CHICAGO — Each prayer begins the same way, with “Good and gracious God.” Sister Jean Dolores-Schmidt always makes sure of that.

But it is in the words that follow that Sister Jean, the 98-year-old nun who serves as the team chaplain for Loyola University-Chicago’s N.C.A.A. tournament-bound basketball team, really finds her voice. She asks for God’s protection for the players. She asks for the referees to call fouls “justly.” She asks that the Ramblers execute the plays the way they were intended.

The prayers are anything but bipartisan.

“I ask God to be especially good to Loyola so that, at the end of the game, the scoreboard indicates a big ‘W’ for us,” she said.