Illinois, Loyola Prepared To Dance In The NCAA Men's Tournament

CHICAGO —Nearly 60 years had passed since Loyola-Chicago's men's basketball team had made the NCAA Tournament in back-to-back seasons.

First-year coach Drew Valentine had a big part in making that happen. Now, the Ramblers – along with Big Ten co-champion Illinois — are ready to dance.

Loyola (25-7) earned an automatic bid with its Missouri Valley Conference tournament championship and will enter the NCAA Tournament as a No. 10 seed in the South Regional and will face Ohio State at 11:15 a.m. on Friday in Pittsburgh.

The Ramblers will make their second consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance for the first time they went back-to-back in 1963 and 1964.

CBS Sports analyst Seth Davis predicted more early-round magic for Loyola, which is coached by the country's youngest coach in Valentine. Valentine was on Porter Moser's coaching staff in 2018 when the Ramblers made an unlikely run to the Final Four. Loyola reached the Sweet 16 last season.

Should the Ramblers make another run, they will need to get by another Big Ten opponent – something Loyola has experience in dating back to last season. The challenges would only get steeper for Loyola, which would likely face No. 2-seed Villanova should they manage to knock off the Buckeyes.

But Valentine, who worked as a graduate assistant for Michigan State coach Tom Izzo before joining Moser's staff, won't allow himself to consider the possibilities beyond the challenge that awaits his time on Friday.

“I’m completely invested in this one game,” Valentine said told reporters on Sunday.

“I just feel like you’ve got to stay consistent and stay the same (with preparation). “I know it’s boring coach-speak, and I hate to do that. It’s totally not me. ... I’m trying not to be boring, but drawing back from my preparation with Coach Izzo and obviously my preparation with Coach Moser is you go one game at a time. You don’t worry, you don’t look too far ahead.”

Meanwhile, Illinois — which made an early exit in the Big Ten Tournament with a quarterfinal loss to Indiana, will be a No. 4 seed in the South and will face Chatanooga at 5:50 p.m. on Friday in Pittsburgh. The Illini (22-9) will attempt to rebound from last year's disappointment of being a top seed and being knocked off by Loyola.

Although both Illinois and Loyola will start in the same city, they won't face one another unless they both reach the Elite Eight.

Illinois shared the Big Ten title with Wisconsin but couldn't carry any momentum through the Big Ten Tournament, which was eventually captured by Iowa on Sunday. But now, after a disappearing act in last year's tournament and not backing up its share of the league crown in Indianapolis, the Illini are ready to get after their bigger goals.

No matter who else is in their corner.

"I already know there are going to be a lot of people betting against us," Illinois forward Coleman Hawkins told reporters on Sunday. "A lot of people had hope in us last year and we didn't have the outcome we wanted. But there are always going to be people that don't believe in us. We're not really going to focus on that. We're just going to keep it one game at a time and hopefully prove anyone who doubts us wrong."

Illinois Kofi Cockburn agreed.

"It was definitely a business thing," Cockburn said in regard to Illinois seeding in the South. "We've been to the tournament last year and we know how that feeling was, so we're trying not to get too high right now. We're prepared to go out there and play hard and compete at the highest level."

Selection Sunday was held Sunday for both the men's and women’s tournaments. Below are the major dates to know for the 2022 March Madness tournament. Printable brackets are available.

• Selection Sunday: March 13
• First Four: March 15-16
• First round: March 17-18
• Second round: March 19-20
• Sweet 16: March 24-25
• Elite Eight: March 26-27
• Final Four: April 2
• NCAA championship game: April 4

Baylor is the defending national champion after the Bears defeated Gonzaga to win the national title last year. Gonzaga enters this year's tournament as the overall No. 1 seed and is joined by fellow top seeds Arizona, Kansas, and Baylor heading into this week's opening round of games

Both the Zags and Bears were among the favorites to return to the championship this year. The odds for the top five were as follows, according to DraftKings:

• Gonzaga : +350 (23.8 percent chance)
• Arizona: +650 (13.3 percent chance)
• Kentucky: +700 (12.5 percent chance)
• Baylor: +1,000 (9.1 percent chance)
• Duke: +1,200 (7.7 percent chance)
• Auburn: +1,200 (7.7 percent chance)
• Purdue: +1,400 (6.7 percent chance)
• Kansas: +1,400 (6.7 percent chance)