- Former President Barack Obama revealed his men's and women's March Madness brackets.
- Obama is picking Duke to win the men's tournament and South Carolina to win the women's.
Former President Barack Obama has released his brackets for March Madness 2023, and this year, he's finally picking some upsets.
Obama has made a tradition of revealing his NCAA tournament picks, and historically his brackets have been, for lack of a better term, quite conservative.
But this year, Obama's bracket comes across as much bolder, at least on the men's side.
Obama has a few solid early-round upsets, including taking No. 13 Iona to the Sweet 16, and putting No. 7 Michigan State over No. 2 Marquette in the second round.
But the best action on the board comes from Obama's Final Four: No. 5 Duke, No. 3 Baylor, No. 2 UCLA, and No. 1 Houston.
Just one No. 1 making the Final Four!
This is a vast improvement on last year's bracket, which consisted of three 1-seeds and a 2-seed. When the dust settled, just one of those teams would make the Final Four.
Obama is picking Duke to outlast Houston in the final. If it happens, the Blue Devils would become the first ever 5-seed to win the tournament.
On the women's side, Obama is far more conservative, putting all four 1-seeds through to the Final Four, and submitting No. 1 South Carolina as his eventual champion.
While it's easy to knock this as a chalky bracket, we're going to forgive Obama here, as he took more than enough risks on the men's side, and the Gamecocks are just that good.