It’s one thing when “OmaHogs” is a fan nickname for the name. It’s much riskier when the athletic department itself brands the team with a reference to the College World Series. Don’t make it, and opponents have plenty of material to mock you with.
But the Hogs made it, and their chances of avenging last season’s Finals loss got a tremendous boost when top-seed UCLA and 4-seed Georgia were eliminated on their own drives to Omaha. The Hogs are now heavily favored to come out of a four-team pod that includes 8-seed Texas Tech and two of the last four teams in the entire field: Florida State and Michigan.