HR1045 100TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR1045 LRB100 21843 MST 39603 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of Representatives wish to congratulate the Loyola University Chicago Men's Basketball team for their magnificent season this year; and

WHEREAS, The Ramblers compiled a record of 28 wins and 5 loses during the regular season and advanced to the NCAA Basketball Tournament for the first time since 1985; and

WHEREAS, Led by Head Coach Porter Moser, the Ramblers won the Missouri Valley Conference by defeating Illinois State University in the championship game 65 to 49 on March 4; Loyola ended the regular season on a ten-game winning streak; and

WHEREAS, As a result of Loyola's great regular season, Porter Moser was voted Missouri Valley Conference Coach of the Year; and

WHEREAS, Loyola University Chicago has been a member of the Missouri Valley Conference since July 1, 2013; prior to that, Loyola was in the Horizon League for 34 years as a charter member; and

WHEREAS, Loyola University Chicago received an invitation to the NCAA Tournament and was the eleventh seed in the South Region; in the first round, on March 15, their opponent, the University of Miami, Florida, was the sixth seed; it was a close game, with the Rambler's Donte Ingram hitting a three-point shot with only three-tenths of a second left, giving Loyola the win, 64 to 62; and

WHEREAS, In the second round (the Round of 32) on March 17, Loyola faced the University of Tennessee, which was the third seed in the South Region; in another close contest, Loyola's Clayton Custer hit a fifteen-foot jumper with 3.6 seconds left in the game to seal the victory for the Ramblers, 63 to 62; this would not be Custer's Last Stand; and

WHEREAS, This has been another great season for Mr. Custer; his honors include being named the Larry Bird Player of the Year in the Missouri Valley Conference, and he was also named as a First Team Scholar-Athlete in the Missouri Valley Conference; other highlights this season for Clayton include: Associated Press Honorable Mention All-America, CoSIDA Academic All-District, and the Lou Henson Award; Clayton and Donte Ingram were named NABC All-District 16; Cameron Krutwig was named MVC Freshman of the Year; Ben Richardson and Clayton Custer were each named as a MVC First Team Scholar-Athlete and Division I-AAA Scholar-Athlete; and

WHEREAS, In the third round (the Sweet Sixteen) of the NCAA Tournament on March 22, Loyola's opponent was the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, ranked as the seventh seed in the South Region; the Ramblers played with great enthusiasm and precision as time and time again they moved the ball to the basket; Marques Townes had an outstanding game, scoring 18 points including a 3-pointer with 6.3 seconds left in the game when Loyola was ahead by one point; with a four-point lead, the Ramblers held on to win 69 to 68; and

WHEREAS, In the fourth round (the Elite Eight) on March 24, the Ramblers played Kansas State University, ranked as the ninth seed in the South Region; teamwork once again was paramount in how Loyola played; like the three previous tournament games, "a star was born"; this time it was Ben Richardson who scored 23 points, including six of seven three-pointers; his superb offensive performance added to his already illustrious reputation; Mr. Richardson had been named the Missouri Valley Conference's Defensive Player of the Year; he was named as a First Team Scholar-Athlete in the Missouri Valley Conference, and he was also honored as the South Region's Most Outstanding Player in the NCAA Tournament; by virtue of its victory over Kansas State, 78 to 62, Loyola won the South Region and moved on to the Final Four for the first time since 1963 and extended its winning streak to fourteen, the longest of any team in the tournament; and

WHEREAS, In the fifth round (the Final Four), held on March 31, Loyola's opponent was the University of Michigan, ranked as the third seed in the West Region; the Ramblers played with a lot of heart and led at halftime 29 to 22; this was an incredible effort by Loyola given how powerful Michigan's offense had been all season; however, with about 6 minutes left in the game, Michigan took the lead and ended up with a victory; and

WHEREAS, Throughout Loyola's NCAA Tournament run, Sister Jean Dolores Schmidt was a delight and an inspiration to the team; as Team Chaplain, "Sister Jean" (as she is affectionately known) inspired and motivated the Loyola Ramblers in immeasurable ways; she has been a Sister in the religious order of the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin (BVM) since 1937 and has been Team Chaplain since 1996; now at the age of 98, she cemented the team ethos with her signature phrase: "Worship, Work and Win"; in addition to her other honors, Sister Jean had bestowed upon her one of the greatest of sports honors, a bobblehead doll from the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum; pre-orders have already surpassed the 15,000 mark, making her Bobblehead the biggest seller of all time by far; by the end of the tournament it was safe to say that Sister Jean was not just Loyola's treasure, but the nation's as well; and

WHEREAS, Other Loyola University highlights for the season include: a school record 32 wins, finishing the season ranked No. 7 in the USA Today Coaches Poll, first outright regular-season conference championship since 1985, first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1985, first NCAA Final Four appearance since 1963, and only the fourth No. 11 seed in NCAA Tournament history to reach the Final Four; during the season they defeated four nationally ranked teams: Florida, Miami, Tennessee, and Nevada; Loyola Athletics ranked No. 1 in the NCAA for the second straight year with a 99% graduation success rate; and

WHEREAS, Loyola University Chicago has a long and storied history in basketball; in 1963, Loyola broke with college basketball's unwritten rule that no team should have more than two black players on the court at any given time; in so doing, they created a national conversation on race which led to the elimination of the limit on black players' court time; on March 15, 1963, in the NCAA Tournament, Loyola played Mississippi State University; the governor of Mississippi had instructed the all-white Mississippi State team not to play against an integrated team; their coach and players refused to follow the instruction, and the game became known as the Game of Change; Loyola would go on to defeat the two-time defending champion, the University of Cincinnati Bearcats (ranked number one in the nation), to win the national championship; Loyola remains the only Illinois school to ever win the NCAA Basketball Title; and

WHEREAS, Loyola University Chicago is a Jesuit school founded in 1870; its main campus, known as the Lake Shore Campus, is in the Rogers Park neighborhood on the northeast side, while its downtown campus, known as the Water Tower Campus, is next to Chicago's famed Magnificent Mile; Loyola has an enrollment of more than 16,000 students and boasts 150,000 alumni, 85,000 of whom are in the Chicago area; team members volunteer at Misericordia Heart of Mercy; and

WHEREAS, As a Jesuit school, Loyola takes seriously its role in shaping students' lives; this is especially true of student-athletes, many of whom will never play professional sports; the degree they earn at Loyola is meaningful because of the school's commitment to their education, which takes the form of mentoring and tutoring to help guide them through a rigorous academic and athletic schedule; student-athletes at Loyola have a graduation rate of 99%; only five other schools in Division I sports have a graduation rate that high, four of them in the Ivy League; and

WHEREAS, All of Illinois is grateful and honored for the positive national attention brought to Loyola University and the City of Chicago; the Loyola University Men's Basketball team had a thrilling season made noteworthy by its first appearance in the NCAA Tournament since 1985 and by making it to the Final Four for the first time since 1963; Head Coach Porter Moser and the entire group of players: Adarius Avery, Jake Baughman, Dylan Boehm, Clayton Custer, Nick Dinardi, Donte Ingram, Aundre Jackson, Cameron Krutwig, Christian Negron, Ben Richardson, Cameron Satterwhite, Carson Shanks, Bruno Skokna, Marques Townes, Aher Uguak, and Lucas Williamson are rightly proud of their season and accomplishments; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE HUNDREDTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we congratulate the Loyola University Chicago Men's basketball team for its great season and its tremendous success in the NCAA Tournament; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to Coach Porter Moser as a token of our esteem and good wishes.