Obama Responds to Duke Coach K’s Criticism of His Bracket

Last updated on August 10th, 2014 at 05:45 pm

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Duke Coach Mike Krzyazewski didn’t care for President Obama’s picks for the Final Four after he was told that his team wasn’t chosen. Coach K said that Obama should focus more on the economy than brackets. Obama replied by saying that Duke wasn’t picked because they have no inside game.

Here is what Coach K said to the AP about Obama’s bracket, “Somebody said that we’re not in President Obama’s Final Four, and as much as I respect what he’s doing, really, the economy is something that he should focus on, probably more than the brackets.” Of course, I think the coach might have a different reaction if Obama would have chosen his team instead of hated rival North Carolina to win it all .

Obama was on the Ed Schultz radio show where he replied to Coach K, “I think is a great coach, and you Reggie Love my assistant played for Coach K, and so it is not surprising, he is a competitive guy. I just don’t think they have got the inside game to go all the way, but I look forward to him proving me wrong.” The first two days of the NCAA men’s basketball tourney are the second biggest sports holidays in America behind the Super Bowl.

Coach K has never liked the national fixation on brackets. He wants to focus his team on basketball. The funny thing is that Obama’s logic for going against Duke is in line with the conventional wisdom. Duke is a jump shooting team that looks great when the 3s are falling, but as it has been with them for the past handful of years, they lack a low post presence that can carry the team when the jumpers aren’t falling. Even worse for them is that they are the same bracket as Pitt, who is a team that loves to grind it out. Pitt beat Duke in a great game in 2007, and this Pitt team is better than that one.

If you are a sports fan, it is great having a man in the White House who loves sports. Better yet, Obama has an opinion on everything which makes all of this fun. When the president goes on ESPN and fills out a bracket, this is evidence of our country’s obsession with this tournament. Coach K maybe felt a little dissed, but this is all in good fun. I think Obama put a pretty good bracket together, but the guy has already had a great year, so wouldn’t it be nice to see that he isn’t good at everything?

Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association