President Barack Obama correctly picked North Carolina as the NCAA men's basketball tournament champion for his first March Madness in office, but has been 0-6 since. The president picked Kansas in back-to-back years, and then picked North Carolina again, not repeating a pick since.
In ESPN's annual "Barack-etology" special, which premiered this morning, Obama picked Kansas to beat Michigan State for the 2016 NCAA Tournament Championship. He rounded out his Final Four with North Carolina taking on Michigan State and Texas A&M meeting Kansas.
Obama joked that Kansas head coach Bill Self now "owes me," though he said shortly after he was "just teasing" and picked the Jayhawks because of their depth and balance. This is the third time Obama has predicted Kansas to win the tournament championship.
Obama also released his bracket for the women's college basketball tournament, unsurprisingly picking UConn. His ESPN special for that bracket reveal, with Rebecca Lobo, will air Thursday.
.@POTUS picked Kansas to cut down the nets in Indianapolis.
Here's his bracket. #Baracketology #RockChalkBarack pic.twitter.com/QtyhooorjW
— Alex Wall (@Alex44) March 16, 2016
"I have a tendency to pick the coach as much as anything, because typically these days, with one and done, what you see is continuity with the program,'' Obama said during the special with ESPN senior writer Andy Katz. "Coach K [Mike Krzyzewski] or Coach [Tom] Izzo or Coach Self, Coach [John] Calipari, they know how to take even their blue-chip freshmen and mold them, so that by the time the tournament comes around they're ready. I haven't always picked the right top four teams, but typically it's been one of the top teams that's ended up winning the tournament.''
Obama's past picks have seemed to favor the field's highly rated teams. While the President admitted he often cannot find the time to watch as much basketball as he would like (you know, with that job of his), he said he typically leans toward picking established teams with a tradition of winning.
"The President was a Cinderella as a candidate eight years ago but he has gone with the favorites in each year of his presidency," Katz said of Obama's bracket. "The presidential bracket has been a non-partisan, American endeavor that he has enjoyed filling out with us like every other fan and it has been a great run. Let's see if he can bookend his presidency with a winner in his first and last year."
2009: Obama correctly picks UNC
2010: Obama picks Kansas, Duke wins
2011: Obama picks Kansas, UConn wins
2012: Obama picks UNC, Kentucky wins
2013: Obama picks Indiana, Louisville wins
2014: Obama picks MSU, UConn wins
2015: Obama picks Kentucky, Duke wins
