2015 NCAA Tournament: Mascot Madness Bracket!

Dec 20, 2014; Lawrence, KS, USA; Kansas Jayhawks guard

III (0) defends against Lafayette Leopards guard

(14) in the first half at Allen Fieldhouse. Mandatory Credit: John Rieger-USA TODAY Sports

East Region

First Round

1. Villanova Wildcats vs. 16. Lafayette Leopards – I’m not going to spoil it completely for you, but this isn’t your last 16-seed beating a 1-seed. Get more creative, bluebloods.

8. NC State Wolfpack vs. 9. LSU Tigers – The school sponsored by Zach Galifianakis upsets the unoriginal SEC bores.

5. Northern Iowa Panthers vs. 12. Wyoming Cowboys – The school sponsored by Kid Rock upset the mid-majors with a halfway decent nickname.

4. Louisville Cardinals vs. 13. UC Irvine Anteaters – With most of the nicknames, you can see some sort of logic. You have something intimidating, whether it be an animal in most cases or something like Shockers. But who the hell thought Anteaters was a great mascot? They advance to the round of 32.

6. Providence Friars vs. 11. Boise State Broncos/Dayton Flyers – In most scenarios, the Broncos would be able to win a play-in game, but the Flyers aren’t your typical play-in game participants, bringing a class game to win the match-up easily. However, a Friars vs. Flyers match-up not only twists your tongue, but is also an instant classic with Providence moving on.

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Cincy on the Prowl

3. Oklahoma Sooners vs. 14. Albany Great Danes – I honestly don’t know what a Sooner is. Unless they’re referring to an amount of time, as in “sooner rather than later”, which applies as to when they’re exiting this tournament. Great Danes in a rout.

7. Michigan State Spartans vs. 10. Georgia Bulldogs – At what point does a school like Georgia go “You know what, bulldogs is a boring, overused nickname, but let’s use it as ours!” Spartans win easily.

2. Virginia Cavaliers vs. 15. Belmont Bruins – The less-famous Bruins of Belmont are unable to continue the tournament tradition to this point of upsets galore. The Cavaliers hang on thanks to a boring defensive effort.

Round of 32

16. Lafayette Leopards vs. 8. NC State Wolfpack – In a different draw, they may have went farther, by Galifianakis and the Wolfpack bow out in a courageous effort in the second round.

12. Wyoming Cowboys vs. 13. UC Irvine Anteaters – Similarly, in a different region, the Cowboys might be an Elite 8 team, but you can’t handle the powerhouse that is the Anteaters.

6. Providence Friars vs. 14. Albany Great Danes – This comes down to which is more intimidating, and no one is scared by a Friar.

7. Michigan State Spartans vs. 2. Virginia Cavaliers – You know the saying don’t bet against Tom Izzo in March that I created? He wills his team to a victory and into the Sweet 16.

Sweet 16

16. Lafayette Leopards vs. 13. UC Irvine Anteaters – While Lafayette has had a memorable run, they can’t stack up the size of the Anteaters. Put aside the fact that a leopard would probably devour an anteater in real life, too.

14. Albany Great Danes vs. 7. Michigan State Spartans – There are exclusions to the rule of not betting against Izzo, which basically considers the rule null and void when playing a team with a dog mascot in the Sweet 16 or later.

Elite 8

13. UC Irvine Anteaters vs. 14. Albany Great Danes – The Great Danes come out of the gates quickly, but it’s the slow, methodical pace of the Anteaters that take home the W.

Next: West Region