BYU basketball player Delaney Gibb during an interview recently talked about her team, smack dab in the middle of a postseason tournament, taking Sunday off from practice to focus on religious matters, as she said it, “that are bigger than basketball.”

That comment, filmed and posted on the internet, has drawn millions of views.

Gibb, who averaged 18 points, five rebounds and a fraction shy of five assists this season, filled out her thought like this: “Obviously, we don’t have that day to prepare and to be able to improve and get better. So when you’re looking at it from that standpoint, it might seem unfair or just a bit more challenging. But I think when you step back and look at it, from a perspective of our team and the culture that we’ve built and the faith that we have, it’s a day that we get to have a different perspective on life. And there are things that are bigger than basketball, and Jesus Christ and having faith in him is something that’s bigger than basketball.”

The sophomore guard wasn’t so much fanatically or fervently preaching the word to what turned out to be a wide congregation, she was simply explaining why the BYU women would leave the gym empty the day before they faced off against Kansas in the semifinal of something called the WBIT, an invitational playoff. As it happened, the Cougars beat the Jayhawks in that game, avenging a 21-point loss to Kansas earlier this season.

BYU subsequently dropped the championship game to Columbia on Wednesday night.

Why would Gibb’s response get so many views, so much attention?

There might be a number of reasons, but a beautiful one is that in a time when sports are considered, as one famous school president/pastor said it, “the God of our age,” a group of athletes is setting the priority of their game aside for spiritual pursuits, even for one day a week.

Viewers are interested in, fascinated by the idea that teams at BYU, owned and operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, do not — at least not officially — practice or play on Sundays. That’s central to understanding what BYU at least tries to be all about. It would be disingenuous to say no BYU coaches or players focus on or do prep at all for their sport on the Sabbath. Some do.

But, either way, in modern college sports, for teams to back off just a bit on Sunday is extremely rare, even among religious schools. The NCAA does what it can to accommodate the handful of colleges that stand firm on that policy and point. For instance, when BYU teams or BYU athletes qualify for postseason competitions, officials either juggle schedules or assign the Cougars to specific events held on other days. A well-known example of that is the NCAA basketball tournaments, in which BYU is placed in regions that play on Thursdays and Saturdays, not Fridays and Sundays.

I’ve always preferred to keep religion out of competitive sports. Not completely out of sports, not on a personal level, but separate from them. Separate from their outcomes.

And the reason is simple. If two teams are battling one another on the court or on the field or on the diamond or on the ice or on the pitch, one side is going to win, one will lose. If the victors point to the heavens, giving God credit for their win, what does that say about or mean for the poor losers? God wanted them or arranged for those less-blessed to taste defeat? The view here is that God isn’t a season-ticket holder for either or any specific team.

Let them play and let them win or lose on their own merits. Divine intervention can take a rest. I figure the heavens are good with that. Everyone else should be, too.

Otherwise, eternally inconsequential matters like sports can turn into crass determinations of who is and who isn’t on the Lord’s side. They can devolve into … what’s this, holy wars? — and who in their ever-loving right minds would want that?

As for Gibb and other Cougars explaining what they do and why they do it, that’s all good. They aren’t — or at least in this case didn’t seem to be — saying they step out of the gym and go worship for a day because that helps them beat the daylights out of their opponents. Who knows? Maybe on their own time they do go ahead and sharpen their skills on Sunday. A whole lot of Latter-day Saint athletes, college and pro, practice and play on that day. And they are no less righteous.

While they’re at BYU, though, it’s more a matter of it helping some of them live in a manner that, worship as they will or as BYU wants them to, brings them personal and spiritual connection and peace.

In a world that can use all of that and more, as long as it hurts nobody else, then it’s good for who it’s for and no harm to anyone. It might be a little inconvenient for others, but that’s it.

And if that’s true, then here’s to hoping Delaney Gibb’s video gets millions of more views, for the perspective and the beauty that can be found there.