The Best Mascots of March Madness, 2025

Aubie

I am concerned about Aubie’s forlorn expression. Mascots should look like their team is winning; Aubie looks like he had has life savings on Bama during the Kick Six and doesn’t know how to react.

Stinger

The first victim of our “you shouldn’t have teeth” rule. I’m also not sold on Stinger in general. His eyes kinda look like they’re always looking up. And are his fingers always like that, or is he about to flip someone off?

Louie

So, to reiterate, we have had one mascot that naturally has teeth but doesn’t show them (Aubie) and now two that shouldn’t have teeth but do anyway. Put some clothes on, Louie.

Billy Bluejay

Now we’re talking. A bird with a happy expression, obvious talent, and no teeth. Billy’s a little too far to the cute side of the spectrum, and that could spell trouble later on, but he gets an easy win here.

None

King Triton

He’s legally distinct from Disney’s King Triton but does look a lot like Ariel’s merman dad after the royalties dry up. Keeps in good shape, though. He’ll get to survive a round by default.

Reveille

A word on live mascots: A few teams have them, and in the interest of fairness, we must judge them by the same criteria as costumed mascots. Let there be no mistake, thought: Reveillie is a good girl.

Handsome Dan

As best I can tell, Handsome Dan is both the name of the costumed mascot and the live mascot seen here. And while I hate that I must send a live mascot packing so early, his costumed counterpart just isn’t that handsome.

Tony the Landshark

For obvious reasons, Ole Miss stopped using an old man named “Colonel Reb” as their mascot. For less obvious reasons, they chose a shark instead. He’s been “de-emphasized” since 2021.

Rameses

Rameses is a classic March Madness mascot befitting a blueblood school, and he’s right around my ideal spot on the cute/intimidating scale. But he’s lucky to run up against an opponent with even less to do with their team name than he does.

Cy

The only POSSIBLE explanation for giving Cy teeth is to eat all that sweet, sweet Iowa corn. I’m not buying it.

Lou

Now we’re talking! I’d never seen the Bisons’ mascot until I started working on this, and he’s going to be very difficult to unseat. Great costume and toes the line between fierce and cute expertly.

Iggy

Marquette’s a favorite of mine because they’re not just eagles — they’re golden eagles. So it’s a shame that their mascot is so… plain? Iggy checks all the boxes, but ironically (for a bird) doesn’t go above and beyond.

Lobo Louie

Here’s our first example of what I like to call a BCA: Breakfast Cereal Addict. These are the mascots that fall into the uncanny valley enough to look like they’re addicted to drugs. But mascots don’t do drugs. What are drugs to cartoon characters? As we learned from the ads during Saturday morning cartoons: Breakfast cereal. Lay off it, Louie.

Sparty

We run afoul of our “humans are bad” rule here, and Sparty’s kinda in the uncanny valley even for humans. I don’t say this often, but hit the gym less, Sparty.

Tupper

Another live mascot! Awww, look how cute he— do not look in the background DO NOT LOOK IN THE BACKGROUND

One of these mascots is thrilled to see you and ready to hoop all night. The other is looking at his mortgage payments and struggling to find a way to keep the house. Come on.

Winner: Creighton

Somewhat disheveled human man who is furthering monarchistic ideals vs. who’s a good girl? you are, yes you are!

Texas A&M by a million

Winner: Texas A&M

This is a GREAT mascot matchup, easily the best in the region. Rameses is a little higher-quality, in my opinion, but the fact remains that he just doesn’t have the same relevance to his team’s name as Lou, a Bison mascot for the Bisons.

Winner: Lipscomb

I’m really struggling on this one. Tupper is undoubtedly a Good Boy, but we have to consider his costumed counterpart as well. Iggy, meanwhile, is showing that you can win simply by being the most average mascot.

Winner: Marquette

Billy Blue Jay exudes the energy of a happy puppy. Reveille IS a happy puppy.

Winner: Texas A&M

Average can only get you so far, Iggy.

Winner: Lipscomb

I’m potentially setting a precedent I’m unsure of here, because I think there are certainly cases where a costumed mascot COULD be superior to a live mascot. I just don’t think that this is one of them. You had a fantastic Cinderella run, Lipscomb. But the clock has struck midnight.

