There are 345 schools that participate in Division I men’s college basketball. It sometimes seems as if there are just as many different religious affiliations among all these schools. But which are the best?
Unlike college football, where big, secular state schools are dominant, there are numerous prominent basketball schools that have religious ties, from Roman Catholic orders such as Jesuit (Boston College) to Methodist (Southern Methodist) to Baptist (Baylor) to Mormon (Brigham Young).
Among the groups that have more than one Division I basketball school, the top winning percentage belongs to the Vincentians (.611), a Catholic order, which includes Big East programs St. John’s and DePaul. The Augustinians, another Catholic order, have a winning percentage of .641, but they are represented only by Villanova.
BYU, the lone Division I Mormon school, has a .620 winning percentage.
On the other end of the spectrum, the Baptist colleges have struggled historically, winning just 48% of their total games. (These teams consist of Big 12 member Baylor and mostly small schools in the South, including Houston Baptist and Charleston Southern.).
Who’s on Top? Some men’s basketball winning percentages
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