Politics

NCAA Bracket 2016: President Obama’s March Madness tournament picks

Mar 16, 2016, 3:35 PM UTC

Libby Nelson was Vox’s editorial director, politics and policy, leading coverage of how government action and inaction shape American life. Libby has more than a decade of policy journalism experience, including at Inside Higher Ed and Politico. She joined Vox in 2014.

President Obama picked Kansas to win it all in the men’s NCAA basketball tournament — the third time he’s picked the Jayhawks, who have never lived up to the president’s confidence by taking home the title.

Besides Kansas, Obama’s Final Four included UNC, Texas A&M, and Michigan State, showing his usual tendency to pick top-ranked teams (although Texas A&M is a No. 3 seed and Michigan State is a No. 2). But this year Obama was free of the pressure of electoral politics. When he was up for re-election in 2012, his bracket tended to suspiciously favor battleground states.

For the women’s tournament, Obama picked UConn to win it all — a safe bet, as the team has won three straight championships — and Florida State, South Carolina, and Notre Dame to round out the Final Four.

If you’re running behind filling out your bracket and need a presidential cue, here are Obama’s picks. But he doesn’t have the greatest record, partly because he tends not to pick upsets.

Along with Obama’s bracket, the White House posted a letter from an 11-year-old girl whose bracket did better than the president’s last year. “I just wanted to tell you that I saw your 2015 NCAA bracket pick and I beat you,” she wrote. “You are a great president, just not the best bracket picker.”