Barack Obama Reveals His 2026 NCAA Men's and Women's March Madness Bracket Picks

Former United States president Barack Obama has revealed his picks for the 2026 NCAA men's and women's basketball tournaments.

The brackets feature Arizona defeating Duke for the men's championship, while UConn downs UCLA for the women's title.

The first round of the men's tournament begins Thursday, while the women's tournament begins first-round play Friday.

The women's title game is scheduled for Sunday, April 5 in Phoenix, while the men's national championship game will take place the following day in Indianapolis.

The former president's brackets from last March named the eventual runner-up as the projected champion in both the men's and women's brackets.

Obama picked Duke to beat Florida in the men's national championship last season, only to see the Blue Devils get upset by Houston in the Final Four. Florida went on to beat Houston in the national championship game.

His 2025 women's bracket, which featured South Carolina beating UCLA in the title game, saw another late upset as the Bruins bowed out of the Final Four with a loss to UConn. The Huskies ultimately beat South Carolina for the national title.

This spring, the former president selected all four of the women's top seeds in UConn, UCLA, South Carolina and Texas to make it to the Final Four.

The men's bracket featured more potential upsets, with both Michigan and Florida losing in the Elite Eight as Iowa State and Illinois advance, respectively.

Obama also projected more first-round upsets in the men's bracket, where he slated South Florida to beat Louisville and UCF to down UCLA.

He also pegged Miami (Ohio) as a first-round exit after an undefeated regular season, and projected Tennessee to oust Virginia from the second round.

Obama published his first March Madness bracket shortly after he was sworn in as president in 2009. He started out his run by correctly choosing North Carolina to win the men's national championship.