NCAA March Madness Finale- Angry Birds

1) Delaware Blue Hens (Logo pictured top, Vice President Joe Biden is a fan)

2) Iowa Hawkeyes  (Adam Woodbury, #34, pictured top)

3) Coastal Carolina Chanticleers (Chauncey the Chanticleer is pictured bottom, the school is near Myrtle Beach, SC)

4) Louisville Cardinals*

5) Creighton Bluejays ^

6) North Carolina Central Eagles

7) St. Joseph Hawks

8) Air Force Falcons #

9) Kansas Jayhawks

10) Vanderbilt Commodores #

*-Team advanced to Sweet 16

^- Team has not been eliminated, but is trailing by 20 points at press time

#-Teams which did not make the field of 68 teams

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/

Canine Nicknames and Mascots Amongst College Basketball Schools

According to a bracketologist for "Slate," the Albany Great Danes, a 16-seed team that lost to the Florida Gators in spite of playing a solid game, would have been the team to win it all based on dog lovers' choices.

But, long before we saw that bracket, we thought of the idea. In fact, we usually post an entry with canine college nicknames every March (we think!).

Here are ten schools with doggie nicknames and doggie mascots:

1) Albany Great Danes.*

2) Univ. of Connecticut Huskies. Jonathan the Husky (pictured top)*

3) Georgetown Hoyas. Jack the Bulldog (former legendary Georgetown coach John Thompson and Patrick Ewing are pictured center)^

4) Boston Univ. Terriers. Rhett the Boston Terrier. (pictured bottom)^

5) Gonzaga Bulldogs. Spike.*

6) Louisiana Tech Bulldogs. ^

7) Wofford Terriers.*

8) Washington U Huskies. Harry the Husky.

9) Southern Illinois Salukis.

10) Yale Bulldogs. Handsome Dan.

http://www.slate.com

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/

NCAA Nicknames: Smart Schools

There is a bit of an in-joke here as the editor has decided to insert his own alma mater, although it is not a college which requires a sky high SAT score for entry. But, the other nine schools have that requirement (not all of these teams are in the NCAA Tournament):

1) Harvard Crimson  Ivy League. Cambridge (Boston), Mass., (John Harvard, the school mascot, pictured top. Yesterday, the school upset Cincinnati. They next face Michigan State)

2) UCLA Bruins. PAC-12. Los Angeles, Calif. (Bryce Alford, the son of UCLA's coach Steve Alford, is pictured along with a teammate. They play Tulsa tonight).

3) Duke Blue Devils. ACC. Durham, NC (The team's cheerleaders are pictured bottom. Amazingly enough, the team is losing by one-point to Mercer in Raleigh, in the NCAA Tournament. Will star player Jabari Parker prevent it?).

4) Radford Highlanders. Big South. Radford, Va. (Yes, this is your's truly's alma mater. Though not in the NCAAs, the team pulled a huge upset in the College Basketball Invitational over Oregon State 96-92 on the Beavers' home court.)

5) UVA Cavaliers. ACC. Charlottesville, Va. (The team is a top-seed, they play Coastal Carolina from the Big South tonight).

6) Cal Poly Mustangs. San Luis Obisco, Calif. Big West. (The 16-seed plays top seed Wichita State tonight).

7) George Washington U Colonials. Washington DC. Atlantic 10. (The team plays Memphis today).

8) Stanford Cardinal. PAC-12. Palo Alto, Calif. (The team is playing New Mexico right now).

9) Northwestern Wildcats. Big 10. Evanston, Ill.. (The team improved this year, but still had a losing season).

10) Colorado Buffaloes.PAC-12. Boulder, Colo. (The team lost to Pitt in the NCAAs yesterday).

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/

http://bleacherreport.com/

http://www.sportingnews.com/

March Madness by the Numbers: How Many Games Has VCU Won?

Let's jump in the pool, so we can watch some games ourselves; here are nine numerical facts about the NCAA Tournament, also known as March Madness, or (SPOILER ALERT) in the case of the Ohio State Buckeyes who just lost to the Dayton Flyers 60-59, March Sadness. For more numerical facts, go to our sister blog http://nocturnalguy38.blogspot.com/

1) 21: Number of points scored by T.J. Warren of North Carolina State in ACC semi-final loss to Duke in the ACC semi-finals in Greensboro, NC.

