Fun Fact: Legendary NFL coach Bill Parcells was a linebacker and later a graduate assistant at Wichita State in the early 1960s. He eventually developed a financial and promotional relationship with the company that produced The Rock and began to market his own version of the product known as "The Beilein Ball," which he designed. How about when you see the school's mascot, Brutus Buckeye, whose head is, of course, an over-sized nut? The railroad theme in the current logo refers to Chattanooga's history as a railroad center of commerce. It looks like one of those giant stuffed animals you win in a bingo game at the county fair. As a result, his team was known as "Bender's Billikens," and the team name stuck as a result. When I picture a Seawolf, I picture a wolf whose legs also double as fins, and he goes deep-sea diving for food. use its namesake nor its logo. By clicking Accept All Cookies, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts. Welcome to March, college basketball fans. "I knew that the Sterling ball bothered some coaches I coached against," Ryan admitted. As for athletic performances, Iona has been a top men's cross country team in the nation over the last decade. During his time at Wisconsin, Bo Ryan amassed a 223-27 record at home and a 91-76 record on the road. "As a result of his actions, his feet were covered in tar and he could not get it off of him. The logo and the mascot, however, are about as unimaginative as it gets. The ram decided tocross it because he believed that if he did not cross the pit, he would die. There's a reason why the M.I.T. His deal with Anaconda Sports persisted after Michigan signed its megadeal with Nike three years ago. Highest Client Renewal Rate In the Industry. Naming your team after a pair of blue socks or stockings isn't exactly intimidating, but that's exactly what Big South competitor Presbyterian did. Then again, the whole sock theme has worked for Boston and Chicago, so maybe Blue Hose will be a worthwhile nickname. Northern Arizona boasts a huge timber dome, the Walkup Skydomethat's used for football and basketball. Even though the word Hoki had no meaning, the school was not deterred. There's no doubt about it. But even the most undignified rodent can be transformed into something admirable with a quick coat of gold paint. As he continued to walk through the state, he left tar footprints in his wake, and that's where the name 'Tar Heel' comes from.". "I don't like it. The Hoosiers boast an interlocking I and U, and they don't even have a mascot. "See, I do think it makes a difference," Self said. Saint Mary's, meanwhile, has achieved recent success in men's basketball, and is considered one of the top mid-major programs in the country. When Michigan signed a new deal with Nike in 2016, the apparel giant asked the Wolverines to discontinue use of The Rock and placed language in Michigan's contract that compels the school to use a Nike ball at home. A-League teams in Australia and New Zealand. . The Wildcats sat at 10-13 on Feb. 4 . After all, a college's reputation can be impacted by rankings, however silly they may be. For some reason, folks wanted to shorten that 23-syllable name to V.P.I. Eagles. What is known is that in 1946, the school's moniker suddenly changed from the Bulldogs to the Sun Devils. Smart's mission: Buy every brand of basketball the Flyers might be forced to use on the road that season. North Carolina's nickname and mascot don't match at all, but there's special meaning behind them. Oddly enough, their mascot is named Flash the Golden Eagle. As for their athletics, they've enjoyed plenty of success over the last decade in a variety of sports, including football, baseball, men's lacrosse, men's soccer and men's basketball, who have made two NIT appearances in the past three years. * The team nickname was changed from "49ers" to "The Beach" after the 2018-2019 season. Any use of this information in violation of any state, The North Carolina Tar Heels have one of the most successful programs in all of college basketball, and the state of North Carolina itself is nicknamed the "Tar Heel State.". Wildcats. But then again, mascot antics aren't a beauty contest, are they? Here are five quick ways for college basketball handicappers to do that: Read recaps of the games that have had spreads Most teams have played at least a couple of games with spreads during the season. What is known is that the Youngstown basketball team was in West Virginia playing a game on a cold and snowy day in January of 1933. When an obscure non board team is playing a known one, then, its important to be able to quickly get a sense of how good the team is. During the 2012-13 season, Michigan's opponents made 40.1% of their field goal attempts and only 30.8% of their 3-point attempts with an obscure ball brand called "The Rock" in Ann Arbor's Crisler Arena. Saint Louis has experienced some. It's basically cadets but with a southern drawl to it. Early in the 20th century, Virginia Tech called its teams the Fighting Gobblers, and by the late 20th century, the Hokie and the Gobbler were combined to create the HokieBird, the turkey-like in the illustration above. Sharps are targeting this random game in the Colonial Athletic Conference between teams that have been struggling all year. Obscure College Basketball Alumni Can you match the non-Power Five School to their famous NBA alumni? Even the coaches who