By Woodrow Carroll
Following the upper echelon of college football is a relatively easy task.
With 130 teams vying for the national championship, which was won earlier this month by the Georgia Bulldogs, keeping up with the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) teams is not difficult. The NCAA Division I basketball picture is more difficult, in large part due to the sheer number of teams.
There are 351 men’s college basketball teams, Abilene Christian to Youngstown State alphabetically, with a theoretical shot at winning the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) Division I championship. The figure of 351 is slightly flexible given a number of programs that are in classification transition among Division I, Division II, Division III, and NAIA (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics).
Each of those 351 Division I basketball programs could end up where Baylor did last season, as the national champion, although we all know only a select few schools have a realistic shot at the championship. Take a look at the most recent polls. The odds are very good that one of teams in the polls’ top 25 will come away with the national tournament championship.
• A discussion of college football is not likely to center on the Gaels of Iona or the Gaels of St. Mary’s. It could in college basketball.
A Gael is a person with an Irish, Scots, or Isle of Man ancestry. Iona College in New Rochelle, N. Y. which is greater New York City, has the Gael for a mascot. In fact, Killian the Gael is one of the more ferocious-looking mascots around.
Iona College is a member of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. Apparently Killian has done a good job as a mascot this season because Iona entered this week with an 8-0 record in conference and 16-3 overall.
The other Gael, St. Mary’s College of California, is in Moraga in the San Francisco Bay area. There is no fearful mascot for St. Mary’s because the Gael serves as a stand-alone mascot.
St. Mary’s College is a member of the West Coast Conference and similar to their eastern brethren in New York, the Gaels of St. Mary’s have pieced together a solid season. St. Mary’s entered the week with a 15-4 overall record. If St. Mary’s basketball is up against a challenge it likely will come in February. The West Coast Gaels have games with potent Gonzaga the February 12 away and the February 26 at home. The results might be a true indicator strength of St. Mary’s.
Albany is the capital of New York, and home to the Great Danes of the University of Albany. A member of the America East Conference, the Great Danes are 3-3 in Conference and 7-11 overall.
Upstate New York is not known as a hotbed of Danish immigrants. So how did the school end up with such a monicker of Great Danes?
In 1967 Albany University ran a contest to give the school a fitting mascot.
The Great Dane was selected, based on the animal’s size, weight, strength, character, courage, speed, and stamina. The mascot ended up being a Great Dane.
How about the Georgetown Hoyas? The Washington, D.C. school for years required students to take Greek and Latin. The cry “Hoya Saxa” was a combination of Greek and Latin that loosely translated into “Hoyas Rock”.
An NCAA basketball power in the 1980s, Georgetown is a member of the Big East where it does battle with Conference rival DePaul University of Chicago, among other basketball schools.