Tournament Challenge guide to team mascots, school colors and famous alumni
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Kyle SoppeESPN
The NCAA tournament is seeded with plenty of the usual suspects, but every year there are new mascots, school colors and fight songs to learn, too. Whether you are filling out a bracket and need to find inspiration in the team’s traditions or want to know who might be rooting along with you, we’ve researched each school in the tournament to give you all the information at hand, organized by region and seeds, as you’d find them on your Tournament Challenge entry.
Information was scoured from public sources, and some (including student enrollment numbers) might be slightly out of date. But we figure that’s OK: We put as much effort into vetting this as you’re putting into filling out your bracket.
We also apologize in advance if we left off your favorite actor/athlete/politician/relative from the list of notable alumni. It was (probably) unintentional, and there’s nothing to read into it. Frankly, for some schools, we had to stretch the definition of notable. But we had fun with this, and we hope you do too.
WEST REGION
Conference: West Coast Conference | Enrollment: 4,964
Mascot: Spike the Bulldog | Fight song: “Go Gonzaga”
Official color(s): Blue and white
Notable alumni: John Stockton, Bing Crosby
Conference: Atlantic Coast | Enrollment: 15,892
Mascot: Blue Devil | Fight song: “Fight Blue Devils”
Official color(s): Duke blue and white
Notable alumni: Adam Silver, Ken Jeong, Richard Nixon, Melinda Gates, Ron Paul, Judy Woodruff, Jay Bilas
Conference: Big 12 | Enrollment: 38,246
Mascot: Masked Rider, Raider Red | Fight song: “Fight, Raiders, Fight”
Official color(s): Scarlet and black
Notable alumni: Sheryl Swoopes, John Denver, Wes Welker, Zach Thomas, George Eads, Rick Husband
Conference: Southeastern | Enrollment: 27,558
Mascot: Tusk IV | Fight song: “Arkansas Fight”
Official color(s): Cardinal and white
Notable alumni: John Daly, Jerry Jones, Pat Summerall, Joe Johnson, Darren McFadden, Tyson Gay
Conference: Big East | Enrollment: 32,333
Mascot: Jonathan the Husky | Fight song: “UConn Husky”
Official color(s): Navy blue, gray and white
Notable alumni: Ray Allen, Rebecca Lobo, Diana Taurasi, Maya Moore, Sue Bird, Dan Orlovsky, Molly Qerim
Conference: Southeastern | Enrollment: 37,842
Mascot: Big Al | Fight song: “Yea Alabama”
Official color(s): Crimson and white
Notable alumni: Julio Jones, Calvin Ridley, Bear Bryant, Shaun Alexander, Jimmy Wales, Justin Thomas, Dabo Swinney, Harper Lee, Bernie Madoff, Joe Namath
Conference: Big Ten | Enrollment: 50,019
Mascot: Sparty | Fight song: “Victory for MSU”
Official color(s): Green and white
Notable alumni: Magic Johnson, Le’Veon Bell, Bubba Smith, Robert Urich, Dan Gilbert, Gretchen Whitmer
Conference: Mountain West | Enrollment: 22,113
Mascot: Buster Bronco | Fight song: “Orange and Blue”
Official color(s): Orange and blue
Notable alumni: Doug Martin, Jay Ajayi, Kellen Moore, Scott Jorgensen
Conference: American | Enrollment: 20,585
Mascot: TOM | Fight song: “Go Tigers Go”
Official color(s): Blue and gray
Notable alumni: Penny Hardaway, Derrick Rose, Isaac Bruce, Antonio Gibson, DeAngelo Williams
Conference: Atlantic 10 | Enrollment: 1,983
Mascot: Will E. Wildcat | Fight song: “O Davidson”
Official color(s): Black and red
Notable alumni: Stephen Curry, Woodrow Wilson
Conference: Big Ten | Enrollment: 67,556
Mascot: Scarlet Knight | Fight song: “The Bells Must Ring”
Official color(s): Scarlet, gray and black
Notable alumni: Kristin Davis, Elizabeth Warren, Mario Batali, Chris Christie, David Stern, Carli Lloyd, Ray Rice
Conference: Atlantic Coast | Enrollment: 8,874
Mascot: Leprechaun | Fight song: “Victory March”
Official color(s): Blue and gold
Notable alumni: Joe Montana, Chase Claypool, Mike Golic, Mike Golic Jr., Regis Philbin, Condoleezza Rice
Conference: Western Athletic | Enrollment: 24,580
Mascot: Pistol Pete | Fight song: “Aggie Fight Song”
Official color(s): Crimson and white
Notable alumni: Fredd Young, Alvy Ray Smith
Conference: America East | Enrollment: 11,898
Mascot: Rally | Fight song: “Vermont Victory”
Official color(s): Green and gold
Notable alumni: Ben Affleck, John Dewey, Martin St. Louis
Conference: Big Sky | Enrollment: 14,240
Mascot: Champ | Fight song: “Stand Up and Cheer”
Official color(s): Blue and gold
Notable alumni: Craig Kilborn, Sam McCullum, Jan Stenerud
Conference: Big West | Enrollment: 36,770
Mascot: Tuffy the Titan | Fight song: “Fight On, Titans”
Official color(s): Navy blue, white and orange
Notable alumni: Gwen Stefani, Kevin Costner, Adam Lambert, Bruce Bowen, Justin Turner
Conference: Sun Belt | Enrollment: 52,814
Mascot: Pounce | Fight song: “Fight Panthers”
Official color(s): Blue and white
Notable alumni: Ludacris, Julia Roberts, Lita
EAST REGION
Conference: Big 12 | Enrollment: 16,787
Mascot: Bruiser & Marygold | Fight song: “Old Fite”
Official color(s): Green and gold
Notable alumni: Willie Nelson, Jeff Dunham, Robert Griffin III
Conference: Southeastern | Enrollment: 22,425
Mascot: The Wildcat | Fight song: “On, On, U of K”
Official color(s): Wildcat blue
Notable alumni: Pat Riley, Ashley Judd, Wynonna Judd, Mitch McConnell, Miss Elizabeth
Conference: Big Ten | Enrollment: 43,411
Mascot: Boilermaker Special | Fight song: “Hail Purdue!”
