Former President Obama marked the first day of March Madness by picking a pair of perennial powerhouses to win this year’s men’s and women’s NCAA basketball tournaments.
Obama revealed his picks on Thursday, the first day of the men’s tournament. The former president, an avid basketball fan, is picking Duke University, the number one overall seed, to win it all.
He also picked the University of Connecticut to win the women’s tournament.
{mosads}Obama, who has annually released his March Madness predictions since 2009, has Duke, the University of North Carolina, the University of Michigan and the University of Tennessee reaching the men’s Final Four.
Baylor University, Mississippi State University, Connecticut and the University of Notre Dame will make up the women’s Final Four, he predicted.
Being picked to win the national championship by Obama is normally a bad sign for men’s teams, however. Since 2009, only two of his championship predictions have turned out to be right.
Obama correctly picked North Carolina to win national championships in 2009 and 2017.
He has had better luck in the women’s bracket, accurately selecting the women’s winner five times since 2009.
Obama attended a Duke-North Carolina men’s game earlier this year in Durham, N.C. He offered praise and encouragement to Zion Williamson after the Duke star left the game with a knee injury.