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Barack Obama loves to share a list. The former President of the United States is known for them, whether he’s sharing his favorite books, his favorite songs, or his favorite films. Today, he’s shared his March Madness picks, a basketball tournament that pits Division I college basketball teams against eachother. It’s one of the biggest sporting events of the year.
Obama shared his pick of the men and women brackets, sharing them in separate slides. For the men, he picked UConn and Kentucky for the finals, and for the women he predicted North Carolina and Iowa. “My picks are in!” wrote Obama in the caption. He also discussed his picks on the podcast “Ways to Win.”
Obama also poked fun at the fact that his picks have been historically off. “Check out our conversation at the link in my bio or wherever you get your podcasts. And please don’t rub it in when my bracket gets busted,” he said.
Why Obama shares his March Madness picks
On “Ways to Win,” which is co-hosted by Craig Robinson, Obama’s brother in law, Obama revealed why he shares his picks on a yearly basis.
“My attitude is, you know, it gives people great pleasure with all the intelligence I have available to me – you know, the CIA, the NSA, all of that input – when they beat me, they feel good. I want to give people that satisfaction,” he said, making the co-hosts laugh.
While Obama has been a little unlucky in the past, he’s had some March Madness wins. In 2009, the year he became president, he predicted that North Carolina would win the NCAA tournament, and they did. Obama now believes that starting off with such a stroung start was likely the reason why he hasn’t gotten any picks right since.
“And I was kind of feeling it, and I thought, 'You know what, I think this is what's going to happen every year,'" he said. "And I'm pretty sure each year I've lost since then.”