March Madness: the time of year when college basketball fans everywhere trade sleep for brackets, cheer for upsets and pray their parlay hits. It’s chaos, it’s excitement and it’s downright unpredictable—just ask any 16th seed who knocks out a one seed. Sure, I could break down every team’s chances of winning the tournament (Go Blue Devils!), armed with stats and star players ready to chase a national title. But why settle for the predictable? Instead, I’m diving into something far more entertaining: a ranking of this year’s top five best and worst mascots (from best to worst), judged by three crucial criteria—appearance, originality and entertainment.
Let’s start with the best:
Cosmo the Cougar (Brigham Young University)
When you think of the most notable mascots in NCAA Division I history, Cosmo is on that list. You simply could not open TikTok during college football season without seeing Cosmo flipping 30 feet in the air over a golf cart and/or dancing (fantastically) with the dance team and cheer squad. Visually, he’s terrifying to look at due to the lack of eyes, yet his pure entertainment ability rules that out.
Puddles/The Duck (University of Oregon)
Puddles formally announced on Facebook in 2014 that his official name was “The Duck” and not Puddles, yet he is still called that to this day by many devoted loving fans of Oregon. He is a cute, loveable duck that is based off of Donald Duck’s art style. The Duck is up there with Cosmo as one of the most iconic and notable mascots in the NCAA. Some of his game day traditions include riding in on a Harley Davidson at football games, joining in the singing of the “Shout” song and nearly getting suspended for beating up other mascots.
Thunder the Antelope (Grand Canyon University)
I’ve got to throw an underdog in here somewhere. Thunder is muscular, wears a No. 49 basketball jersey (for GCU’s founding year) and is known for his wild antics, including dunking off trampolines at halftimes. If you put the student who plays Thunder in the Cosmo uniform, you would never know. On top of being wildly athletic, Thunder is also the most adorable entertainer.
Ramses the Ram (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
Coming from a Duke fan, it pains me to put Ramses up here, but he’s a classic. Not only is he a very cool and intimidating looking ram, but he also has a son, Ramses Jr., who is meant to be a less intimidating and more friendly face for little fans. Ramses and RJ not only perform skits, dance and rub center court before every basketball game, but also visit local hospitals and community events around Chapel Hill.
Sparty the Spartan (Michigan State University)
Much like his school’s basketball team, Sparty is often overlooked when it comes to competing for the top spot. He is quite visually pleasing to look at considering he looks like the statue of David in mascot form. His entertainment is certainly not up there with Cosmo, but their graduation tradition is heartening to see. Every graduating Sparty gets to wear his shoes to graduation to reveal their identities. In the NCAA, there are plenty of Spartans representing schools, but granted, they are less ripped.
Now let’s look at the worst mascots in this year’s tournament:
Purdue Pete (Purdue University)
Aside from the fact that historically this mascot has been absolutely terrifying to look at, you never hear too much about Purdue Pete as far as entertainment goes. His head is apparently notorious for breaking to the point where Purdue has a team of student engineers that work on the head every time it breaks. Purdue Pete is also not a full costume, quite literally just a head, which defeats the purpose of a mascot.
Frankie the Friar (Saint Francis University)
Okay so I know they’re technically not in the tournament, but Frankie is too scary to not include. Frankie looks like the devil version of the Providence College Friar. He is probably one of the most terrifying mascots in the country. I advise you not to look up the original Frankie the Friar costume if you want to sleep at night. Why are his dogs out in the open? I don’t even care if he’s entertaining. I will not be able to sleep for a week now.
Testudo the Terrapin (University of Maryland)
If you just look at Testudo, you would not be able to tell that he is a turtle. Why would you make a mascot the slowest animal on Earth? The only thing he’s known for is rubbing the statue’s nose before midterms and finals for good luck.
The Tiger (Clemson University)
For an Atlantic Coast Conference mascot, The Tiger is rather underwhelming. He appears with his Junior Tiger son at game day parades, but other than that, he’s pretty boring. The Tiger looks like the tiger from the “Jungle Book” got electrocuted. I’ll leave it at that.
Zippy the Kangaroo (The University of Akron)
Zippy is the least terrifying mascot on this list. Granted, he’s still creepy to look at. Zippy gets paid generously for his work as a mascot yet does nothing worth noting.
