DALLAS -- A reporter from Miami corrected herself, showing Loyola-Chicago Coach Porter Moser the respect his team earned after the program's best season in 33 years.
"What about the Miami team scares you -- not scares you but concerns you most?" she asked during Wednesday's news conference.
Moser, a former head coach at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, seized the opportunity to lighten the mood.
"You can use the word 'scare,' that's OK," he said with a smile, drawing laughter.
Moser's comfort comes in knowing his Ramblers are having too much fun to be afraid of the sixth-seeded Hurricanes, their first-round opponent today at American Airlines Arena in Loyola's first NCAA Tournament game since 1985. If anything, Moser worries more about distraction than intimidation as attention builds around an increasingly trendy pick to beat Miami and emerge as a Cinderella team.
"I love it," Moser said. "There's been more people talking about Loyola basketball in 30-some years. And the guys are handling it. They know every practice, every film session has been locked in. And obviously the NCAA Tournament is another level, spotlight, which is great for them. It's what they wanted."
A CBS Sports crew has embedded with the Ramblers. A 105-person Loyola traveling party made the trip, joining so many friends and family. The school band played during Wednesday's open practice, reminding players they weren't in Rogers Park anymore.
"This was an opportunity to get better with our blinders on," Moser said after Loyola's noisy 40-minute workout. "I want them to enjoy the journey."
Everything's bigger in Texas, but it would hard to exaggerate how much everybody associated with Loyola basketball has embraced the hype that marks this occasion.
It gave guard Clayton Custer, who grew up in Overland Park, Kan., a chance to reminisce about his favorite March Madness memory: Kansas guard Mario Chalmers hitting a three-pointer over Derrick Rose of Memphis with 2.1 seconds left to send the 2008 national championship game into overtime -- where the Jayhawks won.
Donte Ingram, the pride of Simeon, relished representing the Chicago Public League, even if he took some good-natured jabs from Whitney Young product Lucas Williamson after Williamson's alma mater beat Ingram's Tuesday night. Marques Townes and Aundre Jackson, the other players on the podium, beamed describing a culture Loyola credits for its success as much as the three-point shot.
"We focus on the very small details that help us become great," Jackson said.
The Ramblers need to pay attention to those details every possession against the more athletic Hurricanes, spacing the floor to neutralize Miami's physical advantage. They need to show the togetherness Custer cited in vowing this won't be his last stand.
"In the last four minutes of games, that really comes in handy because we trust each other so much to get stops and move the ball," Custer said.
Some watch Loyola and note the influence on both ends of the floor of Rick Majerus, the late coach whose meticulous approach Moser mimics. Others will see the Ramblers take the court against Miami and think immediately of 1985 and Alfredrick Hughes, who Moser said was as excited as when he led Loyola into the tournament.
Then there will be those of a certain age whose mind will go back to Ramblers legend Jerry Harkness and 1963, the year Loyola broke racial barriers and won the national championship -- in order of significance.
Everyone watching Loyola play Miami will feel a similar sense of pride for different reasons.
"Pride is an awesome human trait, and to see the pride coming out of Loyola alumni, Chicago, is a fun thing for Loyola University," Moser said.
Not to mention the way it has oozed out of Loyola's players.
"If we play how we play, we can beat anybody," Jackson said.
He sure didn't sound scared.
Sports on 03/15/2018