Ranking all 68 of the 2026 men's March Madness teams by mascot

[ASFN Admin]

That’s right, everyone: With the men's bracket officially revealed, March Madness 2026 is officially HERE.

And we know the next few days until the first round of the 2026 NCAA men’s tournament will be spent with you filling out your bracket, erasing it, filling it out again, tweaking it, tweaking it again and then making last-second changes on Thursday morning before the first games after the First Four tips off.

If you’re one of those people who is into doing deep bracket research with stats, rankings, and history? Sorry. This isn’t the list for you. This is the tenth (!) annual version of the list to help you pick your bracket based on team nicknames or the school's mascots.

Here's a breakdown of my completely non-scientific system: It's based on a combination of moniker creativity, how threatening the mascot is and, sometimes, the look of the costumed thing.

Away we go:

68. Illinois Fighting Illini​

We've been here before: If you have no mascot, you get penalized. They got rid of their offensive mascot, but the Kingfisher isn't official yet.

67. Michigan Wolverines​

C'mon, get a mascot already!

66. Arizona Wildcats​

My annual plea to get the number of Wildcats teams down from a billion to, like, one.

65. Villanova Wildcats​

64. Kentucky Wildcats​

63. Tennessee State Tigers​

Also too many Tigers.

62. Clemson Tigers​

61. Missouri Tigers​

60. High Point Panthers​

Slightly better, but there are too many big cat teams.

59. UNI Panthers​

58. Prairie View A&M Panthers​

57. Houston Cougars​

56. BYU Cougars​

55. UConn Huskies​

Dogs >>>> cats.

54. Gonzaga Bulldogs​

53. Georgia Bulldogs​

52. Siena Saints​

51. UMBC Retrievers​

50. NC State Wolfpack​

49. Texas A&M Aggies​

Bonus dog ranking: Reveille is a live dog mascot who has the coolest rules:

Company E-2 has the privilege of taking care of Reveille. If she is sleeping on a cadet's bed, that cadet must sleep on the floor. Cadets address Reveille as "Miss Rev, ma'am." If she is in class and barks while the professor is teaching, the class is to be immediately dismissed.

48. Louisville Cardinals​

The birds tier.

47. Miami (Ohio) RedHawks​

46. Lehigh Mountain Hawks​

45. Iowa Hawkeyes​

44. Kennesaw State Owls​

43. St. John's Red Storm​

Awesome name, but it's a bird mascot, Part I.

42. Iowa State Cyclones​

Awesome name, but it's a bird mascot, Part II.

41. Wright State Raiders​

Awesome name, but it's a wolf. Which... isn't bad actually!

40. UCLA Bruins​

Bears are scary!

39. Santa Clara Broncos​

Horses are underrated.

38. SMU Mustangs​

37. South Florida Bulls​

The "they've got horns" tier.

36. North Dakota State Bison​

35. Howard Bison​

34. VCU Rams​

33. Texas Longhorns​

32. Arkansas Razorbacks​

Tusks > horns.

31. Wisconsin Badgers​

I call this the classics tier. Some all-time great mascots who we've all loved over the decades.

30. Ohio State Buckeyes​

29. Nebraska Cornhuskers​

28. Tennessee Volunteers​

27. Kansas Jayhawks​

26. Virginia Cavaliers​

25. Duke Blue Devils​

24. Miami Hurricanes​

23. Michigan State Spartans​

22. North Carolina Tarheels​

21. Florida Gators​

20. Penn Quakers​

View this post on Instagram​

I mean, just look at this guy.

19. Hawaii Rainbow Warriors​

Breaking my own rules here. They don't currently have a mascot, but Rainbow Warriors as a team name is the coolest.

18. Alabama Crimson Tide​

Steely Dan rules.

17. Purdue Boilermakers​

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Please don't hurt me, Purdue Pete.

16. Utah State Aggies​

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Please don't hurt me, Big Blue.

15. Queens Royals​

A lion is tops, right? Also, this gets Lorde stuck in my head, which is a good thing.

14. Hofstra Pride​

View this post on Instagram​

TWO lions!

13. Vanderbilt Commodores​

Mr. Commodore is cool.

12. McNeese Cowboys​

We've reached the Stetson hat division, starting with Rowdy.

11. Texas Tech Red Raiders​

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10. TCU Horned Frogs​

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Looks like a made-up creature.

9. Saint Louis Billikens​

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Is, in fact, a made-up creature.

8. Saint Mary's Gaels​

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Gideon is just incredible.

7. LIU Sharks​

View this post on Instagram​

FINS UP!

6. California Baptist Lancers​

View this post on Instagram​

I loved all the knights this year, starting with this guy.

5. UCF Knights​

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His name is Knightro. How good is that?

4. Furman Paladins​

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3. Troy Trojans​

View this post on Instagram​

Not a knight, but is named T-Roy. LOL!

2. Akron Zips​

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It's a kangaroo!

1. Idaho Vandals​

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Congratulations to a team with a PERFECT combo of mascot and team name.

Let's start with the Vandals nickname. From Idaho's site:

Don’t use your dictionary to find Idaho’s definition of a Vandal. No, Idaho’s student-athletes go by a name earned nearly a century ago by a basketball team coached by Hec Edmundson, whose teams played defense with such intensity and ferocity that sports writers said they “vandalized” their opponents. The mark made by that 1917 team went far deeper than wins and losses on the court. In 1917, Harry Lloyd “Jazz” McCarty – a writer for the student newspaper, the Argonaut – subtly tagged the team with a new nickname in a pregame write-up: “The opening game with Whitman will mark a new epoch in Idaho basketball history, for the present gang of ‘Vandals’ have the best material that has ever carried the ‘I’ into action.”

So good. And the mascot? That's Joe Vandal, which is fantastic between the name and the look. Amazing work.

This article originally appeared on For The Win: March Madness mascots ranked for all 68 NCAA tournament teams

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