Do Catholic Colleges Dominate College BB?
When St. Louis University coach Majerus got called to the principal’s office a few weeks ago for making comments unbecoming of a Catholic school coach… it was news to us that St. Louis U. is a Catholic school.
It also drew attention, though, to the fact that there’s yet another high-profile college basketball program at a Catholic institution.
Looking at today’s AP Top 25, for example, there are five Catholic colleges and universities on the list: Xavier (#10), Georgetown (#12), Notre Dame (21), St. Mary’s (23), and Marquette (25). And, Gonzaga is just on the outside.
To put these numbers in contrast, there are 186 schools that are part of
Lest anyone think that the current 20% is an aberration, a look at the number of Catholic schools that have won NCAA Men’s Basketball championships includes… Georgetown, Holy Cross, Marquette, Villanova, LaSalle, and San Francisco (current home to coaching legend Eddie Sutton). Catholic squads that have come close — in recent years — include Gonzaga and St. Joseph’s.
As for whether this apparent pattern holds for women’s hoops, we’ll save that question for another day; however, the dominance of Immaculata offers some additional evidence that Catholic schools have traditionally done well with the hoop and ball.
We’ll also leave it for another day to consider the extent to which players (and coaches) on these schools’ teams are (active) members of the Catholic Church….
In the meantime, we’re left wondering if all of those backboards in the schoolyards of Catholic schools and all of those Catholic Youth Organization (CYO) leagues… explain at least some of the apparent dominance.
Tags: catholic, cyo, georgetown, gonzaga, immaculata, majerus, marquette, NCAA, notre dame, st. mary's, villanova, xavier
