FINISH LINE: Kansas, Villanova losses hurt Obama’s bracket

POTUS buster

For everyone who picked Kansas to win the men’s NCAA basketball title, the president feels your pain.

President Barack Obama’s bracket was busted Saturday when the Jayhawks, the tournament’s top seed, were stunned by No. 9 seed Northern Iowa 69-67. Obama picked Kansas to beat Kentucky for the championship.

The First Fan could take some solace in the fact his women’s bracket was perfect through the first 12 games Saturday, ranking him tied for first overall with thousands of others on ESPN’s leaderboard.

He played it mostly safe with the women’s bracket, picking the better seeds in all but one of the 16 games on the first day: No. 10 seed North Carolina over seventh-seeded Gonzaga. Obama’s Final Four also includes all No. 1 seeds: Connecticut, Tennessee, Stanford and Nebraska. He has Connecticut, which has won a women’s NCAA-record 72 straight games, beating Stanford for the title.

His men’s bracket was looking good — he correctly predicted 25 of 32 winners — after the first round, but took a big hit early Saturday when No. 2 seed Villanova was upset by 10th-seeded Saint Mary’s 75-68. Obama, who correctly predicted North Carolina’s title last year, picked the Wildcats to make the Final Four.

Then came the bracket-busting loss by Kansas, which was picked by 42.2 percent of ESPN users — including the president — to win it all.

Obama correctly picked four of the eight winners Saturday.

He still has two of his Final Four teams remaining — Kentucky and Kansas State — and five of his final eight teams. Despite losing his predicted champion, Obama still ranked 215,325, which placed him among the top 95.5 percent of fans who filled out brackets on ESPN’s Web site.

PARTING SHOT

“‘I can’t believe you won, you messed up my bracket …”’

— Omar Samhan

The St. Mary’s center about the kind of text messages he received, including the one above from his mom, after the Gaels won Thursday and reached the NCAA tournament’s second round for the first time in 51 years. St. Mary’s upset Villanova on Saturday, wrecking a bunch more people’s brackets, including President Obama’s.

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