Round of 32
As designers, it would probably be irresponsible for the committee to punish a logo as well-designed as Colorado's by having it smacked down by something so cartoonish that it borders on copyright infringement. We could look past it vs The Mount and Florida, but it's time for the dream to end. Goodbye, Scooby. You had quite a run.
Winner: Colorado
The issues with VCU's logo were touched upon in the round of 64, and it wouldn't have survived against tougher competition. The competition doesn't really improve in the round of 32. Tulsa's script is decent (and looks good on their jerseys), but placing it over the warning flags makes it too cluttered to advance.
Winner: VCU again, somehow.
There was dissent amongst the committee here. Ohio State's type is well-nestled, albeit too crowded. That said, it's still enough to overcome the zombie steed, all too reminiscent of the Denver Broncos (though it's only younger by one year). Western Michigan's type was it's ultimate downfall. Let's move along, shall we?
Winner: Ohio State
The Colonel is emerging as a real contender in this competition. Or maybe it just hasn't faced the toughest competition. The loco-eyed Lobo occupies a strange limbo between lifelike and cartoonish, crest and odd shape. No such debates exist with the Colonel.
Winner: Eastern Kentucky
Oh, he is a Rootin' Tootin' Rooster. It'll be at least one more round before his vaguely scrotal wattle costs him a matchup. Memphis' mark isn't too bad, but the balance of the logo worked better before they shortened the name from "Memphis State."
Winner: Coastal Carolina
A battle of two fine, simple logos has to go to Sparty. It has a fluid feel to it that would have been sacrificed, had the University brass opted to go with Nike's proposed version a few years ago. It's not unnecessarily fierce and it's not swiftly moving anywhere. Its strength is just self-evident.
For what it's worth, Cincinnati's 'C' logo is a little misguided. They've had it forever, but the 'C' aspect of it has never resembled (and will never resemble) a paw. It's just a few toes, floating above a condensed and italicized C.
Winner: Michigan State
If you want to point to a reason why Providence advances here, it would be that the North Carolina Central Eagle's wings are spread, but he doesn't look like he's flying. While there is a nice symmetry to the wings, the wing on the right (our right, his left) looks like it's on backwards. It's the round of 32. It's okay to be this pedantic.
Winner: Providence
Yes, it's just a 'V'. But it's not just a 'V'. It's like 3 Vs. But it works. It works, despite being originally created in the dreadful '90s. The serifs work in ways the Xavier logo could learn from, and the in-line adds a necessary splash of color. Is it enough to overcome UConn's new design? Perhaps not, if we were talking only about the Husky head. As such, the clumsy type sullies an otherwise stout logo. BONUS: You, reader, may have a bit of nostalgia for the previous UConn logo. Sadly, you've been lied to this whole time. That's no husky. It's a Samoyed.
Winner: Villanova, in a hard-fought battle
Far, far too many bevels in OSU's logo to compete with this committee favorite. The beveling epidemic in collegiate logo design has run its course. It is not particularly ferocious or masculine. It makes a logo much more difficult to reproduce, instantly making a two-color logo into a four-color logo. Most of the time, when the bevels are removed, what remains is pretty uninspiring. The committee suspects we'll see a whole lot of money spent on redesigned logos once the bevel fad dies off.
Winner: Arizona rolls on
Provided they don't quickly bow out from the real tourney, readers will have plenty of opportunities to see just how poorly San Diego State's logo reproduces. It's possibly because the upper right and lower left parts of the 'S' extend too far. It was a curious decision to have those parts of the letter overlap the 'D'. Even fixing that is probably turd-polishing. The spear looks like a last-minute addition, and if there wasn't already enough going on with the 'S', there are little half-serifs too. The huffin' puffin' Bison advances.
Winner: North Dakota State
Nebraska is a casualty of our aforementioned single-letter-as-logo criteria. There's just not enough there to make it unique. The italicization of Creighton's 'C' is a little unnecessary. BUT THAT BLUE JAY THO. Creighton wins.
Winner: Creighton
Simply symmetry trumps the peculiar parabolic motion of the power W. TONS of alliteration in that previous sentence. At any rate, Nike made a winning logo for Oregon a decade ago. Wisconsin's looks vaguely like it was designed around the earhole of a football helmet. Might it have been? Give Wisconsin credit, though. They certainly own it.
Winner: Oregon
Is it weird that the Wheat Man is chewing on wheat? Nah. That's just how crazy he is. If he does that to himself, just think what he'll do to you and yours. This version of the interlocking 'UK' logo appears to have fixed something that is currently errant about their mid court logo. Look closely, and you'll see that the strokes of the vertical outline are noticeably thicker than the horizontal strokes. It's just a side note, really. This is a battle of the logos you see above. And as such, Shocker trounces this 'UK' version.
Winner: Wichita State
A head-to-head matchup. Lulz. Is this really any contest? That Billiken cannot be trusted. Mischief is written all over his face. The Cardinal may have more teeth than the average cardinal, but this is a competition in which teal chickens with distinct fists advance with great aplomb.
Winner: Louisville
To an extent, the Iowa logo advances so that we can continue to work in the word "jowl." Kidding aside, the Hawkeye is a marginally better logo. It doesn't look quite as dated and it minimizes better. There, you've had some design words.
Winner: Iowa
In the world of collegiate logos, the Texas logo is as identifiable as the Apple logo. There's not a single excessive detail, it can be reproduced anywhere and everywhere. Michigan may own the letter 'M' better than any other school, but it's simply not enough here. The Longhorn exists as naturally as oxygen. You could destroy every piece of Texas merchandise, but you'd never destroy the innate "longhornness" this logo embodies.
Winner: Texas