2) 224: Miles between Charlottesville, Va., and Raleigh, NC, where the top-seed UVA Cavaliers face 16- seed Coastal Carolina, the Big South Tournament champs. Akil Mitchell of UVA is pictured top.

3) 20: Number of games the Wofford Terriers (Spartanburg, SC) have won; the 15-seed faces 2-seed Michigan in the big dance.

4) 4: Numbers of years Ed Cooley has coached the Providence Friars; the teams face the UNC Tar Heels in San Antonio, Tex., tomorrow.

5) 35- Number worn by Anthony Cole of Memphis, the eight-seed face George Washington Univ. (Washington, DC) in the tournament.

6) 74: Number of points scored by Iowa State in their Big 12 title game versus Baylor.

7) 27: Number of years, it has been since UCLA coach Steve Alford, who played for the Indiana Hoosiers, lead his team to an NCAA title in 1987.

8) 26: Number of games won by VCU, the team's coach Shaka Smart is pictured on the bottom.

9) 6: Number of games lost by the Cincinnati Bearcats who are playing Harvard right now.

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/

http://vcuathletics.com/sports/mbkb/index

Early March Madness Tweets: Will UMass Get to the Next Round

There are 16 basketball games being played today in the NCAA Tournament, and there is much excitement about it here in the USA. So, let's get to some tweets that were posted between 11:00 p.m.-midnight last night. We have the comic strip "Dilbert" in the center because today is likely going to be the least productive day in offices from Portland, Maine, to Honolulu, Hawaii.

Here are the tweets:

1) Reed Avers: This Tennessee-Iowa game is everything MarchMadness is supposed to be (Tennessee won the game in overtime; they will next face U-Mass)

2) Travis O'Dell: "My mom thinks I'm sleeping, but she's crazy, it's March Madness"

3) Robbie Litchfield: "My top four teams are Florida, Mich St, Arizona and Louisville."

4) Hailey Morgan: Finally got all my brackets filled out.

5) Cam Marnouch: This game means nothing, both teams will beat UMass in the next round. BUT I AM SO STRESSED ABOUT IT.

6) Chris Bowie: Hey! Tomorrow is Irish People Go Back to Work Day! (Well, Notre Dame is not in the NCAA Tournament)

7) News-Observer (Raleigh, NC, newspaper): See 88 images from the practice by NC State in Orlando.

8) Carolina Basketball: The Tar Heels have landed in San Antonio.

9) VCU Ram Nation: Vegas odds for title....VCU No. 21

NOTE: The top image is of Florida Gators coach Billy Donovan; the team is the top-seed in the tournament.

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/tournament

http://www.dilbert.com

College Gymnasts List (2 of 4): The All-Stars

March Madness is actually not just going on in college basketball, but women's college gymnastics as well. We imagine if Dick Vitale of ESPN were announcing gymnastics meets, he would call these collegiate athletes PTP'ers (Prime Time Players):

1) Rheagan Courville. LSU. Junior (pictured top)

2) Lindsay Mable. Minnesota. Sophomore (pictured middle)

3) Katerhine Grable. Arkansas. Senior (pictured bottom)

4) Kassidy Stauder. Penn State. Senior.

5) Stephanie Ouellette. North Carolina State. Senior.

6) Tory Wilson. Utah. Junior.

7) Kim Jacob. Alabama. Senior (She is originally from Raleigh, NC)

8) Kytra Hunter. Florida. Junior.

