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Obama Picks Gonzaga, South Carolina To Go All The Way In NCAA Men’s and Women’s Basketball Tournaments

An eternal basketball aficionado, the former president made his picks and is also giving an opportunity to some young people in the process.

It’s that time of year again — March Madness! That time when people pay less attention to work than they do their television screens, hoping that their picks in the NCAA College Basketball Tournament don’t collapse their entire bracket, leaving them at the bottom of their respective pools.

Former President Barack Obama, a longtime hoops participant, fan and supporter of college and pro, released his yearly picks on Thursday for the men’s and women’s tournament.

For the men’s bracket, Obama, who played point guard for Punahou High School in Honolulu, picked Gonzaga vs. Kentucky and Arizona vs. Kansas in the Final Four with Gonzaga defeating Arizona for the championship. In this bracket, last year’s champion Baylor gets upset in the Sweet 16 by UCLA.

For the women’s bracket, Obama has South Carolina vs. Baylor and Stanford vs. Connecticut in the Final Four, with South Carolina beating the 2021 champion Stanford to claim the title.

In 2021, Obama picked Gonzaga for the championship, but Baylor took the men’s title. He picked Baylor for the women’s tournament but it was Stanford that reigned supreme.

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Also, this year, the Obama Foundation is bringing a group of young men from Chicago to the Final Four games in New Orleans, representing the My Brother’s Keeper Alliance, where they will shadow the staff at Turner Sports.

The madness begins at 12:15 p.m. EST with 11 seed Michigan vs. 6 seed Colorado State. Be sure to fill out your brackets and tune in to watch on CBS, TruTv, TNT, and TBS. Click here for a schedule of the basketball action.

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