Obama finds something he's good at
Or, at least it's something he doesn't suck at doing.
It's called "bracketology," and it involves picking the winners in the NCAA men's basketball tournament. The president's annual foray into sports prognostication is just one more indication of how unseriously the president takes his job.
It's also another opportunity for him to appear in a friendly setting with adoring reporters.
Obama, a die-hard basketball fan who has filled out a bracket for ESPN since he became president in 2009, picked Kentucky to beat Villanova in the title game. His complete bracket was revealed Wednesday morning.
Obama has Kentucky beating Arizona and Villanova beating Duke in the national semifinals, which are set for April 4-6 in Indianapolis.
The president's bracket includes several early-round upsets, and one that extends a little further. Obama has No. 10 Davidson getting to the Sweet 16, beating No. 7 Iowa in the second round and second-seeded Gonzaga in the third round before losing to Iowa State.
His other opening-weekend upsets include 12th-seeded Buffalo beating No. 5 West Virginia in the Midwest, 11th-seeded Texas beating No. 6 Butler in the Midwest and 12th-seeded Wyoming beating No. 5 Northern Iowa in the East. None of those underdogs advances beyond that, however.
Obama already has one loss on his sheet: He had 11th-seeded BYU knocking off sixth-seeded Xavier in the West. BYU lost its opening-round game Tuesday to Ole Miss.
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The president's picks in the regional finals are Kentucky over Notre Dame, Arizona over Wisconsin, Villanova over Virginia and Duke over Iowa State.
Last year, President Obama finished in the 72.9 percentile overall, but missed on national champion Connecticut (he had Michigan State beating Louisville in the title game). His best finish since becoming president was in 2011, when he was in the 87.4 percentile despite picking Kansas to win the national title (Connecticut won it all that year as well).
Obama did pick the correct national champion in 2009: North Carolina.
Actually, that winning percentile is not as good as it sounds. You would have the same success if you simply picked the higher seed for each game.
And the Daily Beast points out that the president's late round picks are below par:
Overall, Obama has gotten six of 24 Final Four teams correct, or just 25%. It's a disarmingly poor success rate for a President who seems to love all things bracket. In the past, Obama inspired Grantland's bracket for the best character on The Wire during an interview with Bill Simmons in 2012. During this year's bracket segment, he described himself to ESPN's Andy Katz as a "three or four seed" during the 2008 Presidential election. ("But I was scrappy," he added.) This March, his 2012 election team has decided to try and select the GOP's worst Climate Change denier with—you guessed it—a bracket.
Then again, maybe Obama has just been unlucky, or, ironically, too busy to do the adequate research since taking office. In 2008, when he was just a wee Senator from Illinois, Obama actually got three of four Final Four participants. His one miss, Derrick Rose and John Calipari's Memphis Tigers, would have been cutting down nets were it not for a barrage of missed free throws and a stunning three-pointer by Kansas' Mario Chalmers. Obama had Memphis going out in the Sweet Sixteen.
What's remarkable is that Obama appears to have plenty of time to fill out his brackets but can't find the time to call Bibi Netanyahu and congratulate him on his stunning victory in the Israeli elections.
But then this president always seems to have his priorities screwed up, so we shouldn't be surprised.
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