Every Selection Sunday, without fail, Ricky Blanton scans the NCAA tournament bracket with a purpose: Find all the No. 11 seeds, then daydream about whether any will get to write their own Cinderella stories the way he and his teammates did 32 years ago.
His LSU team became the first No. 11 seed to make the Final Four, in 1986. It was a scrappy but veteran group that survived injuries, suspensions and a chicken pox epidemic to become the only team to take down the Nos. 1, 2 and 3 seeds in the tournament. Since then, George Mason, VCU and now Loyola-Chicago have followed, creating their own improbable runs toward history.
Blanton sees in Loyola-Chicago many of the same things he saw in his LSU team all those years ago: a veteran team with strong-willed leaders playing with an undeniable edge and an unquestioned belief in themselves. Former VCU guard Joey Rodriguez sees the similarities, too. So does Jim Larranaga, who guided George Mason to the Final Four in 2006.
Only this small fraternity can relate to the us-against-the-world mentality, to using the naysayers and doubters as motivation; to the heightened spotlight, pinch-me-I'm-dreaming moments, media obligations and sudden fame that come with making the Final Four.
"Even seven years later, I remember we would be sitting in the conference room talking about game planning, and we'd look at each other and say, 'We're in the Final Four!' And we'd all start laughing," said VCU coach Mike Rhoades, an assistant under Shaka Smart when the Rams made the Final Four in 2011.
"Or we'd be on the bus, and [assistant] Mike Jones would look over and say, 'Rhoadsy, we're going to practice because we're in the Final Four!' Or we're getting on the plane to go to Houston, and everyone's chuckling. It's surreal. Are you kidding me? Is this really happening?"
Before these teams made it to the Final Four, they had to find a way to believe in themselves. Larranaga remembers bringing in sports psychologist Bob Rotella for a team meeting in October 2005, before George Mason's season began. Rotella asked the players, "How good do you think you can be?" Senior guard Lamar Butler spoke up. "I think we can get to the Final Four if we play up to our capability," he said.
But George Mason had an up-and-down season and lost in the Colonial Athletic Association semifinals. So when the Patriots became the first at-large selection from the CAA to make the field in 20 years, pundits pounced. They howled they didn't belong. Larranaga and his staff used that to their advantage, reminding their players it was time to prove the doubters wrong.
He then brought Rotella back to talk to the team. "Dr. Rotella reminded them: 'This is not, You made the tournament. This is showing the world how good you guys really are,' and to go in with a great deal of confidence knowing all the pressure is on the higher seed."
VCU had no idea whether it would make the tournament after losing in the CAA championship game, so Smart did not even have his players get together to watch. Rodriguez sat alone in his room watching the selection show. Jamie Skeen was down the road eating chicken wings. Smart, the staff and freshmen gathered in the coaches' offices. When the first half of the bracket was unveiled and VCU was not listed, Rhoades shook his head at Smart and went back to his office. So imagine the pandemonium when VCU saw its name, but then the outcry: Again an at-large CAA team had made it to the chagrin of the experts.
"I remember the videos we put together of everybody saying we didn't belong, and we didn't deserve to be there," Rhoades said. "All that stuff was fuel for the fire. Our guys had a competitive edge, and Shaka did an unbelievable job using the naysayers that doubted us as fuel for the fire and getting guys revved up for the us-against-the-world approach."
LSU went through the same: a team that finished .500 in SEC play without any believers outside their locker room.
So how did the Tigers do it?
"The French call it idee fixe -- whatever you fix in your mind and work at and demand, it happens," former LSU coach Dale Brown said. "You can't wish something, you have to will something. I had an exceptional number of kids that had a good attitude, and they knew we had one player who was ever going to play in the pros. The rest were journeymen types, but they all liked each other, they believed in the system we ran.
"I wouldn't be embellishing it to say it was a miracle. The sun could have danced in the sky and the sea could have parted that day, and it wouldn't have been as big a surprise to me as us getting to the Final Four."
