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Obama NCAA bracket 2013: Why the president likes Indiana

Obama NCAA bracket 2013: The president loves basketball, so he carefully considers which school should win the NCAA men's championship. If the Obama NCAA bracket for 2013 comes to pass, the president should get a warm welcome in the Hoosier state.

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Charles Dharapak/AP
Obama NCAA bracket 2013: President Obama stands with LeBron James, fifth from left, Dwayne Wade, third left, and head coach Erik Spoelstra, right, as he honors the NBA champions Miami Heat basketball team in the East Room at the White House in Washington, earlier this year.

Prior to leaving on his trip to the Middle East, President Obama performed what has become an early spring ritual for him as well as millions of college basketball fans - filling out his NCAA men's and women's basketball tournament brackets.

The Commander-in chief is picking Indiana to go all the way in the NCAA men's tourney. IU last won an NCAA basketball championship in 1987.

ESPN revealed Wednesday that Obama picked the Hoosiers to win it all in his 2013 bracket. Mr. Obama also has Louisville, Ohio State, and Florida reaching the Final Four in Atlanta early next month.

Obama has made an annual tradition of giving his bracket predictions to ESPN but only correctly picked the winner once — North Carolina in 2009. Obama says he thinks he can do better in his second term. According to Yahoo! Sports, after making that Carolina pick four years ago, the president only correctly selected two of 12 Final Four teams the next three years.

This time, Obama repeatedly advanced teams from the Big Ten. But he said "I think this is Indiana's year." The Hoosiers won the Big Ten regular season title and spent 10 weeks ranked No. 1 in the country this season.

ESPN is asking readers about the quality of the president's Final Four picks. The survey's latest results show that 50 percent of fans think he accurately chose only one of the Final Four teams.

Obama filled out the bracket Tuesday at the White House, before leaving Washington.

The NCAA men's tournament 'First Four' play-in games continue Wednesday evening in Dayton, Ohio. James Madison will play Long Island University-Brooklyn in one game, while Boise State will take LaSalle in the other contest. The men's tournament gets into full swing Thursday at noon Eastern time with multiple games around the country.

On the women's side, Obama selected Baylor, California, UConn and Notre Dame to advance to New Orleans. Baylor, UConn and Notre Dame are all No. 1 seeds and California is a No. 2 seed. The women's tournament gets underway Saturday at multiple campus sites across the US.

Material from the Associated Press was used in this story.

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