Get in the game and make your picks for March Madness

There are so many things to get excited about this month-St. Patrick's Day, the first day of spring, and, of course, the NCAA Basketball Tournament. For avid basketball fans-and even for those who aren't necessarily fans but just want in on the fun-March Madness is that glorious time of year to throw some cash in a pool, fill out a bracket, and spend endless hours glued to the TV, anxiously awaiting the championship game.

While some fans put forth a painstaking effort to populate their brackets, based on stats or expert predictions, others need some help. So how about abandoning strategy and picking your teams based on popular pet names?

Veterinary Pet Insurance Co. (VPI) recently analyzed its database of more than 485,000 insured pets to find which tournament teams are champions in the name game.

Below is a table listing the most popular pet names based on teams in the 2012 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament and VPI's database of insured pets.

So, come on-get in the game, fill out your bracket, and stay tuned to see who makes it to the final showdown in New Orleans. Go team!

Popularity Rank

Pet Name

NCAA School

1 Duke Duke 2 Bear Baylor 3 George Georgetown 4 Tiger Missouri, Memphis 5 Bonnie St. Bonaventure 6 Titan Detroit 7 Louis St. Louis 8 Murray Murray State 9 Rebel UNLV 10 Gator Florida 11 Bruin Belmont 12 Lobo New Mexico 13 Aggie New Mexico State 14 Buckeye Ohio State 15 Jay Creighton 16 Badger Wisconsin 17 Carolina North Carolina, NC State 18 Cougar BYU 19 Sparty or Spartan Michigan State, Norfolk State 20 Irish Notre Dame 21 Hoosier Indiana 22 Bull South Florida 23 Kansas Kansas 24 Crimson Alabama, Harvard