Obama’s men’s bracket busted by Kansas, Villanova; women’s bracket perfect so far

Kansas, Villanova bust Obama’s men’s bracket

NEW YORK — 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 he correctly picked 15 of 16 winners in his women’s bracket Saturday, ranking him at 23,716 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. It also ended up being his only loss as No. 10 seed North Carolina fell to seventh-seeded Gonzaga 82-76.

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.