Loyola’s Drew Valentine says Ramblers are NCAA-worthy with or without A-10 tourney title

The best part of Loyola men’s basketball coach Drew Valentine’s Saturday?

Oh, that’s easy. It had to be the dinner he enjoyed with wife Taylor at RPM Seafood in River North. They had drinks. They split the miso black cod and a steak. Caesars salad, Brussels sprouts, charred broccolini and french fries also were involved. It tasted like victory.

On second thought, the few hours spent earlier in the day at Gentile Arena in Rogers Park may have been even better. Seniors were hugged, a ladder was climbed and a net was snipped down — piece by beautiful piece — after the Ramblers beat La Salle 64-54 to finish the regular season tied for first place in the Atlantic 10.

Valentine didn’t receive confirmation that Richmond had lost at George Mason — opening the door to a tie — until four minutes remained in a game the Ramblers were leading by 12.

“Holy [expletive], this is awesome,” he said right then on the sideline, taking it in.

An A-10 championship — a year after Loyola’s disappointing 15th-place debut in the league — still felt mighty fine as Valentine got his Sunday started. But his mind was moving quickly to Thursday, when his team will play its first game, after a two-round bye, in the conference tournament in Brooklyn, N.Y.

The Ramblers (23-8) could open with seventh-seeded St. Bonaventure, the last team to beat them. Regardless of whom they play, the challenge likely will be the same: Win three games in three days at Barclays Center and cut down another net — or forget about making the NCAA Tournament.

Wedging in a morning phone call as he fed two-year-old daughter Hayden, Valentine hoped the tournament selection committee wouldn’t see things so matter-of-factly. The Ramblers NET ranking of 84 is far from ideal, and they have only one Quad 1 win — against Dayton — but they did just go 15-3 in the eighth-strongest conference according to the metrics. And they could have a chance to meet and beat Dayton again in the A-10 semifinals. If they get to the final but lose it, will their chance to Dance really go “poof” just like that?

“I think if we win two in Brooklyn, we’ll have an argument,” he said. “At some point, they’ve got to want to get the top 68 teams in the field. We’re clearly [no worse than] one of the top 50-60 teams in the country.”

Loyola thought it was getting out of the one-bid-league business when it moved up from the Missouri Valley to the A-10, which put at least two teams into the NCAA field every year from 2006 to 2022. But last year’s regular-season champ, VCU, danced alone after winning the conference tournament. Dayton — easily the highest-rated team this year despite its third-place finish — probably will fly solo if it takes the crown in Brooklyn. If Richmond, Loyola or another team wins the automatic bid, the Flyers still will get in as an at-large selection.

For the Ramblers, coming so far but missing out on the tournament every player and coach longs to be in would taste like a bitter pill.

Still, what Valentine told his happy team in the locker room Saturday will always be true:

“All I know,” he said in a moment captured on video, “is the ’Blers are champs, baby!”