Obama’s March Madness Bracket is Nuts, Has Duke Winning it All

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Former President Barack Obama recently submitted his March Madness bracket, and well, it’s pretty wild.

The main field of the NCAA tournament officially kicks off on Thursday, with several tournament favorites.

The Alabama Crimson-Tide team, behind controversial star Brandon Miller, is the top overall seed. Houston, Purdue and Kansas are also seen as favorites to advance deep into the tournament as #1 seeds.

Other potential tournament winners include #2 seed UCLA, #3 seed Gonzaga or even the Texas Longhorns.

Obama though, went in an entirely different direction.

Instead of those common choices, he picked Duke to tear through the March Madness bracket and win their sixth NCAA championship.

You read that correctly. He picked Duke.

That wasn’t the only bewildering choice. He has a struggling Michigan State squad reaching the Elite Eight and Iona(?) reaching the Sweet 16.

Barack Obama picked Michigan State to the Sweet 16

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - MARCH 10: Head coach Tom Izzo of the Michigan State Spartans takes questions from media after the game against the Ohio State Buckeyes in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament at United Center on March 10, 2023 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Quinn Harris/Getty Images)

What is Obama Doing?

Michigan State is just 3-3 in their past six, losing to Ohio State, Iowa and Michigan.

Iona sits at just 74th in the KenPom college basketball rankings.

And Duke is nowhere near its previous heights, as the 21st best team in the country according to the advanced ranking system.

If you’re betting on the tournament, as huge numbers of people are, Obama’s picks seem like a questionable bracket to follow.

READ: AMERICANS EXPECTED TO GAMBLE STAGGERING AMOUNT ON MARCH MADNESS

Beyond those, uh, confusing choices, Obama also has #3 seeded Baylor advancing to the Final Four. Obviously three seeds frequently advance deep into the tournament.

But Baylor isn’t the strongest three seed in the bracket, as KenPom has them ranked 15th. That’s one spot behind #5 seed San Diego State.

He does have Houston and UCLA making the Final Four, which are two very popular choices. And it wouldn’t be March Madness without some weird results and upsets. But the ones Obama chose don’t seem particularly likely.

We won’t have long to wait to see how well (or poorly!) Obama does this year. If his bracket performs like he did when he was president, it won’t be pretty.