--- description: March Madness has made it to 1600 Pennsylvania title: See President Obama's March Madness Bracket image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6f1a59636340dfe2/698784262dce01d5869de181/barack-obama1.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Politics](/section/politics/) ## Politics Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [College Basketball](/tag/college-basketball/) ## College Basketball Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # See President Obama's March Madness Bracket by [Maya Rhodan](/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 18, 2015 3:37 PM CUT  President Barack Obama speaks at Georgia Tech in Atlanta on March 10, 2015 President Barack Obama speaks at Georgia Tech in Atlanta on March 10, 2015Jacquelyn Martin—AP by [Maya Rhodan](/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 18, 2015 3:37 PM CUT President Obama is rooting for the [Kentucky Wildcats.](http://time.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/3.18.15%5Fpotus%5Fbracket.jpeg "undefined") The President met with [ESPN’s Andy Katz on Tuesday](http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/tournament/2015/story/%5F/id/12505909/president-barack-obama-bracket-picks-kentucky-ncaa-men-basketball-title "undefined") to name his picks for the 2015 Men’s NCAA Basketball Tournament, and he predicted Kentucky would complete its unbeaten season to triumph over Villanova in the final championship game. The Commander-in-Chief has completed the “Presidential bracket” since he took office in [2009](http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/ncaatourney09/columns/story?id=3991859 "undefined"). Obama’s picks show very little love for the nation’s underdog teams, but he has some surprising upsets with No. 10 Davidson besting No. 2 Gonzaga to compete against No. 3 Iowa State in the Sweet Sixteen. Obama’s Elite Eight features match-ups between Duke and Iowa State, Villanova and Virginia, Kentucky and Notre Dame, and Wisconsin and Arizona, with Kentucky, Arizona, Duke and Villanova proceeding to the Final Four. [ESPN](http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/tournament/2015/story/%5F/id/12505909/president-barack-obama-bracket-picks-kentucky-ncaa-men-basketball-title "undefined") notes the President’s odds are already off: on his bracket BYU beats Ole Miss., but BYU was knocked out in an opening round game on [Tuesday.](http://www.sltrib.com/sports/2299907-155/ncaa-tournament-live-blog-byu-vs "undefined") As TIME’s Jack Dickey points out, the [President has only picked the right men’s champion once](http://time.com/3741846/potus-the-predictor/ "undefined"): in 2009 when he tapped the North Carolina Tarheels to win. The President’s picks for the women’s tournament are set to be released on Thursday. ### See Photos of Barack Obama in College  Chance Encounter In 1980, when Obama was a freshman at Occidental College in Los Angeles, he was approached by an aspiring photographer named Lisa Jack, who asked him if he would be willing to pose for some black and white photographs that she could use in her portfolio. Lisa Jack  Handsome Of her first meeting (in a campus eatery) with Obama, Jack remembers only that "He was really cute. But what else does a 20-year-old girl remember?" Lisa Jack  Styled In the photos, Jack says, "You can see he is just posing, initially, but as the shoot goes on, he starts to come out. He was very charismatic even then." Lisa Jack  Prop Jack never realized her dream of becoming a photographer and is now a psychologist. Lisa Jack  Pose Jack and Obama would see each other only a few more times while students. But in 2005, while on a tour, she spotted Obama on Capitol Hill and yelled hello. "He knew exactly who I was after all this time," Jack says. "I was amazed." Lisa Jack  Doubt On a dare from a skeptical friend, Jack decided to track down her negatives from the shoot. Lisa Jack  Searcher Initially, before she dug the film out from her basement, Jack never thought her pictures would have much life beyond her own darkroom. Lisa Jack  Smile When she found them, the images of Obama "blew me away," she says. "I had no idea I'd taken a whole roll of film." Lisa Jack  Charm For a while, Jack put the negatives in a safety-deposit box, so that they could not be used until after the election, when there would be no chance they could be used for a political purpose.  Thoughtful Today, Jack says, she hopes the photos reveal a "spirit of fun and thoughtfulness." Lisa Jack  The Man Who Would Be President "I'm not political," Jack says, "(But) these are historic photos and they should be shared." Lisa Jack ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3749012/president-obama-march-madness-bracket-ncaa/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3749012/president-obama-march-madness-bracket-ncaa/"},"headline":"See President Obama's March Madness Bracket","datePublished":"2015-03-18T15:37:24.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:05:00.718Z","description":"March Madness has made its way to 1600 Pennsylvania","url":"https://time.com/3749012/president-obama-march-madness-bracket-ncaa/","keywords":["College Basketball","White House"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6f1a59636340dfe2/698784262dce01d5869de181/barack-obama1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6f1a59636340dfe2/698784262dce01d5869de181/barack-obama1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"President Barack Obama speaks at Georgia Tech in Atlanta on March 10, 2015","caption":"President Barack Obama speaks at Georgia Tech in Atlanta on March 10, 2015","creditText":"Jacquelyn Martin—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/college-basketball/","name":"College Basketball"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3749012/president-obama-march-madness-bracket-ncaa/","name":"See President Obama's March Madness Bracket"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Know Right Now: March Madness 2015","description":"Take a look at the teams who could go all the way to the big dance this year.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/KAqajX9Y/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-03-18T17:43:51.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/KAqajX9Y.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3749012/president-obama-march-madness-bracket-ncaa/","duration":"PT1M1S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3749012/president-obama-march-madness-bracket-ncaa/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```