March Madness Finale: NCAA Tourney Teams with Women's Gymnastics Programs

We conclude our five entries dedicated to the NCAA Tournament, also known as March Madness, with a look at ten schools who made the Big Dance that also happen to have women's gymnastics programs. In total, 30 schools of the men's basketball field have women's gymnastics team. Of the ten teams listed here, only three are still in the tournament:

1) Florida Gators * (pictured top: Florida gymnast Kytra Hunter. Amazingly enough, the Gators are ranked number one in both sports)

2) Nebraska Cornhuskers (The team's mascot Lil' Red is pictured center)

3) Western Michigan Broncos ^ (We couldn't find an image we could use of the basketball team, so we went with an image of the Broncos' hockey goalie Lukas Hafner instead).

4) Ohio State Buckeyes. ^

5) Arizona State Sun Devils

6) UNC Tar Heels

7) Michigan State Spartans *^

8) Michigan Wolverines *^

9) Oklahoma Sooners (The Sooners have a solid chance of winning the NCAAs in gymnastics)

10) North Carolina State Wolfpack.

*-Teams still in the NCAA Tournament

^- Teams that also have men's hockey programs

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Feline Nicknames and Mascots Amongst College Basketball Teams

Zappa the Family Cat lives in New Haven, Conn., but he roots for the Princeton Tigers instead of the Yale Bulldogs because of the Tigers' nickname (actually, unlike ESPN, we are not based in Connecticut).

Here is a look at ten schools with feline nicknames and the names of the mascots, not all of these teams made the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament.

1) Pittsburgh Panthers. Roz the Panther*

2) Auburn Tigers. Audie the Tiger (pictured top)

3) BYU Cougars. Cosmo the Cougar (pictured center)*

4) Cincinnati Bearcats. (pictured bottom)

5) Villanova Wildcats. Will D. Cat.

6) High Point Panthers. Prowler the Panther.^

7) Princeton Tigers.

8) Kentucky Wildcats. Blue the Wildcat*

9) Arizona Wildcats. Wilbur and Wilma Wildcat.*

10) Houston Cougars. Shasta the Cougar.

*-Teams which made the NCAA Tournament

^-Teams which made the NIT
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NCAA Nicknames: Schools with Odd Nicknames

The University of  California Santa Cruz Banana Slugs were our first choice, but they are apparently a Division 3 school. Here are ten schools with strange nicknames. Eight of them made the NCAA Tournament; one of them made the NIT:

1) Stephen F. Lumberjacks. Nacogdoches, Tex. Soutland Conference. (pictured top, the team plays VCU tonight)

2) Tulsa Golden Hurricane. Tulsa, Okla. Conference USA (pictured center with star player James Woodard. The team is coached by '80s college basketball great Danny Manning. They play UCLA today)

3) San Diego State Aztecs. San Diego, Calif. Mountain West Conference (pictured bottom, the school won over New Mexico State last night. These are the team's two mascots).

4) Iowa State Cyclones. Ames, Iowa. Big 12. The Team plays North Carolina Central tonight.

5) Wichita State Shockers. Wichita, Kan. Missouri Valley Conference. The Shockers are undefeated (34-0) and a one-seed; they play the 16-seed Cal Poly Mustangs today.

6) UL-Lafayette Rajun Cajun. Lafayette, La. Sun Belt Conference. The team plays the 3-seed Creighton Bluejays this afternoon.

7) UC-Irvine Anteaters. Irvine, Calif. Big West Conference. The team lost to the SMU Mustangs in the NIT.

8) Eastern Kentucky Colonels. Richmond, Ky. Ohio Valley Conference. The 15-seeed plays the Kansas Jayhawks this afternoon.

9) Providence Friars. Providence, R.I., Big East. The 11-seed plays traditional powerhouse UNC tonight.

10) Presbyterian College Blue Hose. Clinton, SC. Big South.  The team had a losing record this year.


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NCAA March Madness by the Numbers: Who is Levelle Moton?

Today, we are focusing on three teams from the 919 area code, which includes Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill. There are four teams from this area code in the NCAA Tournament, also known as March Madness. The teams include Duke, UNC, North Carolina State and North Carolina Central (Like Duke, the school is in Durham, NC). All of the images above are in reference to three of those teams; alas we don't have room for an NC State image, but we wish the Wolfpack well as they face the St. Louis Billikens.

Here are some numerical facts for the tourney, for more numerical facts, go to our sister blog http://politicscultureandotherwastesoft.blogspot.com/

Here we go:

1) 20: Number of points scored by Jabari Parker of Duke against NC State in ACC semi-final tournament game in Greensboro, NC (Parker is pictured top)

2) 160-Number of miles between 16-seed Coastal Carolina from Conway, SC (Myrtle Beach) to Raleigh, NC, where they will meet top-seeded University of Virginia tomorrow.

3) 25- Number of games won by two-seeded Michigan Wolverines, the team faces the 15-seeded Wofford Terriers (Spartanburg, SC), today.

4) 11- Number of years Roy Williams has coached at UNC (The Tar Heels' mascot Rameses is pictured center)

5) 33- Number worn by Paris Maragkos, from Greece, for the George Washington University Colonials, the D.C-based school, a nine-seed, plays Memphis in the NCAA Tournament. GWU is one of six Atlantic-10 school in the tourney.

