Into the Fire: The Lady Who Saved College Hoops

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The 2018 NCAA Tournament began with the usual excitement for filling out brackets and watching college hoops while we all work, but dark times quickly crept upon the NCAA leading up to the madness and questions about the integrity of the tournament threatened the entire thing to be surrounded by a very negative narrative. A shadow monster dealing with agents and sleazy AAU coaches was lurking and ready to expose the NCAA as a criminal organization. This ugly side of the NCAA is still lurking and will show itself in full sooner or later, but something happened during this year’s tournament. While the NCAA has already sold it’s soul and cannot be saved, the actual sport of college basketball was saved by the most unlikely March Madness hero we have ever seen.

Her name is Sister Jean. She is 98 years old, she wears orthopedic shoes, and she saved college basketball by reminding us all that even while it is all propped up by corruption and bag men, the NCAA Tournament is a magical event. Sure rules are never followed and the FBI is listening to the underhanded dealings between coaches and agents, but none of that matters because Sister Jean has taught us all to never underestimate the magic that can happen and the good that can rise above the treacherous muck that is collegiate athletics.

The Loyola-Chicago Ramblers and their run to the Final Four has been the single best Cinderella run in NCAA Tournament history. I don’t even think it is close. Sure other #11s have made it this far and sure we have seen other buzzer beating teams win the hearts of millions with bracket busting heroics; but we have never seen a team do all of that while also having a Sister Jean. Sister Jean has been and will be the most talked about thing from the 2018 NCAA Tournament forever and one hundred years. That is funny to a lot of people and maybe even sad to some. Think about it, college hoops is so niche and so unpopular that a 98 year old nun is more famous than any of the players in the tournament. I understand that it is certainly odd, but I do not think it is all that bad for college hoops. You won’t remember one player on the Loyola-Chicago men’s basketball team years from now, even if they win the National Title, but you will remember Sister Jean and you will remember how awesome this 2018 NCAA Tournament was.

In 2018 is takes a lot to grab and keep our attention. Until the tournament started, the only attention the NCAA was getting was negative. With this unbelievable Cinderella story, the magic is back and our faith has been restored. With more and more reports exposing systematic rule breaking, it could have been easy for us all to become jaded and forget about the tournament because it was all being propped up by the rich and powerful schools. Sister Jean and her Ramblers have saved thousands and maybe millions from becoming turned off to the madness. None of us will ever trust or understand the NCAA completely. The NCAA is too far gone to be saved from the perception that it is inherently corrupt and evil. One thing is for certain though, the Sister Jean story has saved us all from forgetting why college basketball is good in the month of March.

– Alan Michael