Colleges Nicknames: Big Dogs on Campus

Today's list of college team nicknames continues with a list of 12 schools that have dog-related nicknames, including the three pictured here: Albany Great Danes, James Madison University Dukes and the Southern Illionois Salukis.

The Loyola (Md.) Greyhounds out of Baltimore are assured of a NCAA bid as they won the Metro Atlantic Conference tournament earlier this week.

The North Carolina State Wolfpack which won their ACC tournament opener over Boston College (not to be confused with Boston University which is on this list; for those of you in Malta, they are seaprate schools!) while playing in Atlanta today are among the 'bubble teams,' which may or may not make the NCAA field.

Here is our list of schools with dog or dog-related nicknames:

1. Alabama A & M Bulldogs, SWAC, Normal, Ala.

2. Albany Great Danes, America East, Albany, NY

3. Arkansas State Red Wolves, Sun Belt, Jonesboro, Ark.

4. Boston Uniersity Terriers, America East, Boston, Mass.

5. Georgia Bulldogs, SEC, Athens, Ga.

6. JMU Dukes, Colonial Athletic, Harrisonburg, Va.

7. Loyola (Md.) Greyhounds, Metro Atlantic, Baltimore, Md.

8. Marist Red Foxes, Metro Atlantic, Poughkeepsie, NY

9. Nevada Wolf Pack, Western Atletic, Reno, Nev.

10. North Carolina State Wolfpack, ACC, Raleigh, NC

11. Southern Illinois Salukis, Missouri Valley, Carbondale, Ill.

12. Washington Huskies, PAC-12, Seattle, Wash.

Wake Forest Advances in NCAA Tournament

It has not been a particularly good year for North Carolina schools in men's college basketball, with the exceptions of Duke and Wake Forest. None of the other NCAA Division One schools in the Triad, which includes The University of North Carolina-Greensboro, North Carolina A & T, Elon University and High Point University won their respective conference tournaments.

But, one team did.

And, last night, The Wake Forest Demon Deacons of Winston-Salem, NC, beat the University of Texas in New Orleans by an 81-80 score in overtime.

Wake Forest player Ishmael Smith scored the winning jumper. He described his emotions to the school's sports information office:

"I knew I wasn't going to get all the way to the lane," Smith said. "I knew I had to pull up, and thank God I made the shot."

The Demon Deacs next face top-seeded Kentucky on Saturday.

UPDATE: Alas, the game was a blow-out as the Wildcats won 90-60, but at least Ashley Judd is happy!

More ACC Mascots

We thought we'd get all the ACC mascots in (the rest are on my other blog "The Daily Vampire").

In my rush to get the first entries up, I forgot to mention that the University of North Carolina's women's gymnastics team, which is actually having a better year than the UNC men's basketball team (I wonder if UNC gymnastics coach Derek Galvin has brought this up the last time he ran into Roy Williams ........yeah, probably not) will be hosting West Virginia University in Chapel Hill. The meet starts at 1 p.m. on Saturday afternoon.

Despite losing to the highly-ranked University of Florida team in Gainesville last week, the 'Heels gymnastics team scored impressively well.

Kara Wright, a senior from Virginia Beach, was named EAGL gymnast of the week for her 39.2 score during the meet with the Gators.

Her teammate Christine Nguyen, a senior from Plano, Tex., has also won that honor several times.

As far as men's basketball is concerned, I would love to see the Virginia Tech Hokies or the North Carolina State Wolfpack win it all, but yeah....of course, Duke will win it all, but top-seeded Syracuse fell to Georgetown today at the Big East Tournament in Madison Square Garden.

But, Coach K is not known for choking......well except for that time they fell to VCU in the opening round of the NCAA tourney, but I don't expect that to happen in Greensboro.

ACC Tourney Underway in Greensboro, NC

To honor the ACC Tournamnet underway just down the road in Greensboro, NC, we thought we'd dedicate an entry to the mascots, especially since I have to teach a class here in Martinsville, Va. (not really where I'm at) here in a few minutes.

I expect Duke (pictured) to win the ACC tourney with Maryland (pictured) being the runners-up.

Here are the worst mascots (in my view) in the ACC:


1. Florida State Seminoles
2. Virginia Cavaliers
3. Boston College Golden Eagles
4. Miami (Fla) Hurricanes
5. Clemson Tigers
6. Georgia Tech Yellowjackets (pictured)

It should be an exciting weekend, especially for those of us who will veg out and watch the games on tv!