Sister Jean to Travel With Loyola Chicago for Men's NCAA Tournament
Sister Jean Delores Schmidt, Loyola Chicago's 101-year-old chaplain, will travel with the team to Indianapolis for their first-round matchup with Georgia Tech after all.
Sister Jean's status had been in question due to COVID-19 restrictions. She has not attended a game during the 2020–21 season. However, a university spokesperson told Block Club Chicago there are plans to allow Sister Jean to attend. She has already received both COVID-19 vaccine doses.
“I want to go so badly," Sister Jean told the Chicago Tribune's Shannon Ryan last week. “I’m not going to run down on the court and I’m not going to cause any disturbance."
In 2018, the world fell in love with Sister Jean during Loyola Chicago's improbable run in the men's NCAA tournament. The Ramblers went on an incredible 14-game, regular-season and postseason winning streak to reach the Final Four before losing to Michigan. Since then, she has received her own bobblehead, thrown out the first pitch at a Cubs game and become an NCAA tournament bracket expert.
Of this year's NCAA tournament, she told reporters on Tuesday that, "I filled out my bracket. I may change it before I go down there. I don't see Kentucky any place. I see a few new names."
This season, while not having in-person contact with the team, she has sent emails to players on the team before every game and sometimes between games, she told the Wall Street Journal's Andrew Beaton.
The beginning of every note is the same, but each ends with an honest assessment.
“Then there’s a little note at the bottom, particular personal note for each one, whether he has done well—or whether he needs to take his turn and do well,” she told the Journal. “Or if he hasn’t been on the court, I always ask them for their support.”
The No. 8 Ramblers (24–4, 16–2) will be making their seventh NCAA men's tournament appearance and first since the 2018 team reached the Final Four.
They will face off against No. 9 Georgia Tech on Friday with tipoff set for 4 p.m. ET.
