Passion

In the Elite 8 of 2016, both Adidas and Under Armour are barely hanging on with one team each (Kansas for Adidas and Notre Dame for Under Armour). All the rest (Virginia, Syracuse, Oregon, Oklahoma, Villanova, and North Caroline) don the swoosh. From a numbers standpoint, this works out to 75% Nike and 12.5% each for Adidas and UA.

Seed, Team, Shoe
1, Virginia, Nike
10, Syracuse, Nike
1, Oregon, Nike
2, Oklahoma, Nike
1, Kansas, Adidas
2, Villanova, Nike
1, North Carolina, Nike
6, Notre Dame, Under Armour

All players want to be guards. That’s been a known fact for years especially in the kicks world where big man shoes just don’t sell. I can’t name a popular big man shoe in recent history… maybe Dwight Howard’s signature Adidas? See my point? Even the role of the big man is being redefined with the stretch forward like Draymond Green and Anthony Davis (but really, the Brow’s Air Max Audacity is not quite attractive).

So during the tournament, guard shoes were everywhere. Kobe 11 was pretty much on every Oklahoma Sooner player, even on rugged forward Ryan Spangler. Interestingly enough, a popular high top was made for a guard in the Kobe X Elite worn by #3 Josh Hart of Villanova.

Check out Wichita State and Arizona. I see Kobe X, Hyperlive, Kyrie 2, and LeBron Zoom Soldiers. The Zoom Soldiers are the closest big man shoes out there.

Speaking of LeBron James, there were very few sightings of LeBron’s actual signature line. Here’s a shot showcasing the usefulness of sturdy, hightops to protect your feet (and inflict pain on the opposition).

Several players wore Kevin Durant’s KD8. Love this Aunt Pearl makeup.

Another popular guard shoe was Kyrie Irving’s signature line. While the Kyrie 2 was quite common, the Kyrie 1 was well represented. Despite the retro cool grey Jordan 11 worn by #13 Isaiah Briscoe of Kentucky, there weren’t that may Jordan retros on court.

Lastly, Brice Johnson, the talented 6-10 forward from North Carolina, wore the Chris Paul CP3 line emphasizing the popularity of guards’ shoes.

So maybe the team with the best guard shoes wins it all?

From Under Armour’s point of view, they were represented in every region with the most appearing in the South.

Unfortuanately for UA, the pairings didn’t work out so well in their favor. Taking Nike’s numbers out of the equation for now, Adidas teams only faced each other two times (Texas A&M vs Green Bay and Indiana vs Chattanooga). However, UA teams had three match-ups where one of their own was elimated. These are Maryland vs South Dakota St., Maryland vs Hawaii, and Notre Dame vs S.F. Austin. These head-to-head games decimated UA’s small numbers to begin with.

The Sweet Sixteen of 2016 looks like this:

1. Virginia
2. Iowa St.
3. Gonzaga
4. Syracuse
5. Oregon
6. Duke
7. Texas A&M
8. Oklahoma
9. Kansas
10. Maryland
11. Miami (FL)
12. Villanova
13. North Carolina
14. Indiana
15. Notre Dame
16. Wisconsin

Nike has 9 of the 16 teams for 56%. Adidas has 5 teams for 31%, and Under Armour has the remaining 12.5%. Nike is almost even to win with its drop from 62% to 56%. Adidas increased their odds of winning, going from 22% to 31%. UA took a hit dropping from 16% to 12.5%.

Adidas-wearing Miami took out some colorful KD8 Nikes on their way to the Sweet Sixteen.

Like 2015, the top seeded teams for each region are broken out to three Nike teams (Virginia, North Carolina, and Oregon) and one Adidas (Kansas).

Under Armour’s highest seeded team is Utah at #3 in the Midwest region. Hawaii is ranked #13 in the South, but the lowest seeded UA team is S.F. Austin at #14 in the East. But the Lumberjacks have represented UA in the tournament since 2014.

Parity seems to be the theme with the 2016 selections from the basketball conferences.

The power conferences checked in with 7 bids each with all the mid majors represented by their respective conference tournament winners. The American and Atlantic 10 had three teams. The Big East wasn’t as big as other conferences with five selections. The Missouri Valley and SEC had two teams each.

Well, well, well. Will you look at that. There’s another player in the game. Don’t get me wrong, Nike still dominates the field of 64 with 40 teams (62%), and Adidas has a respectable 22% of the field with 14 teams. So what about that remaining 16%? Ten March Madness dancers wore Under Armour shoes. That’s double the number of teams from last year.

Let’s take a look at the trends of 2016 where Nike lost 8 points, Adidas went up 3, and UA pulling in 10.

The ten UA teams are Texas Tech, Seton Hall, Utah, Cincinnati, Maryland, South Dakota St., Temple, Notre Dame, S.F. Austin, and my personal favorite, Hawaii. Hawaii’s game shoe of choice belong to the Curry line, both 1 and 2. Though if I had a say, the whole team would wear the lucky Curry 2 Suit & Tie.