College basketball team nickname bracket: Day 3 of first-round voting is open
It's time for the Strong & Virtuous Region in our best college team nickname bracket — the names that honor some of our toughest, bravest and most pious individuals.
Miss any of the voting so far? There's still time to get in there on all the regions. All first-round voting will be open until Sunday afternoon. (Click here for a full-size version of the bracket.)
Other regions: Friendly & Funny Region | Strange & Quirky Region | Formidable & Scary Region
Let's get to it with another region full of some strong contenders for the title. (Note: Prior to the start of voting, we made one revision to this region to remove the Vaqueros — a name not even that popular in its own community — and correct the horrid oversight of not including the Rainbow Warriors.)
No. 1 Leathernecks vs. No. 16 Cornhuskers
The Summit League might have the best nickname game of any conference, boasting two No. 1 seeds and a No. 4 in this tournament. The Leathernecks is the proud moniker of Western Illinois. It's the only non-military school in the country with a military-inspired nickname — "leathernecks" is a slang term for a U.S. Marine.
The familiar name of Nebraska's teams would undoubtedly be higher on this list had they stuck with the name they used in the 1890s — the Bugeaters.
No. 9 Quakers vs. No. 8 Friars
Penn's nickname is the only Ivy League representative on the list, and the only one in Division-I that starts with a Q. It pays homage to the religious group that first threw down its United States roots in Pennsylvania.
They'll have their hands full with the Friars, the robe-wearing religious devotees to the goodwill of the poor honored via the Providence nickname.
No. 5 Paladins vs. No. 12 Minutemen
Four Division-I teams use "Knights" or some variation thereof for their nickname, but Furman went a little more specific. The Paladins were the top knights in the French emperor Charlemagne's court. Medieval Jedi, essentially.
If you've ever had an American history class, you know the Revolutionary War legacy of the Minutemen, a fitting match for the athletic teams at UMass.
No. 13 Norse vs. No. 4 Demon Deacons
Only a member of Division-I since 2012, Northern Kentucky is headed to the real NCAA Tournament this year (in its first year of eligibility, no less) and has its sights set on a first-round upset here too with a strong underdog candidate in Norse, a name honoring the Viking history of Norway.
But look out for the Demon Deacons. Wake Forest's popular, alliterative nickname was first coined — as many of these were — by a sportswriter, way back in 1922. Previously just the Deacons, Wake pulled off a big win over the rival Duke Blue Devils, prompting the new nickname. It stuck.
No. 3 Boilermakers vs. No. 14 Commodores
Purdue has a history as a working-class school, hence a nickname honoring the craftsmen who toil over building boilers, furnaces and the like.
A commodore is a naval rank between captain and rear admiral out there in the real world. At Vanderbilt, it pays tribute to Cornelius Vanderbilt, who was nicknamed "Commodore" after making his money in the shipping industry.
No. 11 Aztecs vs. No. 6 Gauchos
Student leaders at San Diego State chose "Aztecs" in 1925 to give a nod to the people who ruled Central Mexico centuries ago and still influence culture in the Southwest.
UC Santa Barbara used to be another school that used "Roadrunners" as a nickname before changing to the Gauchos in 1936. The origin story is interesting. The change was brought on by female students, who were "inspired by Douglas Fairbanks’s performance in the 1927 film The Gaucho." Fair. He was a pretty good-looking dude.
No. 7 Rainbow Warriors vs. No. 10 Matadors
The story goes that a rainbow appeared over the Hawai'i football field during a big upset win in 1923, prompting the adoption of the name "Rainbows." Warriors started sneaking into usage later. Some teams went by one or the other, some used "Rainbow Warriors." In 2013, athletic director Ben Jay decided to unify all teams under Rainbow Warriors. A wise choice. This is a definite sleeper pick.
The Cal State Northridge Matadors nickname shouts out to the famed bullfighters. It was selected from a list of 158 (!) possible names in a 1958 vote and withstood a movement to change it to the "Quakes" following the 1994 earthquake in the area.
No. 15 Lancers vs. No. 2 Lumberjacks
Who doesn't want to envision a little old-fashioned horse jousting while watching modern sports? It's like having dinner at Medieval Times every time they take the field. The Lancers of Longwood give the people what they want.
Few names have quite the ring to them that graces Lumberjacks. Both Stephen F. Austin and Northern Arizona employ it, honoring the plaid-wearing muscle men who chop down trees.
