Loyola University-Chicago may have entered the NCAA tournament as the No. 11 seed, but with 98-year-old chaplain, Sister Jean Dolores-Schmidt, on their side, consider them the most feared team in the tournament.

“I ask God to be especially good to Loyola so that, at the end of the game, the scoreboard indicates a big ‘W’ for us,” she told the New York Times.

The prayers seemed to have worked. Loyola drained a buzzer-beating 3-pointer on Thursday to oust sixth-seeded Miami.

 

 

While the first upset of the tournament was certainly impressive, perhaps more profound is Sister Jean’s role with the team. Sure, she prays with them before and after games, but her “job” extends much further than that.

She scouts other teams, studying box scores and watching film, and leaves reports of her findings in a folder on head coach Porter Moser’s desk.

“I scout the opponents, and then just tell them who they should watch out for because they are making too many three’s or they are overpowering someone,” Sister Jean told March Madness TV.

She even takes her findings into the huddle as she prays with the team.

“She is careful to note the smallest of details, which she conveys when she stands in a huddle to pray with her arms wrapped around players’ waists,” Jeff Arnold from The New York Times wrote. “The moments, she said, are not as holy as some might guess: In between invocations, she also warns the players to watch out for the opponent’s top performers.

She also functions as the team’s “comfort blanket.”

“After every game, she sends out emails,” guard Donte Ingram told March Madness TV. “She’ll be like, ‘Donte, you did this great tonight. They were out to get you, but you handled it well, and we need that next game.’ She’s like another assistant coach.”

Before breaking her hip in mid-November, she had only missed two home games since 1994. She was unable to attend eight home games this season after surgery sidelined her. However, the prayers, scouting reports and emails still came in full force.

Of course, she made the trip to Dallas for Loyola’s first tournament game, where she was the star of the show. Following the victory, she was interviewed as if she had laced up her shoes and played as well.

“…And when we were in the locker room ahead of the game, we just knew that we would do this. Our team is so great, and they don’t care who makes the points, as long as we win the game,” she said on Tru TV. “And I said, ‘We’re gonna get the big W up there,’ and we did.”

 

 

It’s no wonder Sister Jean has had her own bobblehead night, and her motto, ‘Worship, work, win,” is carved into the weight room at Loyola. She’s the biggest influence Loyola basketball has ever had — all five feet of her.