Back on March 19th, I wrote about some ways which I processed some NCAA Men’s Basketball data to make predictions for the crazy March Madness tournament, bragging about how well I had done with my analysis most years, beating former President Obama’s Barackets almost all the time, and all. Well, it seems I had really jinxed myself because this year’s March Madness results were so unpredictable that just picking by tournament seedings exactly as they were landed you in the top ten percentile! In other years, you’d be about middle of the pack. That’s because the upsets this year were so generally unpredictable that those looking to find upsets often got stung by getting many wrong, but then also stung by getting many expected winners wrong! Double-whammy, if you will!
barackets
Barack Obama’s Barackets for 2018 Men’s NCAA March Madness is DONE!
With one game still remaining in the Elite 8 of the 2018 Men’s NCAA March Madness tournament (Duke vs Kansas), former President Barack Obama’s Barackets is DONE! He has Villanova in the Final Four, but because he predicted (eliminated) Michigan State would beat them next game, Villanova will be getting no more points for Obama this year. The former POTUS had UNC and Virginia as the other Final Four teams, both of whom had been eliminated early.
So where does this leave the Barackets in the ESPN Standings?
Obama Ahead of 80% of Brackets After 2 Rounds in 2016 March Madness
After two rounds in the first weekend of 2016 March Madness, President Obama’s Barackets is ahead of 80% of other brackets submitted to ESPN’s pool online. The POTUS has 430 points. He has only lost Michigan State and West Virginia that he had predicted to go far, but so has the vast majority of other people. Michigan State was the second most popular pick to go to the National Championship Game besides #1 overall Kansas. The Prez still has a lot of potential points to gain (1120 to be exact), but that’s only potential. It still has to be realized, of course.
Me, I’m sitting at 460 points, ahead of 94% of the brackets on ESPN. My advantage over the President coming out of the first day where I was a perfect 16/16. It was only the first day, but it was really exciting to have a perfect first day! Even better coming out of the gates being tied at the top of the leader board for what I estimate to be about 12 million entries. I also have Michigan State and West Virginia busted like the President, as his 1120 potential points remaining. However, our remaining picks differ enough the final outcome could be a massive difference in our comparative end results… not the least due to the scoring system where each round is worth 320 points so that the right/wrong winner could cost the other one 320 points. He has Kansas to win it all, hoping for third time lucky as his previous two Kansas picks had blown it big. I have North Carolina for whom I’ve cheered for decades. 🙂
Nobody has a perfect bracket in either the ESPN or CBS pool this year, by the way, with all the upsets.
Obama’s 2015 Barackets a Stinker as Duke Wins March Madness
Congrats to the Duke Blue Devils on winning the 2015 NCAA March Madness Men’s Basketball Tournament.
Every year since President Obama has been in office, he has put in an NCAA March Madness Men’s Basketball Tournament bracket, lovingly known as the Barackets. He has met with mixed success, but this year, his Barackets was a total stinker! I’ve blogged the POTUS’ Barackets performance every year per weekend of the tournament, but I was away for it all this year until now, for which I can only file a final report.
President Obama’s Barackets Done Before Final 4… And I’ve Beaten Him Again!
There’s still one game left before the 2014 NCAA March Madness Final Four, and President Obama’s Barackets is already done! With Michigan State going out to the Cinderella-ish UConn Huskies, da Prez’s Barackets has no potential points left. He still has Florida in place, but he had Michigan State beating them in the national semi-finals so he has no points left.
It now only remains to be seen how many behind him still have some teams left who can get points. After the Michigan state game, the President is still ahead of 74.7% of entries on ESPN’s Tournament Challenge. That lead is the only thing the President still has going for him to salvage some sort of decent final placement, which he may still get depending on who wins from now on. Only 0.4% of brackets had UConn getting more points, 5.7% had Wisconsin, 2.1% had Kentucky, but 15.4% still has Michigan to get more points, and 41.1% still has Florida to get more points. So the President can still finish respectfully, to completely tank!
I’m in not much better shape with only Florida remaining. However, I am ahead of the President… and I have Florida to win it all so if they do, I can really smoke the President, and many others. Unfortunately, UConn was the last team who beat Florida so that should be some rematch! UConn is playing better than they did then, and it only remains to be seen if Florida has improved as much. Mathematically, though, I have beaten the President and that is 5/6 years now. 🙂
I am currently ahead of 87.7% of brackets on ESPN. But by having Florida, if you look at the math above of teams remaining still able to get points, take out the Florida part and I’m going to finish at least at a respectable level. Yay!
Digital Citizen 