RebKell's Junkie Boards

[beknighted]

Sure, I haven’t been hanging around here much lately, but tradition is tradition. So here’s the Mascot Bracket for 2017.

Same rules as always:

I pick winners and losers based on team nicknames and mascots. I use the names on the teams’ sites. To ensure that the results are as arbitrary as possible, I divide the mascots into five categories:

Occupations, which beat groups and mammals
Groups, which beat non-mammals and everything else
Mammals, which beat groups and non-mammals
Non-mammals, which beat occupations and everything else
Everything else, which beat occupations and mammals

When two teams are in the same category, I’ll pick the winner based on which one I think would win or, sometimes, which team it would be more amusing to have win. I try to avoid the temptation to flip a coin (well, usually).

Here we go:

1st round

Bridgeport

16 Albany Great Danes over 1 Connecticut Huskies – they are bigger
9 Iowa State Cyclones over 8 Syracuse Orange – blown away
5 Texas A&M Aggies over 12 Pennsylvania Quakers – those farm implements can be fatal
4 UCLA Bruins over 13 Boise State Broncos – carnivores over herbivores
11 Elon Phoenix over 6 West Virginia Mountaineers – Phoenix rose to the rim
14 Bucknell Bison over 3 Maryland Terrapins – they got trampled
7 Temple Owls over 2 Oregon Ducks – Owls are predators
2 Duke Blue Devils over 15 Hampton Pirates – no Jack Sparrow moment for Hampton

Oklahoma City

16 Texas Southern Tigers over 1 Baylor Lady Bears – a coin flip
9 California Golden Bears over 8 LSU Lady Tigers – another coin flip
12 Dayton Flyers over 5 Tennessee Lady Vols – Dayton bombed threes
13 Chattanooga Lady Mocs over 4 Louisville Cardinals - just one bite is all it took
11 Gonzaga Bulldogs over 6 Oklahoma Sooners – Zags grabbed ‘em and hung on
14 Montana State Bobcats over 3 Washington Huskies – nature red in tooth and claw
7 DePaul Blue Demons over 10 Northern Iowa Panthers – Panthers scared off
2 Mississippi State Bulldogs over 15 Troy State Trojans – not sure I can explain this one

Lexington

1 Notre Dame Fighting Irish over 16 Robert Morris Colonials – no fight in the Colonials
8 Green Bay Phoenix over 9 Purdue Boilermakers – supernatural beasties best people with hammers
12 Western Kentucky Hilltoppers over 5 Ohio State Buckeyes – it’s hard to imagine Buckeyes beating any other mascot, actually
13 Belmont Bruins over 4 Kentucky Wildcats – size matters
6 North Carolina State Wolfpack over 11 Auburn Lady Tigers – a coordinated attack
14 Central Arkansas Sugar Bears over 3 Texas Longhorns – that predator thing again
7 Kansas State Wildcats over 10 Drake Bulldogs – see Montana State
2 Stanford Cardinal over 15 New Mexico State Aggies – color me surprised

Stockton

16 North Carolina Asheville Bulldogs over 1 South Carolina Gamecocks – like a fox in a henhouse
9 Michigan State Spartans over 8 Arizona State Sun Devils – Sparty ain’t scared of any devils
12 Quinnipiac Bobcats over 5 Marquette Golden Eagles – kind of surprised the Golden Eagles didn't get away
13 Florida Gulf Coast Eagles over 4 Miami Hurricanes – they glided through the storm
6 Missouri Lady Tigers over 11 South Florida Bulls – more predator/prey
14 Western Illinois Leathernecks over 3 Florida State Seminoles –Marines are hard to beat
7 Creighton Blue Jays over 10 Toledo Rockets – Rocket ran out of fuel
2 Oregon State Beavers over 15 Long Beach State 49ers – they gnawed their way to victory


Second round

Bridgeport

9 Iowa State Cyclones over 16 Albany Great Danes – no cyclones in Denmark
5 Texas A&M Aggies over 4 UCLA Bruins – think I picked this in my real bracket, too
11 Elon Phoenix over 14 Bucknell Bison – they came out of the ashes to overcome a big halftime deficit
7 Temple Owls over 2 Duke Blue Devils – feel like a Harry Potter reference should go here

Oklahoma City

9 California Golden Bears over 16 Texas Southern Tigers – another coin flip
13 Chattanooga Lady Mocs over 12 Dayton Flyers – Dayton never got off the ground
14 Montana State Bobcats over 11 Gonzaga Bulldogs – seems like a lot of variations on this matchup this year
7 DePaul Blue Demons over 2 Mississippi State Bulldogs – they cast a spell