doubt that there's much impact in using different basketballs admit that the superstitious or psychological, if not performative, effect is real for some players. https://www.thoughtco.com/strangest-division-i-team-names-788263 (accessed March 2, 2023). He donated $110 million back in the late 1990s to build an arena for the university, but only on the condition that the name was kept indefinitely. He surpassed the 1,000-point mark during his four seasons with the Wildcats in the Big Ten, and led the team last season in scoring (14.6 points per game), rebounding (6.5 boards per game), 3 . Of course the Saint Louis University Billikens had to make this list of strange team names and mascots. That name sounds a bit risque, don't you think? The actual gauchos from the 1800s were simply cattle-herders, but Santa Barbara's mascot, Ole, looks like a gunslinger who's not to be trifled with. Privacy Policy. The Ohio State University's Buckeye moniker is better known than most on this list, but that doesn't mean it isn't strange. If it's simply someone who makes boilers, well, that's a rather unglamorous team image. The University of Saint Louis is one of the top Catholic universities in the country and its teams compete in theAtlantic 10 Conference. Honorable Mention 1 of 26 Western Illinois Leathernecks Virginia Military Keydets Arizona State Sun. And if you want to up the fear factor, the name could be changed to the Dartmouth Battling Broccoli, the Fighting Florets, or, most terrifying of all, the Overcooked Broccoli. Interesting trivia: this relatively obscure college mascot came from some fairly accomplished hands. Two-pointers were more affected than 3-pointers. After shutting out rival Wabash College 44-0, the local paper headline the game, "Slaughter of Innocents: Wabash Snowed Completely Under by the Burly Boiler Makers from Purdue.". Since it's founding in 1869, the university has educated students with working-class backgrounds for utilitarian careers, a practice the school continues today with its many strengths in engineering and other professional fields. At Virginia Military Institute, they're called the "Keydets." There are so many college basketball teams and conferences out there that we can't possibly keep track of them all. Basketball Matchup Stats, College Interestingly, they're a part of three conferences in Division I: the Southern Conference(for wrestling), the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (lacrosse, water polo), and the Big South (everything else). The Purdue University website asks the question in many of our minds: What is a Boilermaker? Who will win each 2023 conference tournament? But where the heck did the name came from? Although the bulk of college basketball's Power 5 schools use Nike basketballs, the manufacturing giant has different versions of its standard ball. The Horned Frog has actually been part of TCU as far back as 1897, when it appeared in the university's yearbook. Maddux Sports makes its money from repeat sports One thing's for sure: Teams in the America East Conference don't want to mess with the hardwood version of the Seawolves. Every so often, though, those teams play games against higher profile teams are we have to handicap them. For them to remove the logos would be very costly as a result. You may not associate Ohio with penguins, but perhaps back when Youngstown State University was founded in 1908, Ohio was much colder. San Antonio's old Rowdy the Roadrunner mascot used to be nothing more than a goofy chicken-type mascot dipped in blue paint. In Erie, mascot C. Wolf is a gray wolf dressed as a pirate. It's not entirely clear whether Stony Brook is worthy of inclusion on this list since the Seawolf really isn't a unique mascot. Because Stetsonswere a type of hat that people wore in theOld West, and their name is called the Hatters. College Basketball Lines, College College Sports Trios II. Leeds had everything in front of them . It was all in the spirit of coaching.". But somehow, Northern Arizona and Stephen F. Austin were able to incorporate that. NCAA School. Let's find out, as we take a look at the 25 wackiest names and mascots in college basketball. Our artist took a rather literal interpretation of Blue Hose when making this drawing. Yet that's exactly what the nickname is. The Madness of March isn't just confined to what happens on the basketball court. Golden Flashes? If it varies wildly from game to game then they are subservient to their opponent. But coaches make every effort to ensure that their players prepare with the right balls to minimize any advantage for the opposing team, real or imagined. The name Wichita State Shockers seems to suggest electrocution and an intimidating ability to strike down opponents with a bolt of lightning. It also meant that for every road game, we were pretty much guaranteed to play with a new ball. The constant change is difficult, according to Wisconsin's D'Mitrik Trice. The school's mascot is called Super Frog, and he's one of the spookiest-looking amphibians I've ever seen. Defensive efficiency tells you how they stand up in the face of challenges. John Bender, the football coach at the time, apparently resembled the Billiken dolls. There aren't any wild anteaters in California, but UC Irvine adopted the animal as its nickname and mascot anyway. They regularly get blown out by 40, 50+ points. The college has embraced this warrior image, but the Blue Stocking interpretation is historically more accurate. While you might be picturing a group of ne'er-do-wells slashing tires and smashing windows when you hear this team name, the University of Idaho Vandals derive their name from a somewhat different usage of the word. Look at local and campus newspapers The internet has been a remarkable accomplishment for humanity for countless reasons. Reddit and its partners use cookies and similar technologies to provide you with a better experience. Did opposing teams go cold because of the defense they encountered -- or the basketball? 