Obama Takes Kansas to Win NCAA Men's Tournament

By: Brian Montopoli
Topics: In The News

(Credit: CBS)

Updated 12:33 p.m. Eastern Time

President Obama, who correctly picked North Carolina to win last year's NCAA Men's Basketball tournament, has unveiled his pick for this year's winner: Kansas, the top-ranked team in the country.

Mr. Obama's picks show that he isn't exactly taking Cinderellas to make the Final Four: the president has Kansas, Kentucky, Kansas State, and Villanova as the last team's standing.

The first two of those teams are #1 seeds and the top two teams in the country; the other two are strong #2 seeds that many fans will have put through in their own brackets.

The president predicts that Kansas will defeat Kentucky in the national championship game in a rematch of coaches John Calipari (then at Memphis) and Bill Self from the 2008 championship game. "And I think, once again, Self wins," said Mr. Obama.

Missing from Mr. Obama's final four is Georgetown, a strong #3 seed that the president watched defeat Duke in January. He even did some play-by-play in the CBS broadcast booth. The president did take Georgetown to beat the region's #2 seed, Ohio State, and told ESPN's Andy Katz in announcing his picks that he expects the Hoyas to "making a nice little run."

"They don't have any seniors on their team, they're a young team, but I think they're getting better, I think [Coach John Thompson Jr.] does a great job," the president said, showing off his picks in the White House map room.

The president pointed to three upsets he had picked out: Murray State over Vanderbilt, Cornell over Temple, and Sienna over Purdue. He said Murray State is a "well-balanced" and "athletic" team and noted that Cornell "gave Kansas a run for its money."

Mr. Obama acknowledged he "got killed" in the first round last year with his picks, though his choice of North Carolina as national champion helped the president eventually earn a respectable finish.

The president said he loves the freshmen who play for Kentucky, though he said "the committee gave them a pretty tough draw here. But I think they're going to beat Texas." He said Kentucky-West Virginia in the Elite Eight could be the best game of the tournament, but that Wildcats would pull it out. "I think [coach John Calipari] will have them ready," he said.

(Check out Mr. Obama's full bracket here, or in the image below.)

He also said Kansas State, who he predicted would make the final four, impresses him. "They always play tough," said Mr. Obama.

The president said he was taking Duke over Louisville in the second round of the tournament because his aide Reggie Love, a Duke graduate, has him "brainwashed" -- though he predicted that would be a difficult game for the Blue Devils.

He also called Kansas State coach Frank Martin a "scary dude" for the stare-down he sometimes offers on the court.

"I could send him up to Congress to get them to vote for health care," the president joked.

Earlier Wednesday, the president named his picks for the NCAA women's final four. That list is made up of Connecticut, the dominant force in women's college basketball, as well as Stanford, Tennessee and Notre Dame. Those teams are all #1 seeds except for Notre Dame, a #2 seed.

(Credit: White House)

Full NCAA Tournament coverage at CBSSports.com

CBSSports.com Bracket Breakdown: Predictions

CBSSports.com College Basketball Blog

Brian Montopoli
Brian Montopoli is the senior political reporter at CBSNews.com.
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by gettiska March 10, 2011 10:39 PM EST: Leave it up to a bunch of backwards, country, back-wooded yahoos to find some kind of criticism for a President that has led this country through one of the deepest recessions in U.S. history and passed some of the most ground-breaking legislation (which by the way, the Republicans are trying to undo every last bit of it because they don't want to give credit to an African American who is poised to be one of the greatest President's in HISTORY!) Lincoln should've followed his advisors advice and hung every last southern male from the highest tree!; Reply to this comment


by Empire-George- March 18, 2010 12:34 PM EDT: by longtree-2009 March 18, 2010 7:10 AM EDT

obama should spend more time on the nation's business and less on hoops while in the public's eye. privately, he can do what he wants in his downtime.
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Precisely, in his own downtime.....not on our dime, producing graphics boards, calling press meetings.....for what ?.....so he can announce who he picked to win amateur basketball games......are you kidding me ?; Reply to this comment


by Empire-George- March 18, 2010 10:30 AM EDT: The President's hobby is now official business, with a "Presidential Bracket" for College Basketball ???

His personal interests should remain personal, and not involve everyone else, including these expenditures, such as Press Meetings, Bracket graphic boards, visits to games, etc....these really have nothing to do with the Presidency.; Reply to this comment


by longtree-2009 March 18, 2010 7:10 AM EDT: obama should spend more time on the nation's business and less on hoops while in the public's eye. privately, he can do what he wants in his downtime.; Reply to this comment


by Justme8811 March 18, 2010 2:16 AM EDT: My pick is.....for Barry to leave the White House permanently!; Reply to this comment


by thegov2k3 March 17, 2010 9:27 PM EDT: I see CBS is employing editors...

Mr. Obama's picks show that he isn't exactly taking Cinderellas to make the Final Four: the president has Kansas, Kentucky, Kansas State, and Villanova as the last *team's* standing.; Reply to this comment

by RobAla March 17, 2010 8:13 PM EDT

Well, this is an important duty - huh? Maybe he should cool it with basketball and vacations until people are back to work.

Reply to this comment


by Empire-George- March 18, 2010 12:36 PM EDT: by RobAla March 17, 2010 8:13 PM EDT

Well, this is an important duty - huh? Maybe he should cool it with basketball and vacations until people are back to work.
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I agree he should......however, if he just played basketball constantly and went on vacation, like he does every other week with the mother-in-law, for the next 3 years, we would all be better off.


by CBSisCommunist5 March 17, 2010 7:37 PM EDT: health care, cap and trade, the final 4

What a versatile president we have.; Reply to this comment


by ocean2026 March 17, 2010 7:28 PM EDT: Boo Obama picking Cal and UTEP to lose in the first round- key members of his admin are from Cal. Of course Bush could barely name 4 colleges and he never understood why some baskets were worth 3 pts, others 2 points and free throws 1 point a piece. "This is all way too confusing" lol the *******. At least Obama gave it a try.; Reply to this comment