The on-campus celebrations that ensued provide some of the best memories. Larranaga recalls a fireworks celebration and stadium filled with fans to greet them on their arrival home. VCU arrived back on campus at 1:30 a.m., after beating No. 1 seed Kansas, to a pep rally and 5,000 screaming fans in their arena. An hour later, as players tried to walk back to their dorms, they needed a police escort because so many fans lined the streets asking for pictures, autographs and handshakes.
"It was bigger than just our basketball team," Rhoades said. "It was for everybody."
Then came the challenging part: setting the euphoria aside to plan for the Final Four. Larranaga worked every day from 6 a.m. to midnight. Sometimes he would stay up later to reply to the hundreds of emails he received, feeling obligated to get back to all the well wishers. At one point during the week, he fell asleep during an interview.
"Whatever Porter Moser is going through right now, he's not getting any rest," Larranaga said. "He can't sleep. His staff is busy trying to carve out anything that's not important and any detail they think is. Every little detail you can prepare for really helps in these games."
"It's been crazy," Loyola-Chicago forward Aundre Jackson said. "Every corner you turn it's, 'Hey, congratulations, go win it all!' It's a nice feeling having everybody in the school support you, everybody in school knowing who you are and focusing on the basketball team, wanting you to win it. ... We know how to have fun and enjoy that moment, but whenever we step out on the court we've been preaching this all season long: lock in, lock in. This is what helps us win games. We want to win, so we do that."
Once they arrived for the Final Four at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis, Larranaga had a better idea what he was up against -- and it was far from ideal.
"Looking back on it, I thought our greatest obstacle was something we could not have prepared for, and that was the sheer size of the venue," Larranaga said. "We were in a football stadium. We looked little. It wasn't like a basketball venue. There's a greater distance in everything, and I think that impacted the way we shot the ball and the way we played. It was hard to coach."
George Mason lost to Florida, the eventual national champions, 73-58.
Brown wishes he had been more protective of his players during the week leading up to the Final Four to eliminate some of the distractions. But even that wouldn't have changed what he saw in the locker room at halftime in the semifinal against Louisville: a team that was completely spent.
"That's when it all hit me," Blanton said. "You can go on that momentum and adrenaline for a week or two, but by that third week, collectively as a group, we just didn't have enough energy in the second half against Louisville. Louisville played very well, but that's what happens. It catches up with you eventually."
It caught up with VCU, too. The Rams lost to Butler 70-62 in the semifinal. Rodriguez has never watched the game tape.
"I wish we would have won the whole thing," Rodriguez said. "You wish you could have it back. You wish you could go back and do things differently. Once you're at the point you know you have to win two more games, you want to win the whole thing."
That leads to the next question: Will Loyola-Chicago become the first No. 11 seed to make it to the national championship game, accomplishing something LSU, George Mason and VCU could not? Could the Ramblers even win the national championship?
"That goes back to the question: Did you ever think a 16 could beat a 1?" Larranaga said. "Yeah, it's going to happen. Can the 11-seed win? Yes. Of course. But you have to have the right combination of elements, and I think Loyola-Chicago is a team that has an excellent chance to win this weekend. You look at what Butler did: They were a 10-seed in 2010, and they were one Gordon Hayward shot away from winning the national championship. It will happen."
Larranaga knows first-hand what makes Loyola-Chicago tick: His Hurricanes lost to the Ramblers on a buzzer-beater in the first round. When they studied the game tape, they knew they'd be in for a challenge.
But there's something different about playing Final Four weekend, something the previous No. 11 seeds couldn't quite get past.
"From what I've seen, that same No. 11 seed that played the two weekends prior, they're not the same team that gets to the Final Four," Blanton said. "I think that's affected the 11-seed not being able to get to the final game. There's a bunch of variables that play into why. Ours was fatigue. I can't speak for the other two. Hopefully for Loyola-Chicago, they won't have to answer the question because they'll make it and get to the final."
And if they get into the final?
"I'm hoping they win," Brown said. "It's in my DNA to pull for the underdog."