Winner: Texas A&M

The Blue Devil

The Blue Devil looks awfully human — perhaps a statement on the true evils of our society? He’s intimidating only in the sense that I assume if he catches you alone, he’ll talk for hours extolling the virtues of capes.

Emmit S. Burg

When I looked at this matchup, I thought there was no way the Blue Devil would advance a round. I searched “Mount Saint Mary’s mascot” to see what would be advancing instead.

Congratulations, Duke!

Bully

Another example of a live mascot being let down by their costumed counterpart. This picture’s from 2002, but the current Bully is as cute as this one… the costume’s pretty much the same, too.

Bruiser & Marigold

A lot of schools have different mascots for their men’s and women’s teams. Because we’re dealing with the men’s tournament, I’ll mostly stick with the men’s mascots. Unfortunately, I had to see Marigold’s face here, and so you do, too.

The Oregon Duck

This duck is an absolute ICON. When you have a “less-intimidating” nickname (hey, I know ducks are scary), the mascots can be hit or miss. The Oregon Duck is a home run.

Sparky

Liberty as a university is private, evangelical Christian, and VERY conservative. I’ll root against them in every matchup. Fortunately, their mascot looks like a character in a knockoff Pokémon mobile game, so I don’t have to feel bad about knocking it out of my bracket.

Wilbur

Wilbur teeters right on the brink of BCA syndrome, but mostly falls on the line of “messy but lovable.” He’s got some great logos for himself, which is something more schools should do with their mascots.

Zippy

Remember all those criteria I laid out at the top? Throw them away. Sometimes a mascot is SO goofy they supercede all of that. Zippy’s apparently a kangaroo and look! here he is hugging a real kangaroo. I love Zippy.

Cosmo

I’m beginning to sense a trend between religious schools and bad mascots. I have never seen a cougar look more like a grandpa than Cosmo does.

Rodney

Another 11-seed, another ram, and this one IS for a team called the Rams. See, UNC? This is when it’s appropriate to have a ram mascot. And Rodney’s a damn good one, too.

Bucky Badger

No creature has ever been shaped quite like Bucky. Full-size images reveal just how… cylindrical he is. He’s iconic, yes. But is he good?

Monte

I’ve absolutely done Monte dirty here with the picture, but I saw it in the Google image search and couldn’t stop laughing. Monte’s solid, about what you’d want for a bear. Headband’s questionable but we’ll allow it.

Gideon

Saint Mary’s has answered the question no one was asking: What if we made a fursuit out of the cavemen from those Geico ads?

Mr. Commodore

“Mr. Commodore” is a so-bad-it’s-good name for a mascot. Sure, just name him Mr. Whatever The Nickname Is. In human-on-human matchups, I’m taking the one that actually has human facial proportions.

Big Al

Big Al is neither crimson nor a tide, but Alabama’s been pretty consistent with the elephant branding so we’ll let it slide until we face a not-human in the bracket. Can we at least give Al some tusks?

ROMO

Nothing says first-round exit like the name “ROMO.”

Bulldogs are too cute to be affected by whatever demonic powers the Duke Blue Devil has up his sleeve. Easy pick here.

Winner: Mississippi State

I really hate that I can only pick one of these adorable dumbasses. I love them both so much. When in doubt, we go bird.

Winner: Oregon

OK, here’s an actual pic of Monte. He’s really good! He’s just not quite as good as Rodney. Cartoon eyes can be hit or miss on mascots, but they work super well with Rodney.

Winner: VCU

Sorry, Mr. Commodore. Mr. Elephant is too powerful. And, more importantly, not a human inside of a human inside of a silly hat.

Winner: Alabama

I think one of the problems teams like Mississippi State are running into is that live bulldogs are adorable, but costumed bulldogs are really hard to get right. I’m taking the duck until real Bully ditches costume Bully.

Winner: Oregon

Here’s where the lesser quality of Big Al’s costume really comes back to bite him. The difference between these two is night and day.

Winner: VCU

Rodney is great, and would probably win a few other regions in this bracket. But look at that duck’s face. Do you see the fear in his eyes? That’s right, you don’t. Because there isn’t any.

Winner: Oregon

Shasta

Cougar fight! Shasta’s a rock-solid mascot. He leans a bit toward BCA territory but not by a disqualifying amount. I don’t think Shasta will make a deep run, but I do have him getting a win here.

