Here we are again with our tenth annual look at Catholic colleges who have qualified for the NCAA Men’s and Women’s basketball tournaments, also known as “March Madness.”
The exercise is an interesting one because many of your students are familiar with filling out brackets for an NCAA pool and you can use the current nature and popularity of the event to teach something about the traditions of the Catholic colleges participating, their founding religious community, a namesake saint, and much more.
To begin, pass out a printable bracket sheet (one for the men’s tournament and one for the women’s tournament) and ask the students to circle each of the Catholic college. Then have them “rank” the Catholic colleges according to the number they were seeded in the tournament (there will be some ties).
You might also pass out a blank map of the United States and have the students locate the Catholic colleges by location. Finally, have the student’s research and name the sponsoring Catholic religious congregation for each college.
Here are the keys to the exercises listed above.
Catholic Colleges in the Men’s Tournament
South
Villanova
West
Holy Cross
Saint Joseph’s
East
Providence
Notre Dame
Xavier
Midwest
Iona
Seton Hall
Gonzaga
Dayton
Rankings of Catholic Colleges in the Men’s Tournament (seeding in parenthesis)
- Seton Hall (8 Bridgeport)
Xavier (2 East)
- Notre Dame (6 East)
Seton Hall (6 Midwest)
- Dayton 7 (Midwest)
- Saint Joseph’s (8 West)
- Providence (9 East)
- Gonzaga (11 Midwest)
- Iona (13 Midwest)
- Holy Cross (16 West)
Locations of Catholic Colleges in the Men’s Tournament
Pennsylvania
Villanova
Saint Joseph’s
Massachusetts
Holy Cross
Rhode Island
Providence
Indiana
Notre Dame
Ohio
Xavier
Dayton
New York
Iona
New Jersey
Seton Hall
Washington
Gonzaga
Sponsoring Religious Congregations of Catholic Colleges in the Men’s Tournament
Order of Saint Augustine (Augustinians)
Villanova
Society of Jesus (Jesuits)
Saint Joseph’s
Holy Cross
Xavier
Gonzaga
Dominicans
Providence
Congregation of Holy Cross
Notre Dame
Marianists
Dayton
Congregation of Christian Brothers
Iona
Diocesan Sponsored
Seton Hall
Catholic Colleges in the Women’s Tournament
Bridgeport
Seton Hall
Duquesne
Dallas
St. John’s
DePaul
St. Bonaventure
Sioux Falls
None
Lexington
Notre Dame
San Francisco
Iona
Rankings of Catholic Colleges in the Women’s Tournament (seeding in parenthesis)
- Notre Dame (1 Lexington)
- Seton Hall (8 Bridgeport)
- Duquesne (9 Bridgeport)
St. John’s (8 Dallas)
- St. Bonaventure (10 Dallas)
- San Francisco (13 Lexington)
- Iona (15 Lexington)
Locations of Catholic Colleges in the Women’s Tournament
New Jersey
Seton Hall
Pennsylvania
Duquesne
Illinois
DePaul
New York
St. Bonaventure
Iona
Indiana
Notre Dame
California
San Francisco
Sponsoring Religious Congregations of Catholic Colleges in the Women’s Tournament
Diocesan Sponsored
Seton Hall
Congregation of the Holy Spirit
Duquesne
Vincentians
DePaul
Franciscans
St. Bonaventure
Congregation of Holy Cross
Notre Dame
Society of Jesus (Jesuits)
San Francisco
Congregation of Christian Brothers
Iona
