Barack Obama is just like you: He didn’t get a single Final Four team right, either

Barack Obama is a self-proclaimed massive basketball fan, and this year may be proof. Just like the biggest basketball follower in any March Madness work pool, the former President probably isn’t going to win ... because he didn’t predict a single Final Four team correctly.

Obama revealed his bracket shortly before the start of the 2019 NCAA Tournament on March 21. He went pretty much with chalk, picking strictly No. 1 and 2 seeds. From the East, Obama went with the No. 1-seed Duke Blue Devils. From the West, he went with the No. 2-seed Michigan Wolverines. Out of the South, Obama picked the No. 2-seed Tennessee Volunteers. Out of the Midwest, he chose the No. 1-seed North Carolina Tar Heels.

The good news for him: All four made it to the second weekend. The bad news: None are heading to the national semifinals.

Duke’s loss to the No. 2-seed Michigan State Spartans in the Elite Eight on Sunday guaranteed an imperfect Final Four for the 44th U.S. president. Michigan already lost in the Sweet 16 to the No. 3-seed Texas Tech Red Raiders, who are headed to the Final Four, as did Tennessee, to the No. 3-seed Purdue Boilermakers and North Carolina, to the No. 5-seed Auburn Tigers, who are also off to Minneapolis, Minnesota. Purdue ultimately lost to the No. 1-seed Virginia Cavaliers in the South region final.

For what it’s worth, Obama was relatively optimistic about most of these teams. He put both Virginia and Michigan State in the Elite Eight and Texas Tech in the Sweet 16, with all three losing to teams he figured would head to the Final Four.

Maybe Auburn was using the President’s picks as bulletin board material, though. Obama went with a popular first-round upset pick when he predicted the No. 12-seed New Mexico Aggies would knock off the Tigers. In some ways, he was close. In others, he couldn’t have been more wrong.

This story was originally published March 31, 2019 at 8:17 PM.