A Catholic Lapse

There was a time, not too long ago, when Catholic colleges and universities dominated college basketball. However, as the Quad, the New York Times college sports blog, points out, Catholic basketball programs haven't found much success in recent tournaments. Since 1985, the year Villanova won it all, Seton Hall is the only Catholic school to play in a national championship game. That was in 1989, when I was 10, two years removed from my First Communion, and four years after Georgetown, St. John's and Villanova all reached the Final Four.

That was not considered especially noteworthy at the time, as Catholic colleges regularly made it to the season’s last weekend through the 1980s. Of the 40 teams in the Final Four that decade, seven were from Catholic colleges — Georgetown three times, St. John’s, Villanova, Providence and Seton Hall.

But in the 20 years since then, only three achieved the feat — Marquette in 2003, Georgetown in 2007 and now Villanova in 2009.

My faith calls for me to pull for Villanova, but my bracket demands Michigan State. Tom Izzo's father is Catholic: does that count?