SUCCUMBING TO MADNESS — Did you feel that?

There’s something in the air. The springtime feeling. The shifting winds. The bouncing balls on hardwood floors.

Yep, this is March — home of the madness.

Here are some of our favorite moments from the opening weekend of the NCAA Tournament.

Hey soul sister

Loyola Chicago advanced to the Sweet 16 for the first time since it last made the NCAA Tournament in 1985.

And the star of the Ramblers isn’t leading scorer Clayton Custer, star big man Donte Ingram or head coach Porter Moser.

It’s Jean Dolores-Schmidt — better known to the world as "Sister Jean."

Sister Jean is the squad’s 98-year-old team chaplain who has led the Ramblers’ pregame prayers since 1994. And even before Loyola became one of two teams seeded 11th to advance to the Sweet 16, she captured the nation’s heart with her spunky wit, lively demeanor and pronouncement setting the Ramblers into the Sweet 16 on her own bracket.

A high school basketball player who was born in San Francisco, Sister Jean entered a convent in Chicago and taught at Mundelein College from 1961-1990. When the school merged with Loyola in 1991, she joined the faculty as an academic adviser — but never left her love of basketball behind.

Her pregame prayers with the players are part-blessing, part-scouting report, and she reportedly gave Moser a bulky folder with reports on each of his players when he took the job in 2011.

“She tells us who their best players are and what to watch out for,” Custer told ESPN.com. “Sometimes she’ll pray for the referee to make the right calls.

“And at the end, she’ll literally pray that we come out on top.”

Loyola Chicago will face fellow upstart Nevada Thursday in Atlanta.

Nevada is Sweet 16-bound

Nevada marches on in March, and the Mountain West champion Wolfpack will head into the Round of 16.

How do you celebrate the school’s second Sweet 16 appearance in school history?

If you’re head coach Eric Musselman, less is more.

We would say we are surprised, but this is the same coach who dropped a few epic F-bombs after his team’s stunning rally against Texas in the first round.

When reached for comment, Nevada’s official Twitter account had this to say.

If that’s a little hard to understand, here’s the translation.

Nevada trailed by as much as 22 points against second-seeded Cincinnati, marking the second-largest comeback in NCAA Tournament history. It was the largest comeback since BYU rallied from 25-down in a First Four win over Iona in 2012.

No, THIS is March

Joining the Wolfpack in the Sweet 16 is Michigan, which completed its own rally to top Houston on Jordan Poole’s epic buzzer-beater, 64-63 Saturday night.

But that’s not the story of the game.

Houston’s Corey Davis Jr. sat stunned while watching the Wolverines flood the course after an emotional win in Wichita, Kansas. Silenced, dejected and no doubt in plenty of pain, Michigan’s Mo Wagner slowed his own roll and extended a hand — even an embrace — around the junior from Lafayette, Louisiana.

And whether you are a fan of Michigan, Houston or even That Team Down South, you can appreciate the sportsmanship shown at the height of the greatest sporting event in the country.

The Wolverines will play No. 7-seed Texas A&M Thursday in Los Angeles.

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