March Madness has come to an end with the Villanova Wildcats standing as the NCAA champions for the second time in three seasons. Rather than basking in their glory, though, the players are glorifying God.

“Just coming from where I come from, I always dreamed it. I’m keeping my faith high and making sure that we do all the right things,” said Villanova forward Eric Paschall. “I just feel like we’re all blessed to be here at this atmosphere, being in San Antonio, being able to come down here. My mom shoots me texts every day. Just saying how blessed you are and how humble to be around this, so definitely…she shoots me Bible verses. If you go through my phone there’s a whole bunch. So she keeps my faith really high. It just keeps me level-headed you know. Just to know that there’s someone higher out there.”

Guard Mike Kennedy agreed and said that his faith kept him grounded during the “crazy ride” of the season. “I think faith has been a good driving force for that. In the grand scheme of things, this is an amazing event that we’re going to be remembered forever,” said Kennedy. “But it’s still a basketball game, just keeping faith always in mind always helps us keep perspective and keeps us humble and hungry.”

“Everything that happens to me is a blessing man,” said Villanova guard Omari Spellman. “And, I’m incredibly blessed to be here and, I can’t stress enough how blessed I am to be in the position that I am and that’s all a credit to God.”

Villanova bested the Michigan Wolverines 79 to 62 on Monday, April 2, 2018, to secure the championship. The Villanova Wildcats, however, are not the only ones speaking out about their faith following the championship game. Even in defeat, the players for Michigan focused on their faith.

Among those players using faith to keep events in perspective was Austin Hatch. Hatch has survived two plane crashes. The first cost him his mother, brother and sister in 2003. The second killed his father and step-mother in 2011 and left Hatch so severely injured that he was unable to walk. Following an extensive recovery, Hatch was able to return to the basketball court for a season and use his life to show his team that all things are possible through Christ.

“My faith has always been there. It’s always going to be there,” said Hatch. “It’s not going anywhere. And that’s one thing that I’ve been able to really, really lean on in the midst of all that I’ve lost. And you’d think that your family is always going to be there, hopefully, they always will be. I’ve had to learn that the hard way that unfortunately that’s not the case for everyone. But my faith will always be there man. Always.”