Campus Roar and Nike's All-Time Best Basketball Advertisements

Watching the Final Four this coming weekend (and you most certainly should be watching), your eyes will likely stumble upon large, white writing adorning blue t-shirts with the phrase "Start The Buses!!"

Your first thought would be, "Hey, cool shirt." Then, "Two exclamation points? Weird." And finally, "What's Nike up to now?"

While I can't explain the extra punctuation, this unabashedly confident Kentucky Wildcats t-shirt is one of the winners of Nike's Campus Roar promotion. Recently, Nike asked college students and basketball fans to vote for their school's favorite "roar." The winning phrases were chosen for t-shirts and are being sold at Nike.com, Niketown stores and campus bookstores.

My personal favorites are Marquette's "Grind Together Shine Together" and, of course, my Dukies' "One Word: Unstoppable."

The one that puzzles me is Utah State's, "I Believe That We Will Win!" Twenty-thousand college-aged kids can't agree on something better than a third-grade team chant? I mean, I know there's that other school in Utah that does (and doesn't do) all those weird things, but you, Aggies fans, can do better.

With the Final Four upon us and playoff basketball rapidly approaching, I've been spending a lot of time not writing my midterm paper and watching old YouTube videos instead. So, I've compiled some of my favorite Nike basketball ads into one, neat and tidy slide show. Enjoy.

Freestyle

Ah, the video that epitomizes my high school attempts at street ball supremacy. Gotta love Rasheed Wallace doing absolutely nothing in approximately two seconds of air time. Reminds me of his Celtics days.

The Second Coming

Funny who Nike chooses to star in what seems like an attempt to gather its 10 best players. Jermaine O'Neal? Rasheed Wallace again?

I swear, if Danny Ainge trades for Shawn Marion and his disgusting finger, I'm moving to Oklahoma City.

Vince Carter's "Brand New Day"

Vince Carter looks good in purple. If only he tried this hard for the Suns. And Magic. Nets too. And the Raptors. I'm surprised he didn't flop on the purse recovery.

Matt Scott's "No Excuses"

Maybe Vinsanity should talk to this guy next time he says he's not going to dunk anymore.

LeBron James' "Rise"

And finally we have this debacle.

The video is well-made, pointed, nuanced, etc. But man, that LeBron guy sure is good at getting people all riled up.