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Sister Jean Dolores Schmidt will be in the house this weekend in St. Louis as Loyola attempts to head back to the NCAA Tournament for the third time in five years.

“She’s fired up and ready to go,” Ramblers coach Drew Valentine said on a teleconference Thursday on the eve of the Ramblers’ quarterfinal game against Bradley in the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament in St. Louis.

The 102-year-old team chaplain became famous during the team’s Final Four run in 2018 and was back in the national limelight last March in Indianapolis when she predicted Loyola’s upset win over top-seeded Illinois in the second round.

“She definitely takes the pressure off of us,” Valentine said with a smile.

In truth, the pressure is squarely on the Ramblers, despite falling to the No. 4 seed after Saturday’s loss at Northern Iowa deprived them of the MVC title. Loyola’s success under former coach Porter Moser made the Ramblers a nationally known midmajor program and factored in to the university moving to the Atlantic 10 Conference on July 1. They’re now a program other midmajors hope to emulate, No. 4 seed or not.

Valentine, 30, who looks young enough to be a fifth-year grad student, inherited a team that brought back several of its top players, including Lucas Williamson, Marquise Kennedy and Braden Norris while adding Dartmouth graduate transfer Chris Knight to help keep the flame going. Despite some hiccups, including a long layoff from COVID-19 postponements, they’re where they wanted to be.

This might not best the most talented Loyola team of the last five years. But it has enough experience and chemistry to win big games and has retained the strong defensive identity forged under Moser’s reign.

The Ramblers lost Kennedy to a left knee injury last month, but he’s expected to return Friday against fifth-seeded Bradley. That should boost to the Loyola offense, which lacks an inside game besides forward Aher Uguak and has missed Kennedy’s slashing and big-play ability.

Most of the analytics suggest only one MVC team will be invited to the NCAA Tournament, the automatic bid that goes to the conference tournament winner. Valentine believes the conference is “definitely deserving of multiple bids” and suggested his team’s performance in the early-season Atlantis tournament, which included close losses to Auburn and Michigan State, proved “we can play with anybody in the country.” Valentine even pointed to a December win over DePaul, noting the Blue Demons handily beat Marquette on Wednesday night.

“I think we’ve shown that we belong,” he said. “We matter.”

Loyola was rated No. 31 in net rankings on Thursday, ahead of big-name programs such as Michigan State (35), Marquette (38), North Carolina (40) and Notre Dame (52). But as a midmajor, the cards are stacked against the Ramblers, so they know it could be win-or-else.

The Ramblers proved in 2018 and ’21 they can make some noise during March Madness … if they only get in via Arch Madness. And there might be even more parity in men’s basketball this season, with the top six teams in the nation all losing on the same day Saturday for the first time in history.

Loyola knows how to up its game in March. Meanwhile, the Ramblers also know they have one of the world’s most recognizable nuns in their corner.

“She’s such a positive role model for the community,” Valentine said of Sister Jean. “Honestly, an icon. We love Sister. She’s a great supporter a great friend of the program, and it’s been awesome to watch her blossom into the international superstar that she is.”

Valentine paused for a second.

“And that’s self-proclaimed too,” he added.