Basketball Belief: How the 16 Teams Left in March Madness Reflect Spirituality

SOUTH

North Carolina: The No. 1 seeded Tarheels boast plenty of players who say that their faith is important to them. “It’s meant everything,” guard Nate Britt told CBN before last year’s Final Four. “We wouldn’t be here without Christ. You have to give all the praise and glory to Him.” Justin Jackson, a junior forward this year, echoed those thoughts. “Every time I step on the court I say a prayer [that] it’s His will, not mine,” he said. “Whatever His plan is … that’s what it is for my life.”

Butler: This private Indiana university was founded by members of the Christian Church (a.k.a. the Disciples of Christ) way back in 1855. Interestingly, from its very beginnings, Butler’s charter insisted that the school would be a “non-sectarian institution free from the taint of slavery, offering instruction in every branch of liberal and professional education.” It boasts a “Center for Faith and Vocation,” which helps both students and faculty to tap into the campus’s religious communities. “Whether you are a person of faith, a devout questioner or someone who is hoping to use the college experience as an exploration of your own passions, you are welcome at the CFV,” the center’s homepage reads.

UCLA: Any discussion of UCLA basketball begins with its legendary coach John Wooden, who led the Bruins to a staggering 10 national championships and is considered by many to be the greatest college coach who ever lived. The day he graduated from grade school, he said, his father gave him a card with a list of “Seven Things to Do.” “Drink deeply from good books, especially the Bible,” one of those seven said. “Pray for guidance and give thanks for your blessings every day,” said another. “I still carry it with me,” he admitted several decades later. He read his Bible every day until his death in 2010, at the age of 99.

Kentucky: John Calipari, coach of the Kentucky Wildcats, is a faithful Catholic who celebrates Mass every morning. In his book, Coaching From the Inside Out, he writes, “It’s how I start my day and it’s my moment of peace, almost meditation.” He told The Boston Pilot that ”It’s important to me that people know I have a strong faith.” But when he coached in Memphis, he’d also attend his wife’s Methodist church on Sundays. “They called me a ‘Metholic,’” he joked.