The presence of Villanova and Loyola-Chicago at this year’s Final Four – as well as Immaculata’s three consecutive women’s national championships in the mid-1970s – is evidence that Catholic schools punch well above their weight in college basketball, writes Marc Tracy for The New York Times.

Half of the No. 1 seeds in this year’s NCAA Tournament were Catholic teams, as were eight of the 64 teams that made the bracket.

[uam_ad id=”58459″]

Advertisement

The history of basketball excellence at Catholic colleges stretches back as long as the tournament itself:

• Holy Cross, La Salle, San Francisco, and Loyola all won titles from 1947 to 1963.
• Marquette’s golden age was in the late 1960s and ’70s.
• The 1985 Final Four included three Catholic schools (St. John’s, Georgetown, and Villanova).
• Gonzaga has had an extraordinary run of 20 consecutive tournament berths, including in last year’s championship game.

“Several characteristics of Catholicism in America, both sociological and spiritual, have helped determine this affinity,” writes Tracy. “The Catholic Church’s decision not to abandon the urban poor in America in the second half of the 20th century, when so many other institutions did, was particularly significant.”

Click here to read more about Catholic colleges and basketball in The New York Times.

[uam_ad id=”74306″]