Obama Makes His NCAA Picks

By Benjy Lipsman in News on Mar 17, 2011 2:30PM

While we were unable to get President Barack Obama to join our Chicagoist Tournament Challenge (did you?), the hoops loving commander-in-chief did reveal his bracket picks to ESPN in a segment taped with Andy Katz. His complete bracket can be viewed here.

Perhaps the Prez was too wrapped up in dealing with the situations in Japan and Libya, along with two wars and a flailing economy to give his bracket too much thought, and thus let the seedings drive his picks. Why else would Obama gone with such safe choices? Obama predicted only a handful of upsets and picked all four number one seeds -- Duke, Ohio St., Pitt and Kansas -- to make the Final Four, with Ohio St. losing to Kansas in the Championship. He made the same pick last year, only to see Northern Iowa bounce the Jayhawks in the second round. And what's with picking a state school from a red state to win it all in the first place? Next year, he'd be better served choosing a school from a swing state to win it all -- then there might be electoral votes at stake!