Here are the conference shoe sponsorships for the 64 teams making the 2008 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament.
I didn’t realize the Big East led the way with the most teams (8 – 5 Nike, 3 Adidas) making the tournament. The Big 12, PAC-10, and SEC sent 6 teams each to the Tournament while the perennial powerhouse ACC only had 4 teams represented (North Carolina, Clemson, Miami, and Duke – all Nike).
Did a little image searching on Getty Pictures to clear up my initial kicks analysis. Here are the new graphs.
I credited Adidas for Cal St Fullerton, but Mount Saint Mary’s popped up as another independent with Adidas and New Balance on their players. Both Nike and Adidas’ numbers went up slightly.
Pssst. Wanna know a secret? If your men’s basketball program is sponsored by Nike and wears Nike shoes during the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, you have a good chance of winning a National Championship. Starting this century, go ask Duke (’01), Maryland (’02), Syracuse (’03), Connecticut (’04), North Carolina (’05), and Florida (’06, ’07). That’s 7 of the last 8 championships.
How does this year’s field shoe up? Let’s take a look.
Nike teams took a dip this year representing 60% of the dancing teams, down from 69% in 2007. My data is still flawed though with 5 unknown sponsorships (not much photo coverage of UMBC, Cornell, Miami, Saint Mary’s, and Mississippi Valley State) and needed verification on two possible independents (Cal State Fullerton and Western Kentucky). Adidas got two more teams, going from 15 to 17 teams this year. And1 and Reeboks are nowhere to be found, and Winthrop continues to be the sole rep for New Balance.
Taking a look at the shoe sponsorships by Regionals doesn’t reveal a lot.
But what is a little interesting is that the three stripped Adidas accounts for three of the four top seeded teams. UCLA, Memphis, and Kansas all ball in Adidas kicks while only the Tar Heels of North Carolina rep Nikes. Is this the year for Adidas to come through?