The NCAA tournament for women’s basketball kicks off Friday, with No. 5-seed Maryland slated to take on No. 12-seed Princeton in the first round. It’s the eighth straight year the Terps have made the Big Dance, and in each of the previous seven, they won their first game.
But apparently, Barack Obama isn’t impressed.
Just because I have more time to watch games doesn’t mean my picks will be better, but here are my brackets this year: https://t.co/ETRchPcZxF pic.twitter.com/gnNXw0Ysxr
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) March 14, 2018
On Wednesday, the former president tweeted his brackets, which had Princeton beating Maryland in their first-round matchup. Notorious for going with the chalk, Obama took the lower seed just eight times in the round of 64 — and as a 12 seed, the Tigers are the biggest upset pick of them all.
It’s worth noting that Obama was a little prescient last year, when he correctly predicted the Terps would lose in the Sweet 16. Still, he didn’t get the opponent right — he thought no. 2-seed Duke would send Maryland packing, when it ended up being no. 10-seed Oregon.
Why would the 44th commander in chief be so loyal to Princeton? It might be because of Leslie Robinson, the team’s second-leading scorer this season — who also happens to be his niece. And the fact that Michelle went there probably has something to do with it, too.
Obama’s past brackets haven’t been very accurate; one analysis showed he was consistently under the national average for correct picks. Here at Terps Watch, we don’t usually get political, but it’s safe to say we’re all hoping he’s wrong on this prediction.
At press time, President Trump had not released a bracket. This blog will be updated if he does.