9) Danusia Francis. UCLA. Sophomore (Francis recorded a perfect 10 over the weekend)

10) Hope Sloanhoffer. West Virginia. Senior.

http://www.collegegymfans.com

More College Nicknames- Dukes, Bluejays and Anteaters

Here is our follow-up from yesterday's entry on college nicknames. Perhaps even long-time ESPN college basketball commentator Dick Vitale doesn't know a few of the more obscure ones:

More Smart Schools:

1. California Golden Bears (Cal; Pac-12)*
2. Brown Bears (R.I.; Ivy)
3. Lafayette Leopards (Pa, Patriot League)
4. JMU Dukes (Va; Colonial- pictured top)*

More Angry Birds:

5. Louisville Cardinals (Ky; Big East)*
6. Creighton Bluejays  (Neb.; Missouri Valley)*
7. Illinois State Redbirds (Ill.; Missouri Valley)
8. Kansas Jayhawks (Kan.; Big-12-pictured center)*

Canines and Foxes

9. The Citadel Bulldogs (SC, Southern Con.)
10. Boston University Terriers (Mass., America East)
11. Georgetown Hoyas (Wash. D.C.; Big East- pictured bottom, that is Patrick Ewings' jersey)
12. Marist Red Foxes (New York, Metro-Atlantic)

Best of the Rest

13. UC-Santa Barbara Gauchos (Calif.; Big West)
14. Campbell Fighting Camels (NC; Big South)
15.DePaul Blue Demons (Ill.; Big East)
16. Mississippi Valley Delta Devils (Ms., SWAC)
17. UC-Irvine Anteaters (Calif.' Big West)

College Nicknames- Birds and Cats

Here we go again (we have done this for three years in a row, I think):

Smart Schools

1.Vanderbilt Commodores (Tenn., SEC)
2. Duke Blue Devils (NC, ACC-pictured)#
3. Northwestern Wildcats (Ill, Big 10)
4. Yale Bulldogs (Conn.; Ivy League) *^
5. Lehigh Mountain Hawks (Pa., Patriot League)

Felines

6. Davidson Wildcats (NC, Southern Con)#
7. Auburn Tigers (Ala.; SEC) *
8. College of Charleston Cougars (SC, Southern Con.)

9. Columbia Lions (NY; Ivy League)
10. Pitt Panthers (Pa; Big East- pictured) #*
11. Southern U Jaguars (La; SWAC)#

Angry Birds

12. Temple Owls (Pa, A-10, pictured)#*
13. Southeast Missouri Red Hawks (Mo; Ohio Valley)@
14. Winthrop Eagles (SC, Big South)

15. Coastal Carolina Chanticleers (SC, Big South)
16. Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles (Ms, USA)
17. Monmouth Hawks (NJ. Northeast)


#-Schools which are in NCAA field of 68 schools

*- Schools with College Gymnastics programs

^-Schools with Hockey programs

@-Schools that were members of the now defunct Metro Conference

My NCAA Brackets....with a Twist

For many years, we have wanted to fill out the NCAA brackets simply based on the teams we liked best, or the teams that we would like to see in the Final Four.

So, this year, I decided to make a 'real bracket,' in which top-seed Syracuse prevails over the 16-seed underdog of underdogs, the UNC-Asheville Bulldogs from the Big South Conference, and one in which the Bulldogs pull the college basketball upset of the century.

There is a dose of reality in my 'fantasy bracket' as I just picked the Bulldogs as the lone 16-seed to knock off a Goliath. In addition, I have the 15-ssed Norfolk State beating the two-seed Missouri Tigers.

Thus, when all is said and done, my Elite 8 comes down to the unlikely match-up of ten-seed West Virginia, with Turkish player Deniz Kilicli, and 12-seed Harvard with Brandyn Curry from Huntersville, NC, in the east region. In the midwest, my dream match-up is not too implausible as it has 3-seed Georgetown taking on the top-seed UNC Tarheels (in the 'real version' two-seed Kansas plays North Carolina).

In the south region, there is a very realistic match-up between one-seed Kentucky and two-seed Duke. But, in the west, we have another fantasy match-up between ten-seed Virginia and 13-seed Davidson, a team that did in fact shock the world and make the Elite 8 a few years ago.

Thus, the 'dream Final Four' pits Harvard against Georgetown, and Duke against UVA. And, the final comes down to Harvard and UVA, with the Ivy Leaguers from Cambridge, Mass., winning it all.

Of course, it would be fittingly ironic if my fantasy bracket turns out to be more true than my 'real one!'

