I have a confession to make.
I might be a little biased. Maybe a lot actually.
But as a Pennsylvania resident, if I’m ranking college basketball’s best mascots, you better believe some PA teams are going to make the cut. Much like a New Yorker is guaranteed to have a big fat orangeman land on the list.
So with Selection Sunday and the NCAA Basketball Tournament just a few weeks away, let’s rank college basketball’s best mascots to get you ready for March Madness.
10. The North Carolina Tarheel (Rameses)
Last Tournament Appearance: 2021
Current record/AP ranking: 22-8, unranked
Pros: UNC gets bonus points for having both a life-size Ram mascot and also a live ram with blue-painted horns at outdoor events.
Cons: I’m not sure how a Ram relates to Tarheels at all. Maybe it works on a road paving crew?
9. St. Joe’s Hawk
Last Tournament Appearance: 2016
Current record/AP ranking: 10-17, unranked
This mascot makes the list due to its sheer tenacity. At basketball games, the Hawk must flap its wings non-stop.
Pros: Stamina. And thanks to all that arm waving, under that costume are certainly some jacked delts that would make the cast of Jersey Shore jealous.
Cons: “The Hawk will Never Die” brings about the weariness of immortality…and an eternity of watching St. Joe’s basketball.
8. The Kansas Jayhawk
Last Tournament Appearance: 2021
Current record/AP ranking: 23-5, No. 6
We’d have back-to-back birds here, but the Jayhawk is only imaginary, a tradition-rich blend of Blue Jays and Hawks that history used to describe settlers in Kansas.
Pros: According to Wikipedia, Kansas tradition specifies that the mascot be at least 6-1, giving Big Jay a chance to be a backup 2 guard if the team ever needed him.
Cons: The St. Joe Hawk would probably be favored in a bird battle thanks to all that arm-flapping.
7. The Stony Brook Seawolves
Last Tournament Appearance: 2016
Current record/AP ranking: 17-13, unranked
Much like March Madness, our mascot list needs at least one Cinderella. Wolfie is it.
Pros: Youth. Stony Brook previously competed as the Soundmen, Baymen, Warriors and Patriots before adopting the Seawolves mascot in 1994 when the team moved to the Division I level. That makes its mascot much younger than most others in college basketball.
Cons: Actual sea wolves are only found in Canada, so the geographical tie to New York is a cross-continent stretch.
6. Penn State’s Nittany Lion
Last Tournament Appearance: 2011
Current record/AP ranking: 12-14, unranked
Another PA team makes the list based solely on the simplicity of its costume. I’m pretty sure Penn State’s mascot was made in a high school Home Ec class.
Pros: Fashion versatility. Because the Nittany Lion isn’t a bulky costume, the mascot can add other layers for performance benefits. A friend that went there remembers a Napolean Dynamite outfit complete with dance moves and a Saturday Night Fever routine as well. The ever-present scarf also helps the Nittany Lion feel more distinguished than some other feral mascots.
Cons: There are likely footie pajamas in your closet somewhere with more elaborate designs than the Nittany Lion costume.
5. Ohio State’s Buckeyes (Brutus)
Last Tournament Appearance: 2021
Current record/AP ranking: 18-8, No. 23
I’m awarding bonus points again here for a college that could elevate a plant byproduct to full-blown mascot status.
Pros: Physical fitness. Brutus Buckeye is known to do a push up for every point Ohio State scores in the team’s football games. He’d make a formidable arm-wrestling opponent for the St. Joe’s Hawk.
Cons: Actual Buckeyes can be poisonous in real life. We can’t rate a mascot that might actually kill someone that high.
4. The Oregon Duck
Last Tournament Appearance: 2021
Current record/AP ranking: 18-11, unranked
Oregon may have one of the strangest courts in college basketball, but the team’s mascot seems unassuming and likable.
Pros: Oregon has a special license agreement with Disney that allows its Duck to be based on Donald. Oh boy!
Cons: As far as intimidation goes, the Duck doesn’t inspire any fear in its opponents. Maybe that’s why the school experimented with a spandex-suited mascot that students nicknamed Duck Vader and Roboduck before it disappeared.
3. Villanova’s Wildcat
Last Tournament Appearance: 2021
Current record/AP ranking: 21-7, No. 11
Nova’s Will D. Cat mascot has eyes that are so creepy that I’m afraid not to include him. An omission might lead to nightmares and a therapist couch.
Pros: Strength in numbers. In addition to Villanova, basketball blue-blood Kentucky and Kansas State also share the Wildcat moniker.
Cons: For a while, Villanova used to employ actual wildcats as a mascot, but the animals’ behavior at sporting events became so erratic that the college opted instead for undergrads in costume. Personally, I think the threat of a wildcat attack would only add to the in-game excitement.
2. Duke’s Blue Devil
Last Tournament Appearance: 2019
Current record/AP ranking: 25-4, No. 4
Maybe this mascot isn’t all that exciting, but it’s hard to think of any others that are more synonymous with college basketball.
Pros: The Blue Devils mascot actually has a historical link to skilled French soldiers from Word War I.
Cons: The Devil is exactly how many other fan bases view Duke and its program.
1. Oklahoma State’s Cowboys and Pistol Pete
Last Tournament Appearance: 2021
Current record/AP ranking: 13-15, unranked
Listen, if there’s a mascot strutting around that is brazenly brandishing a firearm, I’m not voting anyone else No. 1.
Pros: I think a 23 and Me test would reveal that Pistol Pete is somehow related to Yosemite Sam. And he gets bonus points for having the same nickname as the highest-scoring college player of all-time.
Cons: Pete might give off “Stranger Danger” vibes if you have kids around. I’m thinking an unshaven man with steely eyes and a six shooter might frighten your offspring en route to the concession stand.
Lead image credit: AP Photo/Derik Hamilton
