With the Arizona Wildcats now the College World Series winners, all NCAA champions for the 2011-12 year have been decided.
And one thing this academic year showed us: Across divisions I, II and III, some nicknames proved better than others. So we created this handy word cloud to display just which monikers saw the most success the past few months:
• Overall winner: "Crimson Tide," which put the name on four trophies -- all, of course, belonging to Alabama (women's golf, softball, women's gymnastics, football).
• Most frequent single word: "Golden" -- Golden Bears (California D-I men's and women's swimming and diving, and Concordia-St. Paul D-II women's volleyball); Golden Rams (West Chester baseball and field hockey, D-II); Golden Lions (Dowling men's lacrosse, D-II); Golden Gophers (Minnesota women's hockey); Golden Knights (Saint Rose women's soccer, D-II).
• Second-most frequent single word: "Hawks" -- Hawks (Maryland-Eastern Shore bowling); Warhawks (Wisconsin-Whitewater men's basketball and football, D-III); War Hawks (McMurry men's outdoor track and field, D-III); Skyhawks (Fort Lewis men's soccer, D-II).
• Wildcats appears three times, from three Division I schools: Kentucky (men's basketball), Arizona (baseball) and Northwestern (women's lacrosse).
• Look closely for the following fun names: Stormy Petrels (Oglethorpe men's golf, D-III); Bantams (Trinity women's lacrosse, D-III); Ephs (Williams rowing and women's tennis, D-III); Lutes (Pacific Lutheran softball, D-III); Lopes (Grand Canyon men's indoor track and field, D-II); Lopers (Nebraska-Kearney wrestling, D-II); Gorillas (Pittsburg State football, D-II); Battling Bishops (Ohio Wesleyan men's soccer, D-III).
• The above names did not include "Lady" for women's teams.
Word cloud created on Tagul.