Hayden Valentine is going to the “Wolfies” game Wednesday night.
That’s what she calls Loyola University’s men’s basketball team, which is coached by her father, Drew. Aren’t they the Ramblers? Sure, they are. But the mascot, the LU Wolf, is the star of the show as far as this 3-year-old sees it.
Before a 7 p.m. game against George Washington at Gentile Arena, though, it’ll be Hayden’s turn in the spotlight. On Cerebral Palsy Awareness Night, she’ll take the court with Drew and mom Taylor and get to represent all her schoolmates in attendance from the Center for Independence in Countryside, which provides intensive physical and occupational therapy to children and young adults with cerebral palsy and other motor disorders.
The student section will be decked out in black T-shirts with “YOU GOT THIS!” in big, green letters, too. Green is the official color of cerebral palsy awareness. The quote is what Hayden loves to remind herself when therapy exercises get really hard.
You got this, Hayden 💚
In honor of Cerebral Palsy Awareness Month in March, join Rambler basketball this Wednesday for our CP Awareness Night. Show your support for Hayden and her fellow CP community, while cheering on her dad & favorite team! pic.twitter.com/wEin8o3kIz
— Loyola Men’s Basketball (@RamblersMBB) February 25, 2025
You might remember we visited Hayden before the season and told you about her playful, spirited personality as well as her neurodisability, which affects both of her legs and her left arm. Guided by her parents, both former serious athletes, she puts in loads of work. It’ll be a night for her and her schoolmates to shine.
“To be in our situation and have a young child with a disability in a big city with a whole community around that child, not a lot of people are in that position,” Drew Valentine said. “We want to make every person feel welcome, supported and loved.”
With the possible exception of the Revolutionaries from George Washington, that is.
Valentine’s team needs to be on our collective sports radar with March all but upon us. The Ramblers are hot, having won four games in a row. They’re alone in third place in the 15-team Atlantic 10 and — with four regular-season games left — in excellent position to land a double-bye into the quarterfinals of the conference tournament, as the top four teams in the standings will.
There’s only one path for the Ramblers (18-9) to the NCAA Tournament, and that’s up a ladder to cut down the nets at the A10 tournament in Washington, D.C.
They certainly have a team capable of winning that event, as evidenced by three of their league losses. They fell in overtime at George Mason, which is tied for first place with VCU. They led for much of the second half and were down only a bucket with five minutes to go against VCU. And they’ve split with ever-formidable Dayton, losing on the road in overtime.
A basket or a stop here and there, and the Ramblers could have been in the running for first place. They tied for first a year ago after a season-long dogfight with Richmond and Dayton.
With guards Des Watson’s, Jayden Dawson’s and Sheldon Edwards’ scoring ability and Miles Rubin — the conference’s leading shot blocker — defending the rim, the Ramblers are dangerous. The levels of talent and athleticism in Rogers Park have been ticking upward since Valentine’s first team won the Missouri Valley tournament in 2022 in the school’s final season in that league.
“We’ve had our highest recruiting [rankings] ever three years in a row,” Valentine noted.
The obvious, if ridiculous, question: Who’d win a best-of-seven series between the Cinderella team that went all the way to the Final Four in 2018 — Valentine was an assistant to Porter Moser then — and this one?
“I don’t know,” Valentine said, laughing. “It would be interesting, though. It would be entertaining to watch.”
Seldom remembered by fans is the fact that thrilling 2018 run almost didn’t even get off the ground. Those Ramblers barely survived the first game of their conference tournament, against Northern Iowa, which missed a jumper that could’ve sent it to overtime.
The Valley was a one-bid league then, and the A10 might be a one-bid league this season, with VCU potentially the only team able to get into the Big Dance as an at-large. For everyone else, the outlook will be to win three (or more) in Washington or bust. No conference tournament has been more unpredictable than the A10’s, which has had eight schools win championships over the last eight runnings.
“You want your group playing with an edge, with something to prove, with some sort of underdog mentality,” Valentine said.
A nice motto wouldn’t hurt, either. A little girl the “Wolfies” know might even have one they could borrow.
