What is a Christian Brother, you may ask. Brother Ed explains: St. John the Baptist de La Salle, the patron saint of teachers, created the order in the 17th century to educate children, especially the poor. To join the order, Brother Ed took vows of chastity, poverty, obedience, stability (he would remain a Brother) and association (he would associate with other Brothers to teach). La Salle, in Philadelphia, is one of six Christian Brothers colleges in the United States, according to Brother Ed. (Another is St. Mary’s College, which lost in the first round of the tournament.)

Brother Ed is believed to be the first Christian Brother to have his own bobblehead doll.

Traditionally, before each game, the Explorers huddle to listen to an original Brother Ed prayer. He doesn’t write them down. Rarely does he repeat himself. And, really, they are part-prayer, part-pep talk, sprinkled with La Salle history and motivational quips.

One he has repeated goes like this: “Lord, help us to remember the line from ‘Hoosiers’: ‘Forget the size of the crowd, forget their fancy uniforms, remember what brought us here.’ Lord, help us to remember how we have played in big games.”

When the prayer is completed and the players head for warm-ups, Brother Ed spends 10 minutes alone in the locker room with Coach John Giannini. Brother Ed asks about Giannini’s daughters and his cat, Sherlock. And Giannini asks about Brother Ed’s classes and school. They talk about everything except basketball.