6) 71- Number of points scored by N.C. Central in the MEAC final vs. Morgan St (Baltimore, Md.) played in Norfolk, Va. The N.C. Central Eagles are coached by Levelle Moton (pictured bottom)

7) 26- Number of years it's been since Tulsa coach Danny Manning took Kansas to an NCAA title in 1988; Tulsa, a 13-seed, plays UCLA in the first round. The Bruins' coach Steve Alford, who played for the Indiana Hoosiers, was also a college hoops star.

8) 31- Number of games won by Stephen F. Austin University (Nacaogdoches, Tex.); the Lumberjacks, a 12-seed, play the 5-seed VCU Rams (Richmond, Va) in the big dance.

9) 4-Number of games Ivy League champs Harvard, a 12-seed, has lost; they are currently playing the Cincinnati Bearcats right now. Harvard is seeking second consecutive upset in the tourney; they surprised New Mexico, then coached by Steve Alford, last year in the first round.

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Early NCAA Tournament Tweets: Chuck Schumer Differs with the Prez

Here are some early tweets from last night when Tennessee edged Iowa in a preliminary game in the NCAA Tournament; today is expected to be the least productive day in offices across the country. And, given that Harvard is playing Cincinnati in the first round of action this afternoon, we have to wonder how many brain surgeries are being postponed.

Here are nine tweets from between 11:00 p.m.-midnight last night (eastern time):

1) Dallas Morning News: What you need to know to jump on Baylor bandwagon (top image, Baylor is playing Nebraska in the first round)

2) Iowa Basketball: Bench points Iowa 35 Tennessee 4 (but as we said the Vols won the game; they face UMass next on Friday)

3) Wolfpack Wire" Mark Gottffried says "I Like Our Spirit"

4) Yes Weekly: Traffic stopped on I-40 at exit 208, the farmer's market (this incident happened in Greensboro, we thought we'd put in one tweet off topic)

5) ESPNU: Cal Poly is only the 2nd team to an NCAA Tournament game after losing 19 games during the season (pictured bottom)

6) Hank Domin (he works for Syracuse University's athletic department): Sen. Chuck Schumer to Barack Obama: Sorry, but the Syracuse basketball team will win NCAA Tournament (Schumer is pictured center. Like Obama, he is a Democrat. Schumer represent New York state in the U.S. Senate. Obama picked Michigan State to win NCAAs)

7) Mark Peterson: One of the best days of the year is tomorrow (he is referring to today)

8) Kentucky Basketball: Who remembers when Tayshaun (Tayshaun Prince) going for 41 the last time we were in St. Louis. (T.Prince now plays for the Detroit Pistons)

9) NDSU Athletics: Doug Gottlieb with the assist to NDSU dunk master TrayVonn Wright (NDSU refers to North Dakota State University, the team plays Oklahoma today)

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

College Gymnastics Lists (4 of4): Gymnasts from the Pac-12 Conference

Of the 12 schools in the PAC-12 Conference, eight have women's gymnastics programs (Colorado, USC, Washington State and Oregon do not), so you may not see many Oregon Ducks t-shirts at a gymnastics meet. But, here are 10 gymnastics from those eight schools which have teams, UCLA, Utah and Stanford are seemingly possible contenders for the Super Six (equivalent of the Final Four):


1) Sydney Sawa, UCLA. Senior. (pictured top)

2) Aliza Vaccher, Washington, Senior. (pictured center)

3) Stephanie Miceli. Arizona State. Soph. (pictured bottom)

4) Georgia Dabritz, Utah. Junior

5) Selynna Felix-Terrazas. Arizona. Fresh.

6) Chelsea Tang. Oregon State. Junior.

7) Ivana Hong, Stanford. Junior

8) Alice Asturias, California. Senior.

9) Leilani Alferos, California. Senior

10) Allison Northey, Washington. Soph.

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College Gymnastics Lists (3 of 4): Gymnasts from the Southeastern Conference (SEC)

Only three of 14 Southeastern Conference (SEC) universities made into the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament, also known as March Madness, but there are four conference schools (Alabama, Florida, Georgia and LSU) which could make it to the Super Six women's gymnastics championships in Birmingham, Ala., in April. Interestingly enough, the Florida Gators are ranked number one in both men's basketball and women's gymnastics (the gym Gators are in fact defending NCAA champs as well). Bridget Sloan was named SEC Gymnast of the Week.

Here are 10 gymnasts from the SEC, including one Gator, one Gym Dawg and one Wildcat, who are pictured above:

1) Alaina Johnson. Florida. Senior (pictured top)

2) Cat Hires, Georgia. Senior (pictured center)

3) Kenzie Hedges, Kentucky. Junior (pictured bottom)

4) Lauren Beers. Alabama. Sophomore.

5) Chelsea Davis, Georgia. Junior

6) Amanda Wellick. Arkansas. Freshman.

7) Kaleigh Dickson. LSU. Senior.

8) Lexus Demers. Auburn. Sophomore (yes, she does share her name with a car)

9) Bridgette Caquatto. Florida. Sophomore.

10) Miranda Eubank. Missouri. Sophomore.

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http://www.secdigitalnetwork.com/