Do jersey colors and mascots help certain teams win the men’s March Madness? Probably not, but it’s a curious angle that I explore in this article. I go through all the NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Tournament winners in the past 40 years to figure out what mascots and uniform colors have been the most successful.
I’ve limited the period to 40 because finding accurate information for earlier days proved to be a problem. Some colleges changed their uniform colors and mascot throughout the years, so I decided to stick to a sample size that’s significant enough but also valid.
I share the results in a couple of infographics before I analyze them and try to predict the 2024 March Madness winner based on a jersey color and mascot. Don’t take this prediction too seriously, of course. We have traditional March Madness 2024 winner picks if that’s what you’re looking for.
If you want to have some fun and look for goofy facts instead, you will enjoy this one!
March Madness Winners by Mascot
Let’s see what the numbers tell us about previous March Madness winners, purely based on their mascot!
The eternal conflict between cats and gods has overtaken men’s college basketball, too! The two most popular pets are leading the way with 7 vs. 6 titles in favor of cats in the past 40 years.
It must be mentioned that the Michigan Wolverines could’ve tied the score, but they don’t have a live mascot, so I can’t include them in the standings. Also, I’m not sure if wolverines count as dogs anyway, so their decision actually helps me. Thanks for being boring, Michigan!
We have birds and devils sharing the third spot, with Rams in fourth, and humans barely making the top 5 with only three.
While fruits didn’t make the top 5, I have to give a special shootout to the Otto the Orange, the Syracuse mascot that has a YouTube channel!
All things considered, backing cats or dogs is your best bet if you pick mascots as your starting point (which, frankly, you shouldn’t). You should also always be aware of Duke and North Carolina, after they single-handedly pushed devils and rams into the top 5.
What about uniform colors? Let’s see what the data from the past 40 years tells us.
March Madness Winners by Jersey Color
Before I show you a breakdown of the last 40 NCAA Division I Basketball Tournaments based on jersey colors looks, I have a disclaimer.
I’ve considered the traditional home jersey of each team for the infographic, so I’ve ignored away uniforms or other variants used by the schools.
With that in mind, here’s the data!
Teams wearing blue uniforms have dominated the NCAA Division I Basketball Tournaments over the past 40 years, winning a whopping 28 titles in the process! Bear in mind that we had no March Madness in 2020, making the feat even more impressive.
Duke and UConn are the main reasons behind these numbers, but several other teams wearing blue jerseys have contributed multiple titles.
Louisville is the only non-blue team with more than one championship (2 titles), representing the color red. This is the second most common uniform shade of March Madness champs with 5 trophies, while green has two and a few other colors were featured once.
March Madness 2024 Odds and Analysis
Now that I’ve presented the very relevant for betting purposes information about mascots and uniform colors, it’s time to explore the latest March Madness 2024 winner odds by BetOnline before the Sweet 16.
I’ve added the mascots and uniform colors of all top 6 favorites left in the tournament.
| Team (Seed) | Odds to win in 2024 | Mascot | Uniform Color |
|---|---|---|---|
| Connecticut | +215 | Dog (husky) | Blue |
| Houston | +500 | Cat (cougar) | Red |
| Purdue | +650 | Human | Black |
| Arizona | +850 | Cat (wildcat) | Blue |
| North Carolina | +1000 | Ram | Blue |
| Tennessee | +1400 | Dog | White |
We have quite an interesting picture. I would instantly rule out Purdue because their mascot is a creepy human, according to America, and they wear black (I warned you not to take this too seriously!).
With the third biggest favorite out of the way, let’s discuss the rest. Connecticut and Arizona match our criteria perfectly. They are both blue and have a mascot that’s either a cat or a dog.
Statistically speaking, the potential winner is most likely to come from one of these two teams. You could back the Huskies because that would tie the number of titles won by cats and dogs in the past 40 years.
However, the odds for the Wildcats are much better, so I’m picking them to win March Madness 2024.
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