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Mid-Major Madness Mascot Melee: Second Round results and Sweet 16 bracket

Pre-tournament favorite Big Red was sent home.

By Russell Steinberg
Ben Goren #ReadBenGoren

Only 16 mascots remain in the 2017 Mid-Major Madness Mascot Melee (#FurryFury), and out of those 16, there is only one 1 seed, one 2 seed, and no 3 seeds.

It’s safe to say there have been plenty of upsets — or just poor seeding on my part, but hey, that’s what makes this fun.

The Second Round saw two of the most shocking upsets so far, with 1 seed Big Red from Western Kentucky falling to Don the Mastodon from Fort Wayne, and the Saint Joseph’s Hawk losing to the Peacock from St. Peter’s. The Western Kentucky loss was particularly surprising, as many on Twitter expected Big Red to advance to the Final Four and possibly win the whole thing. Just call Big Red the Villanova of this tournament.

Don will now face Rudy from Dayton, who came from behind to beat the Valparaiso Crusader, while the Peacock draws another Atlantic 10 opponent in Rhody. Here are the rest of the Second Round highlights:

  • Handsome Dan is the only 1 seed remaining. The very, very, very good Yale Bulldog had no problem getting past the Highlander from NJIT.
  • The Rudy-Crusader matchup was the closest one in the Second Round, with Rudy overcoming a deficit through much of the voting to win by just six votes.
  • Louisiana’s Cayenne knocked off 1 seed Blaze from UAB in the second-closest matchup. Cayenne won by 10 votes and now has to face upstart Scrappy from Chattanooga.
  • The other Scrappy (15 seed from North Texas) also advanced, joining Florida Gulf Coast as the only 15 seeds ever to reach the Sweet 16. Of course the Eagles did it in real basketball, so it’s less impressive.
  • Magnus from Cleveland State once again showed the importance of a strong social media push. The entire Cleveland State athletics department did a great job of getting out the vote, and it has paid off.

And now the updated bracket:

Ben Goren #ReadBenGoren

So now it’s time for the Sweet 16. Voting for this one will run from Monday to Wednesday, then we will jump right to the Elite Eight on Thursday and Friday. For the Elite Eight, we will also add Twitter voting, just to make it a bit easier. For now, however, vote on the Sweet 16 here:

If you’re having trouble viewing the form, follow this link.

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