(RNS) — March Madness ends tonight with the ultimate church league showdown. For the first time in two years, the NCAA will crown a new men’s Division I basketball champion on Monday (April 5).
The game features teams from Baylor University, the world’s largest Baptist university, and Gonzaga University, one of the nation’s 28 Jesuit Catholic schools, dueling it out for the NCAA title in a climactic ecclesial clash.
Gonzaga guard Jalen Suggs shoots over UCLA guard David Singleton to win the game during overtime in a men’s Final Four NCAA college basketball tournament semifinal game on April 3, 2021, at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. (Michael Conroy/Associated Press)
It will be the first time a team from a Protestant university has squared off against a Catholic school for the men’s basketball title — and only the second time a pair of Christian schools have met in the title game. Whichever team wins will be the third team from a faith-based university to win the big dance in the last five years.
Read the five faith facts here: https://wordandway.org/2021/04/05/5-faith-facts-as-baylor-gonzaga-square-off-for-ncaa-hoops-crown/