SIDEBAR: A fair number of the 68 teams in the NCAA tournament (actually as of writing, there are 66 remaining), have competitive teams in other sports. In wrestling, from the schools in the field, Ohio State, Misouri, Michigan, Lehigh, UVA and Purdue are all nationally-ranked.

In men's lacrosse, UVA, Loyola (Md), Syracuse, Notre Dame, UNC, Lehigh, Duke and Georgetown are all ranked.

Similarly, in women's lacrosse, UNC, Duke, Florida, Syracuse, Vanderbilt, UVA, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Georgetown and Loyola (Md.) have teams ranked in the top 20.

Colleges Nicknames- Is that Really Tulsa's Nickname?

We conclude our project of showing the nicknames of 96 different NCAA schools (in men's college basketball). We wish we could share them all them all, but there are 334 schools! If it's any consilation, I left out the Radford University Highlanders, my own alma mater.

Today, we look at some of the most distinctive and in some cases outright strange college nicknames.

One that always stands out from the pack is the Tulsa Golden Hurricanes. For those of you residing in Sri Lanka who are perhaps unfamiliar with American geography, Tulsa, Oklahoma, is far, far away from both coasts. Though Oklahoma is quite vulnerable to tornadoes. Nevertheless, it is an absolute impossibility that Oklahoma could ever get hit by a hurricane.

The three schools we have pictured here are the Akron Zips, the Sacramento State Hornets and the Missouri-Kansas City Kangaroos.

Of the schools listed here, it is a virtual certainty that both Florida and Georgetown will into the NCAA men's basketball tournament. Florida A & M has a chance if they beat Norfolk State today in the MEAC semi-finals and then win the conference tourney. Akron is also in their conference tournament semi-finals today as they face Kent State.

We believe that we got all 33 or 33 of the conferences, but we did inadvertently snub some states, including West Virginia, Minnesota, New Mexico and New Hampshire. While we did have a huge number of schools of these eight lists from North Carolina, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio and California.


Here are the teams, yes we are not making some of these crazy nicknames up:

1. Akron Zips, Mid-America, Akron, Ohio.

2. Denver Pioneers, Sun Belt, Denver, Colo.

3. East Tennessee State Buccaneers, Atlantic Sun, Johnson City, Tenn.

4. Evansville Purple Aces, Missouri Valley, Evansville, Ind.

5. Florida Gators, SEC, Gainesville, Fla.

6. Florida A & M Rattlers, MEAC, Tallahassee, Fla.

7. Georgetown Hoyas, Big East, Washington, DC.

8. Maine Black Bears, Northeast, Orono, Maine.

9. Missouri-Kansas City Kangaroos, Summit, Kansas City, Mo.

10. Northern Arizona Lumberjacks, Big Sky, Flagstaff, Ariz.

11. Sacramento State Hornets, Big Sky, Sacramento, Calif.

12. Tulsa Golden Hurricanes, C-USA, Tulsa, Okl.

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.

Colleges Nicknames List: Smart Schools

Since the Harvard University men's basketball team has been enjoying an exceptional season, thanks in part to Brandyn Curry from Huntersville, NC, we thought we'd dedicate an entire list to smart schools and their nicknames.

I thought about jokingly adding my own alma mater Radford University, located in Radford, Va., but that seemed like a conflict of interests_ not that bloggers actually care about these things. But, one of the schools listed here the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT, and yes, they are in the Great West Conference?!), happens to also have RU's nickname, which is Highlanders.

Here is the list, in addition to Harvard, Duke and Vanderbilt are assured of being in the NCAA tournament while Northwestern is a bubble team:

