Former President Barack Obama reveals Women’s NCAA Tournament full bracket picks, South Carolina national champions

We all want to see each other’s brackets at this time of year to know who we each have to advance, pull upsets, and win the national title. For the past decade or so, that includes picks from the president, including the former commander-in-chief in Barack Obama.

On the ‘Ways To Win’ Podcast with John Calipari and Craig Robinson, Michelle Obama’s brother, Obama made his selections for both fields for the NCAA Tournaments. For the women’s bracket, he had three No. 1 seeds in South Carolina, Iowa, and USC in his Final Four. He also had one No. 2 seed in Stanford out of their Portland Regional.

That then ended up in a final between the unbeaten Gamecocks and Caitlin Clark and the Hawkeyes. In that championship in Cleveland, he had South Carolina finishing up an undefeated season with the national title.

My picks are in! I sat down to talk about them with @CraigMalRob and @UKCoachCalipari on their podcast Ways To Win from @HGMedia. Check out our conversation wherever you get your podcasts. And please don’t rub it in when my bracket gets busted. https://t.co/pVLfuHjYmo pic.twitter.com/la2NTDh1z7

— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) March 19, 2024

On the podcast, Obama reminded everyone that not even he has been very accurate in this as of late. If it brings anyone any joy to make a better one than him, though, he’s welcoming them to try and do so.

“I’m pretty sure, each year, I’ve lost since (2009). So I have not necessarily picked a winner and I’m a little sad about that,” said Obama.

“My attitude is, you know, that it gives people great pleasure,” Obama said. “With all the intelligence I have available to me – you know, the CIA, the NSA, all that input. When they beat me? They feel good and I want to give people that satisfaction.”

In the Round of 64, Obama had essentially no upsets, including none on the left side of the field. His only ones were No. 9 Michigan over No. 8 Kansas, No. 10 UNLV over No. 7 Creighton, and either No. 11 Auburn or No. 11 Arizona over No. 6 Syracuse.

That trend continued into the second weekend for Obama. Three of his four regions featured all of its top-four seeds together in the Sweet 16. The only one that didn’t was Albany 1 as he had No. 6 Nebraska overcoming No. 3 Oregon State.

Then, in the Elite Eight, Obama has two matchups of No. 1s versus No. 2s. He also has a No. 1 and No. 3 with the rematch of Iowa and LSU from last year’s national championship in one of the regional finals in Albany. The last is the most diverse regional final with No. 2 Stanford beating No. 4 Gonzaga. That’d come after he has the Bulldogs taking out the one No. 1 that he doesn’t have advancing in Texas.

There has still never been a perfect submission and, in all likelihood, there never will be. Still, these are Obama’s best shots at it with the Gamecocks, Hawkeyes, Trojans, and Cardinal all probably pretty pleased with his picks. Now it’s up to the rest of the American people to make theirs as well and try to best his bracket.