9. But coaches can and do deviate from a university's brand. The 12 most-used names of four-year college teams (including names with attached adjectives such as "Blue", "Golden", "Flying" or "Fighting"): Eagles (118), Hawks (106), Tigers (72), Lions (65), Bulldogs (58), Cougars (58), Panthers (55), Bears (54), Knights (50), Wildcats (42), Warriors (41), and Pioneers (36). The Ball Art. Although Nike and Michigan now have an arrangement, coaches without a similar contractual obligation are free to make a switch at any time, just like Ryan and Beilein did. Thus, Campbell's sports teams became the Fighting Camels, even though there's not a wild camel or a desert within a thousand miles of North Carolina. The most polarizing views still center on The Rock, a basketball manufactured by a New York company called Anaconda Sports. Now that you're fully satisfied with an explanation of the methodology used, here is the list, arranged alphabetically. "Sometimes it takes a half. College Basketball - Today's Free Picks ThoughtCo, Aug. 27, 2020, thoughtco.com/strangest-division-i-team-names-788263. ", "It was good when we played Wisconsin [with the Sterling ball]," Michigan State coach Tom Izzo quipped. The fact that penguins live almost exclusively in the southern hemisphere shouldn't discourage this theory. Missing First Letter - OCK Words. They have one of the most consistent football programs in the FCS. I get it. 8. First, the mascot came from a 1923 write-up after Wake Forest beat rival school Trinity (now Duke University), when the editor of the paper referred to the football team as the Demon Deacons for their devilish play. So, the team made money for the school, bringing in $1,288,560 in profit. You see, the university is part of the Diocese of Hartford, and the word "hart" according to Webster's Dictionary, means "a male of the European red deer, stag.". Though the university has received more than enough support to continue use, the NCAA sent a letter last week reiterating its current policies. Looking at their tempo can tell you how quickly they like to move the ball, and what style of play they prefer. I check ESPN box scores, and these universities/colleges/whatever they are, they don't even have a logo. federal, or local laws is prohibited. Preparing this ball "strategy" is a common assignment for basketball staffers around the country, and among the NCAA's highest-revenue sports, it's a scenario unique to men's basketball. Pomona is a small private not-for-profit school . Presbyterian's motto is "Dum Vivimus Servimus," whichmeans"While We Live We Serve." In those years, respectively, Wisconsin and Michigan reached the national title game. Featured on: The information contained at this site is for entertainment Well, if 20 schools had kangaroos as mascots, all of them would be featured here. You can learn much more from looking at two or three games like this than you can draw from looking at all of the other games the team has played combined. It is still widely used in some areas today and roughly two million people are able to speak the language, to some degree. Find moneyline, over/under, and ATS free predictions from the big college basketball games to the obscure games. Once upon a time, they were the Zippers, but in 1953, the name got shortened to Zips, and the mascot turned into a kangaroo. When Roy Williams goes to Cameron Indoor Stadium, his North Carolina team must use whatever basketballs Mike Krzyzewski has selected for that edition of the UNC-Duke rivalry. Okay, the history isn't so glorious, but kangaroo does rhyme with KCU, and in that historic year when the university chose its mascot, the Kansas City Zoo had just purchased two baby kangaroos. The Billiken, according to the SLU website, was made famous by illustrator Florence Pretz in the first decade of the 20th century. The reasons I have a question mark to this is because North Dakota University is in a mess right now. The university's mascot is Big Al, an elephant. For resourceful sports handicappers one of the nicer benefits is that it has made virtually every local and campus newspaper in the country readily available. At the heart of Dartmouth's picture-perfect New England campus is a big town or village green (see it here). ", Nolan Richardson, who coached Arkansas to the 1994 national title, said he never worried about the basketball his team would use whenever it left Fayetteville, though he admits he never liked balls that had "wide seams. Our Handicappers Bet The Same Games They Give Out. A pair of stats to keep in the back of your head while watching: Loyola Chicago is worst in college basketball in turnovers per game, with 15.4 on average. Los Angeles Times college hoops experts Ben Bolch, Ryan Kartje and J. Brady McCollough are ready to answer key questions about UCLA, USC and more as the .