1. American University Eagles. Patriot League. Washignton, DC.

2. Cal-Poly Mustangs. Big West. Ponoma, Calif.

3. Colorado Buffaloes. Pac-12. Boulder, Colo.

4. Cornell Big Red. Ivy. Ithaca, NY.

5. Duke Bluedevils. ACC. Durham, NC.

6. Harvard Crimson. Ivy. Cambridge, Mass.

7. NJIT Highlanders. Great West. Newark, NJ.

8. Northwestern Wildcats. Big 10. Evanston, Ill.

9. Stanford Cardinal. Pac-12. Palo Alto, Calif.

10. Vanderbilt Commodores. SEC. Nashville, Tenn.

11. Wake Forest Demon Deacons. ACC. Winston-Salem, NC

12. William and Mary Tribe. Colonial Athletic. Williamsburg, Va.

College Schools Nicknames- More Angry Birds

On our other blog, in honor of March Madness (for those of you in Latvia and Peru this is the time of year when American college basketball teams try to win both their conference and national tournament), we are dedicating an entry to teams with fowl nicknames since we are more or less addicted to the video game/computer app Angry Birds. as are 2.4 billion people around the world.

Not all of these teams are going to the NCAA tournament, which will have pairings announced on Sunday, but both the Kansas Jayhawks and the Temple Owls (pictured here) are going to be in the tournament. In fact, Kansas may get a number one seed.

The other school pictured here is the Southern Utah Thunderbirds which have a fairly competitive women's gymnastics program.

Here are the teams; there are three schools from Ohio on the list:

1. Elon Phoenix, Big South, Elon, NC.

2. Hartford Hawks, American East, Hartford, Conn.

3. Jacksonville State Gamecocks, Ohio Valley, Jacksonville, Ala.

4. Kansas Jayhwaks. Big 12. Lawrence, Kan.

5. Kent State Golden Flashes, Mid-America Conference, Kent, Ohio.

6. Loyola (Ca.) Lions. West Coast Conference. Los Angeles, Calif.

7. Miami (Ohio) Redhawks. Mid-America Conference. Oxford, Ohio.

8. Oral Roberts Golden Eagles. Summit League. Tulsa, Okl.

9. Southern Utah Thunderbirds. Summit League. Cedar City, Utah.

10. Temple Owls. Atlantic-10. Philadelphia, Pa.

11. Winthrop Eagles. Big South. Rock Hill, SC.

12. Youngstown State Penguins, Horizon, Youngstown, Ohio.

Road Trip (2 of 20) March Madness Journey from LA to East Lansing

Today, we continue our Road Trip series with a special look at two teams who will be facing each other in the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament, otherwise known as March Madness, on Thursday night. The UCLA Bruins will face the Michigan State Spartans at 9:20 New York time for a game in Tampa, Fla.

The two schools have rich basketball traditions. The Spartans won the 1979 NCAA championship thanks to Magic Johnson who became a legend for the Los Angeles Lakers.

As for UCLA, they have won more NCAA men's basketball titles than any other school as they 11 in their trophy cases. According to mentalfloss.com, UCLA is also the most popular university in the country as the school gets about 60,000 applications each year.

UCLA also has a strong women's gymnastics program, which has won several NCAA titles. One of our favorite college gymnasts of all time Yvonne Tousek was a member of a 'dream team' squad that won many titles some eight years today. But, today UCLA maintains a strong gymnastics team thanks to the likes of Tauny Frattone, a junior who was named specialist of the week by the Pac-10 recently.

The Spartans are also among the 18 schools with gymnastics teams. Tragedy ensued the team right before the season started as gymnast Kathryn Mahoney was paralyzed after a horrific fall on the vault. But, the team has continued on, as Spartans gymnast Jackie Berg scored a 9.8 on bars recently at a meet in Norman, Okl.

So, today, we are asking just how far apart these two schools are. Instead of focusing on the campuses themselves, we will explore the distance between Sofra Kebab Express, a Turkish restaurant on Venice Blvd. in Los Angeles and the studios of the award-winning WDBM college radio station for Michigan State.

If you happen to wish for a Korean pop song, you can listen to 'Asian Invasion' on WDBM and tell the host Elsie that we were the ones who told you about the station. Their request line is 517-884-8989. Of course, if they get mad at us, we will deflect all responsibility!

So is the distance between Los Angeles and East Lansing, Mich:

A) 32 hours even
B) 33 hours and 20 minutes
C) 33 hours and 40 minutes
D) 34 hours and 30 minutes

The answer to our last road trip between Spartanburg, SC, and New York was B) 11 hours and 49 minutes.