Colours of the Sweet Sixteen

It’s the second half of March, and that means the madness is in full swing — March Madness!! For NCAA hoop fans, it’s three straight weekends of basketball excitement. Overtimes, upsets, buzzer-beaters… and lots of ripped up brackets this year when the University of Northern Iowa took down the top-seeded Kansas Jayhawks in the second round. There goes my $5.00, but who cares, I love seeing the underdog win :-)

Everyone has different methods for choosing their brackets. Some take a scientific approach and choose their teams based on a thorough analysis of all the season stats. Some have connections to particular schools. A friend of mine only chooses teams that have an animal as their mascot. I tend to go for teams that wear pretty colours :-) I know, weird!! But I just can’t get behind dark green or gold teams, or teams with colours that just don’t look good together. Like the Baylor Bears — their school colours are dark green and gold.

And the Michigan Spartans don’t do it for me either in their dark green uniforms with the condom logo ;-)On the other hand, I love huskies and I love purple, so go Washington Huskies!!

All the team colours for the universities in the Sweet Sixteen are colours from the Pantone Color Matching System. From what I read doing research for this post, probably most, if not all, sports team colours are Pantone colours (to see a partial list, click here).

Since this a home decor blog and not a sports blog, let’s switch gears and look at the colours of the Sweet Sixteen teams from a home decor perspective…

Blue and white have been the University of Kentucky’s official colours since 1909. Their blue is Pantone 286.

Kansas State University’s purple athletic logo is the Powercat in Pantone 266. I’ve never seen a purple room I didn’t like!!

On the other hand, it’s hard to find a green and yellow combo that I do like ;-) Here’s a house exterior that’s similar to the Baylor Bears colours, Pantone 560 (green) and 1235 (yellow).

Let’s get the greenies out of the way… the Michigan State Spartans are Pantone 567. The trim on this house isn’t quite as dark, but it’s close…

Xavier University’s official school colours are Pantone 288 (blue), 123 (yellow), and 424 (grey). The colours in this living room aren’t exact matches, but you can definitely see the grey, yellow, and blue combination.

Pantone 514 is the colour of the Butler Bulldogs. Can’t go wrong with blue and white when it comes to basketball or decorating!!

Duke is another blue & white team. Every year when they blow it in the tournament, I swear I’m going to find another new favourite team. But after 20 years, I just can’t do it!! They may not have won the tournament since 2001, but they’re one of the most consistent teams in the NCAA, missing the tournament only once in the last 27 years. The Duke Blue Devils are Pantone 287.

The Ohio State Buckeyes red, white, and black logo was developed specifically for the university’s varsity teams and the Department of Athletics. The red “O” is Pantone 200.

West Virginia University’s colours are Pantone 286 (purple) and 124 (gold). And yep, I found a purple and yellow room. Two rooms, in fact — one for West Virginia…

  

…and one for the University of Northern Iowa. The Panthers wear Pantone 2617 (purple) and 124 (gold).

The Syracuse Orangemen are orange, of course!! And blue. Hmmmm… are female athletes at Syracuse Orangewomen?? Orange Ladies?? Well, they all wear uniforms that are Pantone 1655 (orange) and 282 (navy blue).

    

Cornell University teams are called the Big Red, so of course their official colour is red.  Pantone 187 to be exact.

The Purdue Boilermakers are Pantone 1245 (metallic gold) and black.

Saint Mary’s Gaels are red, blue, and white. Pantone 1797 (red) and 540 (blue).

Tennessee Volunteers are very, very orange — Pantone 021 orange, to be precise.

And last but not least, the purple Washington Huskies, Pantone 5265.

So there you go — the Sweet Sixteen meets home decor :-) Will you be watching this weekend?? What team are you cheering for??

All logos from the respective school web sites.