CHICAGO (March 11, 2018) – For the first time since 1985, the Loyola University Chicago men's basketball team (28-5, 15-3 MVC) will play in the NCAA Tournament. The Ramblers have received the No. 11 seed in the South Region and will face No. 6 seed Miami on Thursday in Dallas, Texas in the tournament's opening round.

NCAA Tournament Bracket (with start times) - PDF
Post-Season MVC Notebook (PDF)

NCAA Tournament - South Region  *  Dallas, Texas -- Thursday, March 15
#3 Tennessee (25-8) vs. #14 Wright State (25-9)  |  11:40 a.m. CT [truTV]
#11 Loyola (28-5) vs. #6 Miami (Fla.) (22-9)  |  ~2:10 p.m. CT [truTV]
MVC All-Time Record in NCAA:  49-48  |  Loyola in NCAA:  9-4 (0-0 as MVC member)

CIT Tournament - Monday, March 12
Abilene Christian at Drake, 1 p.m. CT [CBSSN]  |  MVC Record in CIT:  24-11 (Drake:  1-2)


This is the sixth NCAA Tournament appearance in program history and Loyola owns a 9-4 all-time record in NCAA action. Loyola and Miami are meeting for the first time.  
The 2017-18 season has been a record-setting one for Loyola, which has posted the second-highest single-season win total in school history (28), trailing only the 1963 NCAA championship squad's mark of 29 victories. Seventh-year head coach Porter Moser's squad also established a program record with 15 conference wins and the Ramblers' Missouri Valley Conference regular-season title is the first since joining The Valley and first in any conference since 1984-85.
 
Loyola earned a NCAA berth this season by defeating Illinois State, 65-49, to capture the MVC Tournament title last Sunday in St. Louis. The Ramblers enter the postseason as one of the hottest teams in the country, winners of 17 of their last 18 contests, including each of the last 10.
 

MVC Rated No. 8
The Conference ranks No. 8 in the RPI -- its best ranking in five seasons.  Notably, the MVC joins the Big East, the Big 12 and the SEC as the only leagues this year with all teams 190 or better.  Last year, the MVC had just three Top 150 teams -- this year the league has six in the Top 150 (and a 7th at 151).

“Power” Aid
Since 1994, an MVC member has beaten the following teams from “power” conferences in the NCAA Tournament:  Alabama, Arizona, Cincinnati, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas (three times), Louisville, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Pittsburgh (twice), Seton Hall, Tennessee (three times), Texas, Texas Tech, UCLA, Virginia Tech, Vanderbilt, and Wisconsin.  MVC teams are a combined 35-44 in the NCAA Tournament since 1994 (with 10 Sweet 16 trips and one Final Four).  Notably, 26 of the 35 wins in that span have been vs. “power conference” schools.

How Seed It is
The NCAA used a seeding process for the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 1979.  Since then, the league has had teams seeded No. 9 or worse 44 times, including this season.  Those previous 43 teams have combined for 24 tournament victories, six Sweet 16 appearances and one Final Four.  Since 1994, the MVC has posted 13 NCAA Tournament first-round wins as a lower-seeded team.

Winning in the NCAA
The MVC has had a minimum of one NCAA Tournament victory in each of the past six years for a cumulative 14-10 (.583) record; the winning percentage is behind only the SEC (.676), ACC (.650) and Big Ten (.612).

When it Matters Most
Since the 2011 postseason, the MVC has the second-best record of any conference (behind the SEC) in the NCAA, NIT, CIT and CBI, combined.  That 51-30 overall mark includes a 14-11 record in the NCAA Tournament.