Lexington

1 Notre Dame Fighting Irish over 8 Green Bay Phoenix – the chalkiest bracket so far
13 Belmont Bruins over 12 Western Kentucky Hilltoppers – good climbers, but not as fast as bears
14 Central Arkansas Sugar Bears over North Carolina State Wolfpack – bears also are pretty agile
2 Stanford Cardinal over 7 Kansas State Wildcats – cats can’t really see color

Stockton

16 North Carolina Asheville Bulldogs over 8 Michigan State Spartans – bite worse than their bark
12 Quinnipiac Bobcats over 13 Florida Gulf Coast Eagles – cats and birds, you know
14 Western Illinois Leathernecks over 6 Missouri Lady Tigers – the guns help
2 Oregon State Beavers over 7 Creighton Blue Jays – the dammed them up

Sweet 16

Bridgeport

9 Iowa State Cyclones over Texas A&M Aggies – tough times in Tornado Alley
7 Temple Owls over 11 Elon Phoenix – feels like another Harry Potter reference

Oklahoma City

9 California Golden Bears over 13 Chattanooga Lady Mocs – one big paw stepping on them was all it took
7 DePaul Blue Demons over 14 Montana State Bobcats – Demons cast a spell

Lexington

13 Belmont Bruins over 1 Notre Dame Fighting Irish – so much for chalk
2 Stanford Cardinal over 14 Central Arkansas Sugar Bears – well, there’s still a little chalk

Stockton

12 Quinnipiac Bobcats over 16 North Carolina Asheville Bulldogs – bit cats, regular dogs
14 Western Illinois Leathernecks over 2 Oregon State Beavers – both are amphibious, but Leathernecks are tougher

Elite 8

Bridgeport

7 Temple Owls over 9 Iowa State Cyclones – not most people’s pick for AAC team in FF

Oklahoma City

7 DePaul Blue Demons over 9 California Golden Bears – Bears were possessed

Lexington

2 Stanford Cardinal over 13 Belmont Bruins – same joke as last round

Stockton

14 Western Illinois Leathernecks over 12 Quinnipiac Bobcats – those Marines and their guns


Final Four

7 Temple Owls over 7 DePaul Blue Demons – fight or flight?
2 Stanford Cardinal over 14 Western Illinois Leathernecks – Cardinal rules

National Championship

7 Temple Owls over 2 Stanford Cardinal – Temple gets a championship before Dawn

[Marquette Fan]

[Howee]

[KatValeska]

[beknighted]

[beknighted]

Short version:

Busier than usual for a variety of reasons, work and personal.

Depressed for a while after November 8, but now spending a fair amount of effort on what we can do about it, which cuts into basketball time.

Also, the lousy RU season (which you could see coming after the Scaife injury) created less incentive to post about WCBB, so I just sort of limited myself to my personal commitment to the RU board's games of interest posts.

[cthskzfn]

7 Temple Owls over 7 DePaul Blue Demons – fight or flight?

flight or fright?



Thanks for popping in, Bk. It's a better place with you.

_________________
Silly, stupid white people might be waking up.

[beknighted]

[beknighted]

I am pleased to report that the Mascot Bracket has rocketed down to the bottom 2% already, with 70 out of a possible 160 points after the first night of the tournament. It's already lost one Final Four team, two Elite 8 teams and 4 Sweet 16 teams.

[sigur3]

I AM HERE FOR THIS.

[beknighted]

Through one full round, the Mascot Bracket is well on its way to fulfilling its destiny, having achieved a ranking in the bottom one percent despite correctly picking Quinnipiac over Marquette. It's currently number 402,496

The Mascot Bracket has lost half of its Sweet 16 teams, 3 Elite 8 teams, 2 Final Four teams, one finalist, and the national champion.

[beknighted]

Sadly, the Mascot Bracket has moved up to the bottom 2%, after unfortunate wins by Quinnipiac, Stanford, Notre Dame, and Oregon State left it with 4 teams in the Sweet 16. There's still hope, though - it's down to 2 Elite 8 teams, 1 Final Four team, and 1 national finalist.

[beknighted]

I am sad to report that the Mascot Bracket is now in the top 97% of all brackets, thanks to the unfortunate fine performance of the Stanford Cardinal. (If only it was the bird, not the color!) Since the Mascot Bracket has Stanford in the national final, the only hope is that South Carolina will get the job done on Friday.

[beknighted]

Unfortunately, the Mascot Bracket rocketed up to the top 97%, thanks to the Stanford Cardinal getting to the Final Four. Thank goodness they lost to South Carolina in the national semifinal or the Mascot Bracket might have cracked the top 95%.

[summertime blues]

Chickens peck dogs to death

_________________
Don't take life so serious. It ain't nohows permanent.
It takes 3 years to build a team and 7 to build a program.--Conventional Wisdom

[beknighted]