2010 NCAA Tournament Mascot Showdown: West Region First Round Preview

Continuing with my series on previewing each bracket by mascots, here are the mascots of the West Region. Winners are chosen by the most amount of comments.

(1) Syracuse Orange vs. (16) Vermont Catamounts

Orange is a mix between red and yellow and is also a fruit. This may sound lame but the actual mascot is awesome.

A catamount comes from the family of panthers and cougars and does the same thing that the other family members do.

Since a catamount is nothing special, orange might just beat it unless the Catamounts pull off another upset of Syracuse like they did in 2005.

(8) Gonzaga Bulldogs vs. (9) Florida State Seminoles

Since almost everybody refers to Gonzaga as the 'Zags, the bulldog really does not count. Zags is just a cool nickname that is better than a plain old bulldog.

Chief Osceola does not stick a flaming spear in the middle of the basketball court before every game but that would make Florida State basketball a lot more exciting.

This matchup is toss up.

(5) Butler Bulldogs vs. (12) UTEP Miners

Butler actually has a good story behind the bulldog name. A frat house bulldog ran through one of the college's offices when the discussion of a mascot came up and bulldog stuck.

There were alot of mines in Texas and the southwest region.

Unless the Miners can strike gold, the story behind Butler Bulldogs takes the win.

(4) Vanderbilt Commodores vs. (13) Murray State Racers

Commodore is the nickname given to university founder Corneilus Vanderbilt, who had a fortune in the shipping industry.

Racers is a reference to thoroughbred racing, the team used to be known as the thoroughbreds.

In one of the more unique mascot matchups, either one could advance.

(6) Xavier Musketeers vs. (11) Minnesota Golden Gophers

A musketeer is an early infantry soldier and was made famous by the Three Musketeers, which is also a delicious candy bar.

Minnesota added golden to the gopher because they wore gold uniforms in the 1930s but the burrowing creature is far from golden.

Three Musketeers Bar beats gold uniforms any day.

(3) Pitt Panthers vs. (14) Oakland Golden Grizzlies

Another good story behind the name, in 1909 when selecting a mascot, Panthers was chosen because it used to be the most powerful animal that roamed Pennsylvania and the basketball team is the human form of that description.

Another team that put a golden in front of a animal that is far from it. If they were just the Grizzlies, I would take them in a landslide but golden makes it sound like a cartoon character.

Powerful animal over a golden animal.

(7) BYU Cougars vs. (10) Florida Gators

According to legend, BYU's administration bought two cubs for 50 cents to attract interest in the athletic programs.

An alligator weighs over 800 pounds on average and has a deadly bite. Florida's team does not deserve a tourney bid but the gator does.

Cougars are fast and can run away from a hungry alligator.

(2) Kansas State Wildcats vs. (15) North Texas Mean Green

Another team whose mascot is in the panther, cougar family. Nothing special about K-State's choice of wildcat.

Mean Green? Really North Texas? There is nothing mean about the color green.

K-State by a landslide.

Make sure you comment on who has the best mascot to advance them to the second round.