basketball

The Gators of Florida repeated as National Champions beating the Ohio State Buckeyes, but in either case, Nike claimed another victory in collegiate men’s basketball and solidified its place as the shoes of champions. With this Gators win, Nike-wearing teams have won 7 of the last 8 championships.

In their honor, here are pictures of Florida’s starting five wearing their Nikes.

Sadly to say, I’ve been stumped. I haven’t been able to identify the Nikes worn by Al Horford and Taurean Green. Horford’s wearing a slightly older sneaker that’s no longer on sale. I think it’s some type of UpTempo model. For Green, I couldn’t find any clear shots of him and his shoes. Also, that black on black colorway with little highlights make it tough to pick up details. Can anyone help me out here?

Congratulations Gators.

This year it’s easy. A Nike wearing team will win the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. The Nike Zoom LeBron wearing Buckeyes beat out the Jordan-clad Hoyas while the Swooshed Gators overcame the Bruins of Adidas.

It’s an all Nike finals. Just do it.

The Madness of March continues on for the UCLA Bruins, Ohio State Buckeyes, Florida Gators, and the Hoyas of Georgetown. Like last year, Nike represents three of the Final Four teams with UCLA reping Adidas.

Oddly enough, these teams don’t wear the typical team shoes seen in the tournament like the Nike AF25. Ohio State wears the Zoom LeBron IV for Ohio’s own LeBron James. Florida players wear a variety of Nikes, but Corey Brewer taking it back with the Pennys is by far the best. His Orlando colorway is okay, but the New York Knicks Pennys are a true match with the Gators unis. Georgetown is rockin’ player exclusive (PEs) Hoya colorways of the Air Jordan XX2. The best Adidas kicks I saw were on the feet of UCLA’s Darren Collison. He has a Bruin-colored Kobe Crazy 8 (which some Bruins wore last year).

A little late, but here are the teams that made it to the Elite 8 and which shoe companies they represent.

1. Florida (Nike)
2. Oregon (Nike)
3. Kansas (Adidas)
4. UCLA (Adidas)
5. North Carolina (Nike)
6. Georgetown (Nike)
7. Ohio State (Nike)
8. Memphis (Adidas)

The NCAA men’s basketball Sweet 16 teams are set and unlike last year, only two kicks brands are represented. Nike has 11 of the Sweet 16 teams, and Adidas has the remaining 5. Reebok and New Balance teams are out.

Here are the Sweet 16 teams and their shoe brands:

• Florida (Nike)
• Butler (Nike)
• Oregon (Nike)
• UNLV (Nike)
• Kansas (Adidas)
• Southern Illinois (Nike)
• Pittsburgh (Adidas)
• UCLA (Adidas)
• North Carolina (Nike/Jordan Brand)
• USC (Nike)
• Vanderbilt (Nike)
• Georgetown (Nike)
• Ohio State (Nike/LeBron James)
• Tennessee (Adidas)
• Texas A&M (Nike)
• Memphis (Adidas)

After the first two rounds (and 48 victories) of the 2007 NCAA Tournament, Nike teams have about two-thirds of all the wins. In 2006, Adidas, Nike, and Reebok teams had victories in the first weekend of play. Last year, Nike owned 73% of the first 48 victories, Adidas had 23%, and Reebok had 4%.

This year, four brands have victories – Nike, Adidas, New Balance (Winthrop), and Reebok (Boston College). This comes out to 67% for Nike, 29% for Adidas, 2% for New Balance, and 2% for Reebok.

Fixed the kicks sponsorships for each conference by removing the unknown status. Here’s the new chart showing the representation of Nike, Adidas, New Balance, and Reebok.

By now you know how many Big Dance teams are wearing what brand of kicks and you also know how the 2007 bracket looks with respect to sneaks. How do the conference shoe sponsorships look? Well, they look like this:

For comparison, take a look at the conference shoe sponsorships for March Madness 2006.

Although the games have begun, and it’s too late to change your picks, here is a look at this year’s brackets along with their respective shoe sponsorships.

And just remember that teams wearing Nikes have won 85% of the championships since 2000.

• 2000 Michigan State (Reebok)
• 2001 Duke (Nike)
• 2002 Maryland (Nike)
• 2003 Syracuse (Nike)
• 2004 UConn (Nike)
• 2005 North Carolina (Nike)
• 2006 Florida (Nike)

In 2006, the Final Four consisted of three Nike teams (George Mason, LSU, and Florida) and one Adidas squad in UCLA.

It’s time for the madness to begin, and like last year, I’ll be keeping an eye out on the kicks worn during the NCAA Tournament. Why check out the various kicks? Well, because in recent history, teams wearing Nike’s swoosh have been the champions 6 of the last 7 times. The kicks don’t lie!

So without further delay, I present the 2007 March Madness Kicks Analysis.

Shoe Sponsorship

Count of Sponsorship

Nike continues to dominate team sponsorships, upping their count to 44 teams this year compared to 42 teams in 2006. Adidas is a distant second with 15 sponsorships, followed by Reebok (Boston College and Niagara), and only Winthrop rocking New Balance. And1 failed to make a showing this year. I must admit that I missed two teams, Jackson State and Creighton, and can’t yet determine their sponsorships. After these teams play their first round games, there’ll be enough footage to correct these errors.