Odd Facts and Weird Final Four Matchups

From the Sports Desk of Ribbie’s Weblog, here are some fascinating and theoretically possible matchups for the Final Four as of 8:26 pm March 19, 2015, after half of the first day second round games, plus some odd and interesting facts.  Were you aware that an Anteater and a Badger could face off in the Finals? Stranger things have, well, never happened!

• 3 Strange animals and a Lumberjack:  UC Irvine Anteaters (East), Wisconsin Badgers (West), Cincinnati Bearcats (Midwest), Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks (South)
• 4 Birds: Eastern Washington Eagles (South), Kansas Jayhawks (Midwest), Coastal Carolina Chanticleers (West), Louisville Cardinals (East)
• 3 Bulldogs and a Terrier:  Butler (MW), Gonzaga (South), Georgia (East), Wofford (West)
• Historical Reenactment:  Michigan State Spartans (East), Valparaiso Crusaders (MW), Ok State Cowboys (West) and Robert Morris Colonials (South)
• All Wildcat Final: Arizona (W), Davidson (South), Kentucky (MW), Villanova (East)
• Strange Fact:  Indiana has 5 teams in the tournament and all are in the Midwest Bracket:  Purdue, Butler, Valparaiso, Indiana and Notre Dame.
• Another oddity:  Texas started with 5 teams and is down to just one, Stephen F. Austin.  SMU, Baylor, Texas and Texas Southern all lost on Thursday, March 19.

Maddening 2014 March Madness Fact and Oddities

March Madness is upon us once again and 32 teams still stand tall, some taller than others. So which teams are left after the first two rounds?  How many conferences? How many states? These and other questions will be answered. To paraphrase some babbling Pink Floyd – I know I am mad, I’ve always been mad, even when I’m not mad, I’m mad…can’t really do anything about it anyway…except compile statistics and odd facts about a basketball tournament.  Read on you crazy hoop heads.

High and Lows:

• State Highs:  3 – TX: Baylor, Stephen F. Austin, Texas; CA: Stanford, San Diego State, UCLA

• States Remaining: 23

• Conference Highs:  4 – ACC: NC, Pitt, VA, Syracuse; Big 12: Iowa St., KS, Baylor, Texas; Pac 12: AZ, UCLA, Stanford, OR

• Conference Lows: 0 – Conference USA, Mid American, et al.

• All Conference Final 4: 1: Big 12: Iowa St., Kansas, Baylor, Texas

• Final Four Madness: Stephen F. Austin (12), Harvard (12), North Dakota St. (12), Mercer (14)

Mascot Breakdown:

• People – 7: Tennessee Volunteers, SF Austin Lumberjacks, Dayton Flyers, San Diego State Aztecs, NC Tar Heels, Michigan St. Spartans, Virginia Cavaliers

• Cats – 5:  Pittsburgh Panthers, Memphis Tigers, Arizona Wildcats, Kentucky Wildcats, Villanova Wildcats

• Birds – 5:  Stanford Cardinal, Louisville Cardinals, Kansas Jayhawks, Creighton Jays, Oregon Ducks

• Bears – 3: UCLA Bruins, Mercer Bears, Baylor Bears

• Weird Animals – 2: Wisconsin Badgers, Michigan Wolverines

• Colors – 2:  Syracuse Orange, Harvard Crimson

• Bovinae – 2:  Texas Longhorns, North Dakota State Bisons

• Fruits – 1: Syracuse Orange

• Grains – 1: Wichita State Shockers (stalk of wheat)

• Natural Disasters – 1:  Iowa St. Cylcones

• Doll – 1: Saint Louis Billikens

• Swamp Dwellers – 1: Florida Gators

Interesting Matchups:

• All Cat Final Four:  KY Wildcats, Villanova Wildcats, Arizona Wildcats, Pitt Panthers

• All People Final Four:  Virgina Cavaliers, Tennessee Volunteer, San Diego St. Aztecs, SF Austin Lumberjacks

• Top Public U Final Four: UCLA, Virginia, Michigan, Wisconsin

• Top Academics Final Four: Harvard, Stanford, Wisconsin, Michigan

• Great Mascot Battle:  Wolverine, Badger, Gator, Tiger

Let the madness continue!

Final Four Mascot Upgrades

I usually don’t write about sports, but I could write exclusively about sports and have virtually written nothing but posts about college hoops during March Madness.  But now it’s April, and time for the Final Four and a new name for the event.  Let’s christen it April Hoopla or something. And now that that is out of the way, I have to say something about the mascots of the Final Four teams.  If you’ve been following any of my posts, you will know that I have proposed some new names for the team mascots:

I like the Shockers of Wichita and the fact that it refers to a grain, but I prefer the Wichita State Linemen after almost native son Glen Campbell’s classic tune “Wichita Lineman”.  It’s odd, but I can’t say the name of the team without first saying As Falls Wichita, so Falls Wichita Falls after the great Pat Metheny Group album.  Therefore, I’ve renamed the entire team who will be referred to henceforth as As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls Linemen. And the linemen may very well fall to Louisville.