Eddie

Up until a few years ago, when they changed the logo and mascot, I don’t think anyone at SIUE knew what a cougar was. They’re doing better now — this head is stellar. It just needs the rest of the body/clothes to match. With the plain t-shirt, he’s giving “partialing at a furcon” vibes.

Spike

Does anyone even know how to make a bulldog costume? Poor Spike doesn’t even have a live companion to hoist him up: Gonzaga used to have live bulldogs, but doesn’t appear to anymore.

Uga & Hairy Dawg

Apparently not! Even more evidence against costumed bulldogs. Fortunately, Uga is an exceptional live mascot who does enough to make up for both the costumed mascot’s name and appearance.

The Tiger

Look, Clemson, I get it. Sometimes you don’t want to invest a lot of money into a mascot. And having a glorified partial is just fine! But please, at least give him a name.

Rowdy

It’s weird that so many of these human costumes have more or less exactly the same head, right? Are they mass-produced somewhere?

Purdue Pete

They’re called the Boilermakers, what do you want from them?

Prowler

High Point had a perfectly fine panther costume and decided to go with this instead. And trust me, this is the most flattering angle I could find. Prowler is not, however, a boilermaker, so we’ll send him through.

None

Yeah, uh, don’t look up what their mascot looked like before they wisely dropped it.

D’Artagnan & the Blue Blob

D’Artagnan is a pretty standard human mascot. I will not be commenting on the Blue Blob at this time.

The Wildcat

Kentucky has subscribed to the Clemson school of not naming their mascots. Fortunately, theirs is a tad bit higher-quality. A tad.

T-Roy

If you played any of the Backyard Sports games growing up, you might remember the create-a-player tool had two head shapes: tall oval and wide oval. T-Roy is wide oval.

Joe Bruin

This is another perfectly serviceable mascot. The snoot’s a little large, but that’s all I can really critique about him.

Big Blue

Bull mascots typically have a lot of potential — they’re naturally intimidating, while mascots in general are naturally cute, so you don’t have to do too much.

Utah State did too much.

Smokey

A very good boy AND a very good costume, as well. That’s a combo that’ll be tough to beat. The only drawback is the team is named the “volunteers,” but, dogs can be volunteers, right?

Boss

Wofford previously had live terrier mascots, but I can’t find evidence of a current one. No shade to Boss, but hopefully they get another one soon. (Some shade to Boss.)

Before we go too much farther, I do want to ask why the Georgia Bulldogs tweeted out this photo of their mascots in these positions. It was like the only photo I could find of the two together, unfortunately.

Winner: Georgia

The previous Prowler would’ve won this matchup, I think. New Prowler may actually have BCA. The Clemson Tiger may have owl ancestry somewhere in his lineage, but he’s good enough to stick around for now.

Winner: Clemson

The Wildcat is undoubtedly basic — so basic that it’s among the most common college sports nicknames. But basic is all you need to win this matchup.

Winner: Kentucky

Basic’s not going to win this matchup. Who would’ve ever thought we’d see the day when Smokey defeated a bear?

Winner: Tennessee

I’m kind of surprised Clemson’s Tiger has made it this far, and I’m kind of surprised I’m going to pick them again. Tennessee’s proven that you CAN have a good costumed mascot with a live mascot, so we don’t need to tolerate whatever Georgia’s doing with “Hairy Dawg” any longer.

Winner: Clemson

I’m not here to litigate whether dogs are better than cats. But in this instance, I can safely say that two dogs are better than one cat.

Winner: Tennessee

This more or less a rematch of the previous round for Tennessee. Neither Kentucky nor Clemson have standout mascots; neither even bothered to give them names. Smokey’s toughest matchup in this region may honestly have been the first round.

Winner: Tennessee

Albert E. Gator

Albert apparently set a world record for most fist bumps, which is neat. And what am I gonna do, pick against a gator when they play on Flat Fuck Friday?

Mr. Spartan

Mr. Spartan can go hang out with Mr. Commodore at the losers’ table.

Jonathan

If you’re going to have a dog nickname so you can get a live mascot, Huskies is a great choice. There’s a reason you see a billion huskies at furry conventions and very few bulldogs.

Boomer

Nice try, Oklahoma, but I know that Boomer ain’t a Sooner. Horses can’t own land.

