President Barack Obama’s latest March Madness bracket is embarrassing to have been filled out by the leader of the free world.
As a self-proclaimed basketball expert and former finalist for the University of Wisconsin coaching job, I know a thing or two about the game of college basketball and I know that Obama’s bracket isn’t worth the paper it’s written on. (RELATED: Watch Obama Fill Out His Final March Madness Bracket As President)
Lets take a look at Obama’s most egregious bracket predictions. (SLIDESHOW: Prepare For The NCAA Tournament With The Women Of March Madness)
1. Texas A&M making the Final Four: When I first saw this I began to wonder if the president had filled it out while on a bender with notorious Texas A&M partier Johnny Manziel because there’s no possible other explanation. The Aggies have lost seven games to teams outside of the RPI top 50. The only team Texas A&M beat in the RPI top 10 is Kentucky, who they lost to in the SEC tournament finals. The Aggies will need to possibly beat Oregon, Baylor, Duke, Oklahoma and Texas to make the Final Four. No shot, absolutely no shot at all.
2. UNC making the championship game: This pick might seem smart to a lot of people, but in reality it’s not that great of a pick. Essentially no well known sports pundit is taking the Tar Heels to make the championship game and some are predicting they will lose in the first weekend. The Tar Heels are living on hype and only have five wins against RPI top 50 teams. That puts them behind most teams in their region. Even if they make the Final Four they’d have to play Michigan State/Virginia in the semi-finals after beating some combination of Indiana/Kentucky/West Virginia/Wisconsin/Xavier. Don’t bet on any of that happening Mr. President.
3. Villanova as an Elite 8 team: Villanova might be the two seed but their journey to the Elite 8 is brutal. Perhaps President Obama should have paid a little more attention to the Iowa caucuses because he might’ve known the Hawkeyes have a formidable squad that was a top-5 team in the country. Villanova’s road to the Elite 8 goes through Iowa and Arizona/Miami. Good luck finding a basketball expert willing to bet on Villanova winning any of those games.
4. Wisconsin losing in the first round: Wisconsin, a team coming off of back-to-back Final Fours, is favored against Pittsburgh but honestly any team would be favored against Pittsburgh. Pitt is famous for making the tournament and then doing literally nothing. Now put the Panthers up against a team with multiple future NBA players and it’s clear that Wisconsin will destroy Pittsburgh, and this is coming from somebody with an intimate knowledge of Wisconsin basketball. Wisconsin has beaten 11 teams in the RPI top 100 and you can count on it being 12 once they’re done with Pitt.
Do yourself a favor and replicate Obama’s bracket as little as possible.