Official color(s): Old gold and black
Notable alumni: Neil Armstrong, Gus Grissom, Orville Redenbacher, Jim Gaffigan, John Wooden, Drew Brees
Conference: Pac-12 | Enrollment: 44,947
Mascot: Joe Bruin | Fight song: “Sons of Westwood and the Mighty Bruins”
Official color(s): UCLA blue, UCLA gold
Notable alumni: Jackie Robinson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Arthur Ashe, Reggie Miller, Russell Westbrook, Ben Stiller, Jack Black, Gabrielle Union
Conference: West Coast | Enrollment: 2,916
Mascot: Gael Force One | Fight song: “On to Victory”
Official color(s): Navy, red and silver
Notable alumni: Tony Martin, Mahershala Ali
Conference: Big 12 | Enrollment: 40,163
Mascot: Bevo | Fight song: “Texas Fight”
Official color(s): Burnt orange and white
Notable alumni: Matthew McConaughey, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Roger Clemens, Kevin Durant, Janis Joplin, Owen Wilson, Walter Cronkite
Conference: Ohio Valley | Enrollment: 10,495
Mascots: Racer One, Dunker | Fight song: “The Old Grey Mare”
Official color(s): Navy and gold
Notable alumni: Jude Deveraux, W. Earl Brown, Jim Varney
Conference: Atlantic Coast | Enrollment: 29,847
Mascot: Rameses | Fight song: “I’m a Tar Heel Born”
Official color(s): Carolina blue and white
Notable alumni: James Polk, Michael Jordan, Andy Griffith, Mia Hamm, Jack Palance, Stuart Scott
Conference: Big East | Enrollment: 8,143
Mascot: Golden Eagle | Fight song: “Ring Out Ahoya”
Official color(s): Blue and gold
Notable alumni: Rick Majerus, Chris Farley, Tom Snyder, Rachel Lindsay
Conference: West Coast | Enrollment: 5,852
Mascot: The Don | Fight song: “Victory Song”
Official color(s): Green and gold
Notable alumni: Bill Russell, Bill Cartwright, KC Jones, Sinqua Walls
Conference: Atlantic Coast | Enrollment: 32,304
Mascot: HokieBird | Fight song: “Tech Triumph”
Official color(s): Chicago maroon and burnt orange
Notable alumni: Hoda Kotb, Michael Vick, Bruce Smith
Conference: Big Ten | Enrollment: 48,952
Mascot: N/A | Fight song: “Indiana, Our Indiana”
Official color(s): Cream and Crimson
Notable alumni: Mark Cuban, Sage Steele, Isaiah Thomas, Dick Enberg, Joe Buck, Jamie Moyer
Conference: Mountain West | Enrollment: 12,249
Mascot: Cowboy Joe | Fight song: “Ragtime Cowboy Joe”
Official color(s): UW Brown and UW Gold
Notable alumni: Dick Cheney, Jerry Buss, Malcom Floyd
Conference: Mid-American | Enrollment: 17,829
Mascot: Zippy the Kangaroo | Fight song: “Akron Blue and Gold”
Official color(s): Blue and Gold
Notable alumni: Yvette Nicole Brown, Jason Taylor
(14) Yale Bulldogs
New Haven, Connecticut
Conference: Ivy League | Enrollment: 12,312
Mascot: Handsome Dan | Fight song: “Bulldog”
Official color(s): Yale blue and white
Notable alumni: George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Gerald Ford, John C. Calhoun, William Howard Taft, Nathan Hale, Dick Cheney, Hillary Clinton, Clarence Thomas, John Kerry, Brett Kavanaugh, Amy Klobuchar, Sherrod Brown, John Bolton, Meryl Streep, Jodie Foster, Edward Norton, Lupita Nyong’o, Claire Danes, Oliver Stone, Sigourney Weaver, Angela Bassett, Vincent Price, Henry Winkler, Paul Giamatti, James Franco, Lewis Black, Bob Woodward, Anderson Cooper, Adam Richman, Eli Whitney, Sinclair Lewis, Theo Epstein, Mike Richter and too many more to list.
Conference: Metro Atlantic Athletic | Enrollment: 2,355
Mascot: Peacock | Fight song: “lo Pavo”
Official color(s): Blue and white
Notable alumni: Bob Hurley, Keydren Clark, Victor Santos
Conference: Mid-Eastern Athletic | Enrollment: 5,616
Mascot: Spiro the Spartan | Fight song: “Norfolk State Fight Song”
Official color(s): Green, gold
Notable alumni: Kyle O’Quinn, J.B. Smoove
SOUTH REGION
Conference: Pac-12 | Enrollment: 36,503
Mascot: Wilbur and Wilma | Fight song: “Fight Wildcats, Fight!”
Official…
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