Round of 64
The Great Dane — nay, Greatest Dane is back again. His charming scowl stares down the familiar gator without fear.
Florida basically went buck-wild with outlines. The outlined outlines have outlined outlines. Not to mention the lack of contrast between the blue and green will actually make your vision go fuzzy if you look at it for too long.
Winner: Albany
Colorado's logo got a slight makeover a few years ago, and the world of sports logos is better for it. It's incredibly simple - it is easily stripped down to one-color - yet it still feels sophisticated and "sporty." Pitt's drop shadow on a navy font is unnecessarily heavy.
Winner: Colorado
Next up is our first battle of the 3 initials, which is always a tough challenge in logo design. Stephen F. Austin is incredibly busy, overdesigned, and does not scale well.
VCU's logo was recently featured over at brand new, if you really want to dive deeper into the redesign, which we don't.
Winner: VCU, because someone has to
In a battle of the scripts, it boiled down to readability and scalability and Tulsa comes out on top.
Winner: Tulsa
The whimsical, left-leaning type of Dayton seems much more appropriate for a consumer product than a university. The ultra-compact type of Ohio state isn't doing anyone any favors, either, but at least it gives off the proper vibe (aka not-cereal-box vibe).
Winner: Ohio State
In a very similar match-up to North Dakota State vs Oklahoma, the modern logo prevails. The Bronco's logo is well-crafted, well-balanced, and, well, feels tough.
Syracuse's cause might be helped by losing the stroke completely or making it much thicker. Feels wimpy in it's current state.
Winner: Western Michigan
In Stanford, we have an example of a solitary letter logo that lacks uniqueness and personality. Granted, it's got the cachet that comes with history. Alumni would be justifiably furious if the school deviated from this blocky "S." It's just not that well-designed.
The Lobos logo is laughably "tough" but at least it has some personality.
Winner: New Mexico
The committee loved everything about Eastern Kentucky's Colonel: The execution, color restraint, scalability, ease of recognition, flowing hair, glorious goatee, windblown Kentucky Colonel tie. It has it all.
The odd, yet cute Jayhawk didn't really have a chance.
Winner: Eastern Kentucky
Whoever designed Coastal's logo had a herculean task at hand - make a teal chicken look intimidating. Well done, designer!
Despite being the original NCAA hipster logo, Virginia's logo elements are just a bit too disparate.
Winner: Coastal Carolina
There's a lot going on with those letters, G-Dubs, almost none of it good. Rumor has it that Washington Monument is hiding in the bottom space of the W. That is, at best, a happy accident.
Winner: Memphis
Harvard's shield is a 2% upgrade over just having the letter "H". Classic, but lacking any style whatsoever.
Cincinnati's mark is a good distillation of the program into a simple logo, but feels a little wimpy overall.
Winner: Cincinnati
The Delaware Blue Hen's head seems rather arbitrarily placed over the 'UD', thus obstructing it rather awkwardly. Doesn't really matter because Spartans.
Winner: Michigan State
Providence is one of the few schools that successfully incorporates the mascot, school name, and mascot name into one cohesive logo.
UNC gets bonus points for non-traditional letter style and a non-traditional color, but it really had no chance against the striking friar.
Winner: Providence
Iowa State skillfully mixes new and old school styles, but ultimately feels generic.
NC Central has a very arresting shape, and get an A+ for scalability, which the committee has really been stressing this year. If only North Carolina started with the letter 'V'.
Winner: North Carolina Central
St. Joes possibly could have won a couple rounds of the tournament had they not run into the steely-eyed, symmetrical husky of UConn.
Winner: Connecticut
The committee ❤'s in-line fonts — much more than a blob of a panther, anyway. And what's with that curved word mark?
Winner: Villanova
Battle of the Wildcats! Arizona is a #1 seed in both the regular tournament, and would be in the logo bracket too, if it were seeded. It's unique, identifiable, scales with ease and reproduces flawlessly. Weber State's not-terrible Wildcat never had a chance.
Winner: Arizona
The committee has already shown a lot of love to the kitschy mascot logos, and the identifiable, lovable Gonzaga bulldog fits the bill.
OSU's logo is strong, balanced, and unique.
Winner: Oklahoma State
An attractive logotype placed logically on top of a charging bison. It's one of the better examples of logos in the "modern" vein. Bonus points for the visual snout huff puff.
Oklahoma's logo is classic (read: boring).
Winner: North Dakota State
The San Diego State logo is difficult to read, and it minimizes very poorly. Despite itself, it easily beats this Aggie. Is it really necessary to have two guns? His body seems vaguely disproportionate, too.
Winner: San Diego State
The 'B' in Baylor's logo is significantly taller than the 'U'. Of course an even taller 'U' would make for a lot of empty space, but that should be incentive to try something else entirely.
Winner: Nebraska, by default
The committee has historically cringed at the new wave of "modern" logos, but Creighton's Jay is really well done, and works even better in the standalone version.
Louisiana's fleur-de-lis badge bows out of the tournament early.Winner: Creighton
That's not just an O! It's the shape of Autzen Stadium, knocked out by the shape of the track. We think, anyway. Prefontaine went there, you know.
If the goal of BYU's logo was to be wacky and make you question "why?" or 'Y?', then they succeeded.
Winner: Oregon
Typically simplicity is going to win, and this match-up is no different. Wisconsin' mark has style without being too playful, and they wisely avoided putting outlines all over it.
Winner: Wisconsin
The personified wheat man lays waste to the uninspired CP. Hardly a surprise — the Shocker is exceptionally well-illustrated and has a lot of character. Just look at that turtleneck!
Winner: Wichita state
To some extent, every logo is reminiscent of the era in which it was designed. In this instance, Kansas State's screams '90s. In a bad way. To it's credit it may be the most ripped-off logo for high school sports, so that's saying something.
Kentucky's feels dated as well, but the letters work well together in the lockup.
Winner: Kentucky, in a close one.
This one was a toss-up among the committee, and despite Xavier being the "correct" choice design-wise, the forest sprite of St. Louis advances, based on it's individuality.
Winner: St. Louis
Louisville's iconic cardinal is bold, clean, and instantly recognizable. Manhattan's could one day be perceived as classic, but as of now it's just a bit dull.
Winner: Louisville
Umass, while well-executed, was a bit too busy for the committee's taste this year. The jowls of Iowa advance again.
Winner: Iowa
Conceptually, these are remarkably similar logos. In execution, they are miles apart. Duke wins, mostly because the Mercer Bear looks weird.
Winner: Duke
In one of the better 2nd round match-ups we see a battle in symmetry — new school vs old school.
The Longhorns' iconic mark is simple, one color, and perfect at any size.
If the ASU logo were 20% simpler it could go deep in the tourney. Instead it resembles a tat that a guy driving a Hummer might have. So close, yet so far.
Winner: Texas
If Texas Southern's logo isn't the worst single logo of the tournament, that distinction goes to Wofford. In all the ways that Michigan's thick and powerful 'M' commands respect, Wofford's fails. The serif font and strange double-underline combination screams, "Let me litigate your divorce!"
Winner: Michigan, in a landslide