President Barack Obama considers himself a third or fourth seed, but for his bracket he is going with the top team in the land, No. 1 overall seed Kentucky, to win the men’s NCAA tournament, his bracket revealed on ESPN’s “SportsCenter” Wednesday morning.
Obama’s bracket has No. 1 Kentucky, No. 2 seed Arizona, No. 1 seed Villanova and No. 1 seed Duke in his Final Four. He has Kentucky defeating Villanova in the national championship game, which would complete a 40-0 season and would make the Wildcats the first undefeated men’s champion since Indiana did it in 1976.
“There’s a reason they’re the favorite,” Obama told ESPN’s Andy Katz. “They’re a really good team.”
Though he agrees with the general public and Vegas oddsmakers on Kentucky, Obama does have some early-round upsets, including No. 10 seed Davidson taking out seventh-seeded Iowa and No. 2 seed Gonzaga to reach the Sweet 16 in the South region. He also has two 12 seeds advancing out of the round of 64: Buffalo defeating No. 5 West Virginia in the Midwest region and Wyoming beating No. 5 Northern Iowa in the East region.
Mostly, however, the President has chalk, typically picking the better seeds to advance.
The last time he correctly picked a national champion was 2009, which was North Carolina.
When asked what kind of seed he was, Obama said, “I was definitely a third or fourth seed, but I was scrappy.”
A complete look at the President’s picks is on the White House’s twitter page.