Pouncer

Aw shit, Memphis got generic Tony the Tiger to be their mascot. They’rrrrrrrrrre fine!

CAM the Ram

CAM the Ram can jam, damn! Maybe one of the few live mascots that doesn’t look quite as good as his costumed counterpart… but come on, he’s still a great ram.

Testudo

A terrapin is a small turtle, so Maryland gets points for accuracy AND creativity. He’s not a bad-looking mascot by any means, either.

Thunder

There’s no denying Thunder is a great mascot. He checks all the boxes. But we have to acknowledge the antelope in the room: GCU is a for-profit Christian university. And so, sometimes, the turtle beats the antelope.

Truman

Unfortunately, Truman the Tiger gives us another example of BCA. I can’t tell if the white on the bottom of his face is supposed to be a beard, a mane, or frosted sugar.

Spike & Griff

Look at that! It took until the very end of the bracket, but we actually have a decent bulldog costume! And, of course, Griff, playing the part of the real bulldog, is a very good boy, too.

Raider Red

Texas Tech has an actual masked, horse-riding human as their primary mascot, but they also have this fluffball of a guy in costume. He’s almost cute enough to distract you from how he’s either holding a gun or making finger guns in every picture you can find of him.

Sammy C. Hawk

There’s a serious lack of decent bird mascots in this year’s bracket. Sammy’s not gonna rise to the heights of his seahawk brother, Blitz, but he’s a fine bird nonetheless.

Big Jay

A Jayhawk is not a real bird, but we wouldn’t ding a dragon mascot for not being real, would we? The term comes from anti-slavery activists in antebellum Kansas. Sounds even better than dragons to me!

Big Red

The Razorbacks do have a live mascot as well — Tusk, a boar — but I can’t find any pictures of it with Big Red. Pigs are great, but it’s hard to rate them as highly on the cuteness scale as dogs or other live mascots.

Johnny Thunderbird

Someone get Iowa State on the line — this is what you should be going for if you have a weather-related name and want a bird mascot. The lightning markings are a bit much for my taste, but they don’t ruin the costume. And no teeth!

Durango

Durango is, by all accounts, an excellent mascot. A bull isn’t really a maverick, but it’s undeniably well-designed. Unfortunately, Durango is not a bird, and I love birds. Sorry, Durango.

By the time this game occurs, it will no longer be #FlatFuckFriday. But it will always, no matter what day of the week it actually is, be #FurryFriendsFriday.

Winner: UConn

There’s no extraneous grifting going on at Colorado State to save Testudo this time. And while I have my own personal grudges against Colorado State, I won’t let them affect my decision-making here.

Winner: Colorado State

Sammy C. Hawk suffers from a problem that us avians know far too well: Looking-into-the-camera face. It’s just not a flattering angle. Some birds can pull it off, but alas, Sammy is not one of them.

Winner: Drake

I think, if you’re looking just at the design of the bird here, you have to go with Johnny Thunderbird. I remain skeptical of the thunderbolts, but Johnny tops Big Jay in terms of beak shape, eye shape, facial expression, and he even has arm wings — something Big Jay lacks.

Winner: St. John’s

Oh, man. These two are about as close as you can get. Two excellent live mascots, two excellent costumed mascots. I do think Colorado State’s costumed mascot is slightly better, but I think Jonathan is just a tad bit better than CAM, and that’s where I’ll make the decision. But both could easily be this region’s champion.

Winner: UConn

Johnny’s grown on me as I’ve gone through this exercise, but it’s really tough for a good costumed mascot on its own to beat a decent costumed mascot + a live mascot. Griff seals the deal for Drake in this round.

Winner: Drake

Here’s another situation where I think the costumed mascot is better for Drake… but Jonathan has just a bit more of an edge on Griff. Anyone who knows me knows I’m a huge Griff stan, but I’m doing my best to be unbiased here. UConn heads back to another Final Four.

Winner: UConn

Reveille! I’d almost forgotten about you! This matchup pits two of the finest live mascots in the country. It’s hard to say one is any better than the other. So I’ll take the easy way out — UConn has a costumed mascot, and the Aggies do not.

Winner: UConn

We know that duck isn’t backing down, and I hate to vote against a feathered friend. But I don’t think the Oregon Duck has quite enough firepower to knock off Smokey. Looks like we’re headed to an all-dog championship.

Winner: Tennessee