The men's NCAA basketball tournament is underway, as is your office bracket, but the women's tournament kicks off tomorrow. Unlike the men's tourney, a local team, the Miami Hurricanes, actually has a shot at making it well into the depth of the women's tourney as a number three seed. Unfortunately, they don't have much in the way of presidential confidence: In his official bracket, Barack Obama has them taking an early exit.
Obama unveiled his women's bracket this morning on ESPN, and has picked Connecticut to win it all.
After a hell of a regular season, and finishing the season with an impressive 11th ranking in the AP poll, the Miami Hurricanes entered the NCAA tournament as a third seed in the Dayton regional.
They play 14 seed Gardner-Webb this Sunday in the first round, and Obama smartly has the Hurricanes picked to win. However, he doesn't think they'll make it past the second round. He has sixth-seeded Oklahoma upsetting the lady Canes in the second round. Apparently the prez doesn't foresee the Hurricanes meeting Notre Dame (not quite Catholics versus Convicts, but still an interesting proposal) in the Sweet 16.
Obama might have some logic here. The Canes fell to Nebraska during their second game of the regular season (it was one of only three losses during the season), and Oklahoma had no problem beating Nebreska by 20 points a few weeks later.
Head coach Katie Meier isn't phased by the snub.
"[The players] said they want to prove the president wrong," Meier told the Sun-Sentinel. "That's all right. All year we've been under the radar. Keep us there. We're fine with it. We've got to prove it to ourselves first. We don't care what everyone else says. We respect the president, but it's not going to affect me."
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