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
http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/college-basketball/mens-tournament/

NCAA Nicknames_ Birds and Cats

Thanks to those of you in Latvia who are checking us out. Today is the start of the NCAA division one men's basketball tournament, and it is traditionally the day in America when the least amount of work gets done, which means Dilbert may take a long break to check out the score of the Davidson-Marquette game.

Here is a look at various NCAA division one team nicknames; most of these schools did not actually make the 68-team field.

Smart Schools

1. Harvard Crimson (Mass.; Ivy League, pictured top-the team's mascot is John Harvard)#^
2. Bucknell Bison (Pa; Patriot League)#
3. Stanford Cardinal (Calif.; Pac-12)*
4.Wake Forest Demon Deacons (NC; ACC)
5. VCU Rams (Va.; A-10)# @

Felines

6. Kentucky Wildcats (Ky;SEC)*
7. Clemson Tigers (SC, ACC)
8. BYU Cougars (Utah, WCC) *

9. Cincinnati Bearcats (Ohio. Big East, pictured center)*@
10. High Point Panthers (NC; Big South)
11. South Alabama Jaguars (Fla.; Sunbelt)

Angry Birds

12. South Carolina Gamecocks (SC; SEC) @
13. Oregon Ducks (Ore.; Pac-12, pictured bottom)*
14. UNC-Wilmington Seahawks (NC; Colonial)

15.Virginia Tech Hokies (Va; ACC) @
16. Texas-San Antonio Roadrunners (Texas, WAC)
17. Miami (Ohio) Redhawks (Ohio, Mid-America)^


#-Schools which are in NCAA Tournament
*-Schools with Div. I women's gymnastics programs
^-Schools with Div. I men's hockey programs
@-Schools that were once in the now defunct Metro Conference

Things We Learned From Twitter Today- Good News for College Football Fanatics...

There is a completely meaningless college football game tomorrow night which might actually be a fairly interesting contest.

Now, this post may not go over well here in The Tarheel State since we are a mere 108kilometers away from the state capital, but we do love the North Carolina State Wolfpack's women's gymnastics team with senior Brittany Vontz (who is a great vaulter, we believe) but they don't start their season until a home meet on Jan. 14 against Oklahoma.

As for the 'Pack football team, they have a home game tomorrow night at home againt the Cincinnati Bearcats which were an up and coming powerhouse in the Big East until their coach left for Notre Dame.

But, through a tweet from ACC Sports, we learned that 'Pack coach Tom O'Brien actually is a Cincy Reds fan as he grew up in Ohio and he is looking forward to the game. His team is 2-0, while the 'Cats are 1-1.

The 'Pack were one of the few ACC teams that won last week as they beat Central Florida 28-21. Among the most recent debacles for ACC football is Virginia Tech's 21-16 home loss to James Madison University.