“In so many ways, sports reinforce the best lessons of religion,” Interfaith America president and founder, Eboo Patel, wrote for Deseret News a few summers back, reflecting on principles — like discipline, responsibility, rules, respect and fairness — that both span religious traditions and manifest themselves in athletics.
The NCAA basketball championships wrapped up earlier this week with victories for the University of Connecticut Women’s Huskies and University of Florida Men’s Gators, and throughout the course of the tournaments, many college basketball players, including champions among the final four teams, have spoken openly about how religion shapes their performance on court and in life.
Women’s 2025 champions, UConn teammates and roommates Paige Bueckers and Jana El Alfy, demonstrated an achievement for interfaith cooperation during this year’s tournament.
As CT Insider reported last month, “Bueckers [had] chosen to support the native of Egypt through Ramadan this year by getting up before dawn most days and cooking breakfast for El Alfy before her daily fast.”
The intersection of the NCAA tournaments with Ramadan, as embodied in Bueckers and El Alfy’s relationship this year and California State University San Bernadino Athletic director Shareef Amer’s experience, which Interfaith America featured during last year’s tournament season, has presented unique opportunities for teams to speak openly about faith and embrace connection across religious difference.
Hard-earned victories and challenging losses inspire players across the NCAA to open up about their faith journeys, what grounds them in the competition and how they understand religious identity as a source of pride. Meet five NCAA players and leaders from this year’s tournament, including Bueckers and El Alfy, whose faith plays a role in their performance:
Paige Bueckers
University of Connecticut Huskies
2025 Women’s NCAA Champion
Senior guard for the University of Connecticut, Bueckers not only led her team to the Final Four during her freshman and sophomore seasons but earned them the title against the South Carolina Gamecocks this year. Bueckers, projected to be the first overall draft pick in the 2025 WNBA draft, often points to her Christian faith as motivation for her team’s success. “If I could say one thing, it would be to stand firm in who you are,” she shared in an interview with ESPN immediately following her championship win. “There’s people that will doubt you because you’re doing it on your strength alone. We lean on God’s strength here, and through God’s power, for God’s purposes. We’re not doing this alone.”
Jana El Alfy
University of Connecticut Huskies
2025 Women’s NCAA Champion
El Alfy, sophomore center for the Huskies, is a native of Egypt and a practicing Muslim. A member of this year’s championship team, she has spoken about her fasting practice during the holy month of Ramadan, rooted in commitments she began making as an 11-year-old insistent on fasting alongside her parents. “I was very stubborn with my parents,” she told CT Insider last month in regard to fasting, “I was really like ‘Oh, you guys do it, I want to do it too.” In a locker room interview with Storrs Central earlier this week, she shared how she couldn’t have made it this far “if it wasn’t for God, my family, coaching staff, and coach.”
Dylan Cardwell
Auburn University Tigers
2025 Men’s NCAA Final Four Player
Auburn University center, Dylan Cardwell, is departing the team this year after a five-year career with the Tigers under Jewish coach Bruce Pearl, which culminated in a Final Four game against the Florida Gators, who went on to take the championship. Cardwell, who describes himself in his Instagram bio as a “Servant of Christ,” has spoken boldly about the role of his Christian faith in performance on the court. In a press conference after his final game, Cardwell spoke of the significance of faith, though practiced differently across the team, in success for Auburn. “Though Christianity and Judaism might have our differences,” he said, “we believe in the same God, and it’s just been great and encouraging to be under a coach who is just so vocal about his own faith but allows us to pursue our own. He encourages us to be vocal about the role faith plays on this team. It’s the biggest role possible. We wouldn’t be here without it.”
Amina Muhammed
University of Oregon Ducks
NCAA Women’s Tournament Player
Though the Ducks ceded to the Duke Blue Devils in the first round of this year’s women’s tournament, junior Amina Muhammed contributed to a 20-12 season for the team this year as a starting forward. Muhammed shares about her Muslim faith on Instagram, with a bio reading, “All praise to الله.” She recently posted about her Eid celebration, and, as Dilshad Ali wrote for RNS last year, is among a number of female Muslim players leading change in the sport.
Ian Jackson
University of North Carolina Tarheels
NCAA Men’s Tournament Player
UNC Tarheels freshman Ian Jackson’s Muslim faith is a huge part of his life, which, as the Tarheel Tribune reports, he chose to pursue “three years ago, even though his parents aren’t Muslim.” Jackson, who led the Tarheels in scoring 10 times this season, leading up to UNC final matchup and first round loss to Ole Miss, spoke on the experience of fasting during Ramadan amid the tournament’s demands. “My faith comes first,” he said, “so I’m fasting. God allows me to have the strength to go out there and play.”
