Custer said. “I think a lot of us don’t think of ourselves as that much of a Cinderella because we have had such a good year this year.
“We have been winning games all year so we think we belong on this stage.’’
Michigan junior forward Mo Wagner said whether everyone wants to talk about Loyola or Michigan on Saturday night, he doesn’t really care.
“We are not looking for any extra stuff, we are just trying to win basketball games,’’ Wagner said. “The whole Cinderella story is cool, but we are not getting caught up in that kind of stuff.’’