Barack Obama Reveals His 2025 NCAA Men's and Women's March Madness Bracket Picks

Former president Barack Obama didn't buck conventional wisdom as he made his picks for the 2025 NCAA men's and women's basketball tournaments.

Obama has Auburn, Florida, Duke and Tennessee in his men's Final Four, with the Blue Devils besting the Gators in the title game. On the women's side, he has UCLA, USC, South Carolina and Notre Dame in the national semifinals, and the Gamecocks taking down the Bruins to win a second straight championship.

Should March Madness proceed as Obama laid out, it will be a predictable affair.

No. 11 North Carolina and VCU were the biggest underdogs to make it out of the first round in the men's tourney. He didn't even have a 5/12 upset, which is an annual staple. The Sweet 16, meanwhile, didn't have a team seeded worse than fifth.

In the women's bracket, Obama did have No. 13 Montana State upsetting No. 4 Ohio State.

The Buckeyes boast a chaotic defense that forced the 11th-most turnovers in Division I at 22.1 per game, but their offense has had some occasions where it failed to show up. OSU narrowly scraped past Iowa in the second round of the Big Ten tournament with a 60-59 win but then mustered just 46 points in a comprehensive loss to UCLA.

If you want to pick one high seed to make a quick exit, Ohio State is a sensible choice.

Montana State aside, it was almost all chalk in Obama's women's bracket.

In a season without standout contenders in either of the two tournaments, playing it ultra safe might be the way to go.

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