ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The March Madness tournament began at 12:15 p.m. Thursday and the big question is: Did you have your bracket done in time?
Former President Barack Obama sure did!
The 44th U.S. president is known for filling out a bracket for March Madness every year — time will tell how he fares in 2022.
For anyone curious about what Obama thinks is going to happen in the 2022 NCAA Men's Basketball Championship, here's a brief breakdown:
First-round
West:
- Gonzaga over Georgia State
- Duke over Cal State Fullerton
- UConn over New Mexico State
- Texas Tech over Montana State
East:
- Baylor over Norfolk State
- UCLA over Akron
- Kentucky over Saint Peter's
- Purdue over Yale
South:
- Illinois over Chattanooga
- Michigan over Colorado State
- Arizona over Wright State
- Villanova over Delaware
Midwest:
- Kansas over Texas Southern
- Iowa over Richmond
- Wisconsin over Colgate
- Auburn over Jacksonville
Sweet 16
West:
- Gonzaga over UConn
- Texas Tech over Duke
East:
- UCLA over Baylor
- Kentucky over Purdue
South:
- Arizona over Illinois
- Nova over Michigan
Midwest:
- Kansas over Iowa
- Wisconsin over Auburn
Final four
West & East:
- Gonzaga over Kentucky
South & Midwest:
- Arizona over Kansas
Men's National Champions
- Gonzaga
To see Obama's full bracket for 2022, including the women's tournament, click here.
If your bracket looks anything like the former president's for this year, it may or may not be a good thing.
In the last decade, 2009, 2012 and 2017 were the best years for Obama, Northeastern University explains. His second term of presidency was a slump, with an all-time low of 35 correct picks.
In 2012, Obama had 44 correct picks, the university explains. He peaked at 123 points in 2009, his very first year as president.
The former president reportedly outperformed the average NCAA pick'em players by a whopping 70 percent in 2017. So, maybe he'll bring back good luck from the past for this year!
How lucky are you this year?
According to the NCAA, the odds of some average joe correctly picking the winner of all 64 games are 1 in 9,223,372,036,854,775,808. But, that's just if you're guessing. Someone with knowledge of the teams and sports will do a little better — something like 1 in 120.2 billion.
The first round kicked off on Thursday and continues into Friday. The second round is Saturday and Sunday.
After the first weekend of games, the action moves into the Sweet 16 on March 24 and March 25, followed by the Elite Eight on March 26 and March 27.
The men's tournament wraps up with the Final Four on Saturday, April 2, and the championship game is on Monday, April 4.