Louisville.  Which Louis anyway?  King Louis?  Louis Armstrong? It’s all so confusing.  And the Cardinal.  Is it a color, a bird, the member of the Catholic clergy? Also confusing.  So let’s get rid of the bird, or whatever it is and replace with a more concrete cultural reference.  Now Kentucky has a lot of horses, booze and caves, right?  I was thinking to call them either the jockeys, the bourbons, the bootleggers or the spelunkers.  For me, Spelunkers has the best ring.  Louisville Spelunkers.

Michigan is a fishing state.  No one even knows what a wolverine is.  I had to look it up and no it’s not a baby wolf – it’s in fact a weasel.  Michigan, you are better than that.  You could be a sturgeon or a muskie.  I like the sound of muskie better.  Michigan Muskies.

Syracuse.  The Orange is lame as is mascot Otto the Orange, great grandson of the Mr. Kool-Aid man. I’m just going to give the mascot an upgrade from Orange to Blood Orange.  The Syracuse Blood Orange.  A Muskie vs. a Blood Orange – now that should be one fierce battle!

Pitino Has The Edge Over Calipari

And then there were 4.  And not the most surprising 4.  A number 1, 2 2s and a 4.  We’ve got a nifty city state match up in Louisville(4) Kentucky(1) with a compelling coaching subplot between Calipari and Pitino.

Calipari and Pitino coached teams have meet 15 times over the years.  With UMASS, Memphis and Kentucky, Calipari’s record is 7-8 versus Pitino’s Kentucky and Louisville teams.  Coach Cal is 7-4 in regular season games against Pitino, however, he’s 0-4 in post season games.  As the coach of Memphis, Calipari lost to Pitino’s Louisville teams in the Conference USA tournament twice.  And in NCAA play as the coach of UMASS, Coach Cal lost to Pitino coached Kentucky teams in 1992 in the Sweet 16 and in the 1996 Final Four Semifinal game. Their meeting Saturday will be a rematch. Clearly, Calipari has an ax to grind and something to prove.

Can Calipari avenge his post season loses to Pitino? Possibly, but it’s not a slam dunk.  The X factor in my mind will be the mascots – Wildcat and Cardinal.  Normally, a cat gets the better of the bird, but a cardinal is not just any bird.  Related to the jay bird and a member of the crow family, cardinals are mean, menacing birds.  They are loud, relentless and among the most intelligent birds on the planet – ok, I just made that up, but they might be.   I do know this: wildcats do not like to be harassed, they don’t, and will quickly become frustrated, distracted and fatigued by a swooping, heckling bird.  Advantage goes to the Cardinals and the master coach, who like the cardinal, seems to have a knack for getting into his rival’s head in games that count.

2011 NCAA BB Mascot Challenge

The East:  Kentucky and North Carolina.  A tar-heel versus a Wildcat.  No contest here.  A tar heel is a sitting duck for a Wildcat.   Kentucky advances.

The West: UConn v. Arizona.  A big cat versus a big dog.  A western wildcat will cower and slink away when faced with the fierce fangs of a growling canine.  Now if we were talking about the Connecticut College Camels, I might go with Arizona.  Camels can be a little sluggish.  UConn advances.

The Southeast: Florida v. Butler.  A gator versus a bulldog is an interesting match up.  Unless the dog threatens a mother gator’s nest of babies, the gator is not likely to go after a pug- nosed slobbering fireplug.  I’ve seen a Youtube video of a domestic cat keeping an alligator at bay.  Butler advances.

Southwest:  VCU v. Kansas.  I think a Jayhawk would drive a Ram crazy, harrassing it until the RAM gores it with its horns.  VCU advances.

Final Four: VCU, Butler, UConn, Kentucky.  Ram beats Bulldog; Husky beats Wildcat.

Championship Game: Headline – Husky bites Ram’s leg.  Ram limps off yelping in pain.  UConn wins title.

Top Mascots advance to Elite 8

After the first night of Sweet 16 play, the 4 teams with the most imposing mascots advanced to the Elite 8 as predicted. The top ranked Missouri Tigers defeated the Memphis Tigers, who were a better team as Memphis State. The Villanova Wildcats easily trounced the timid and depressed Blue Devils of Duke. The Pitt Panthers ambushed the anachronistic Muskateers who gave a good fight, but misfired in the end. And the rabid Huskies of UCONN drove the Boilermakers to the basement for good.

Here are the results from last night with their mascot rankings:

1 Missouri Tigers 101 2 Memphis Tigers 92

3 Pitt Panthers 60 10 Xavier Muskateers 55

7 Villanova Wildcats 77 11 Duke Blue Devils 54

4 UConn Huskies 72 12 Purdue Boilermakers 60

Tonight should be a night of upsets as mascot power prevails.

#6 Arizona Wildcats should defeat #15 Louisville Cardinals. Cat takes a bird every time.

#9 Gonzago Bulldogs should take a bite out of the #14 North Carolina Tar Heels.

#5 Michigan State Spartans should have a master military plan to take down the flying #8 ranked Kansas Jayhawks. Maybe a trebuchet?

And in a matchup of two of the worst mascots, the #13 Oklahoma Sooners should defeat the #16 Syracuse Orange, which as a fruit or a color is simply defenseless.

Tap on the link for mascot power ratings.