In what has become a yearly tradition, President Barack Obama spent some time with ESPN's Andy Katz to fill out his NCAA tournament bracket. He's been burned by Kansas two years in a row, so this time around he avoided the Jayhawks. 
 
 Let's examine each of the President's picks to reach the Final Four and break down their chances of making him look smart. 
 
 Chris Graythen/Getty Images 
 
 Kentucky 
 
 The President's bracket looking similar to a good portion of America by having Kentucky emerge from the South region. Anthony Davis gives the Wildcats, who are the top overall seed, a clear edge over every team they will play. 
 
 Kentucky should reach the Elite Eight with relative ease. Even though Connecticut apparently has some leftover hype from last season, it doesn't have the firepower to knock off the nation's top squad. The Wildcats' first legitimate test will come against Baylor or Duke. 
 
 The Bears would be able to match their athleticism, but don't have the defense to slow down Kentucky. Duke's defense is also suspect, so I would say the President made the right pick here. 
 
 Which team will win the West region? Michigan State Missouri Another Team Submit Vote vote to see results Which team will win the West region? Michigan State 30.9% 
 
 Missouri 54.9% 
 
 Another Team 14.2% Total votes: 501 
 
 Missouri 
 
 Missouri runs the most efficient offense in the country. The Tigers are exciting to watch because they can get up and down the floor in heartbeat, but their defense will likely pose a major roadblock on their Final Four journey. 
 
 A tricky second-round matchup will await no matter who wins the opening round game between Florida and Virginia. The Gators are one of the few teams who could score with Missouri while the Cavaliers have an elite defense. 
 
 Even if they survive that game, Michigan State will likely be waiting in the Elite Eight and are a more complete team than the Tigers. I have a feeling President Obama will get this one wrong. 
 
 Andy Lyons/Getty Images 
 
 Ohio State 
 
 The Buckeyes' chances received a boost when it was announced Syracuse big man Fab Melo won't be eligible to play in the tournament. That's a significant piece of the Orange's rotation to lose at such a critical time in the season. 
 
 Ohio State has three players averaging more than 14 points and a lockdown defender in Aaron Craft. The team's defense will lead the way having been battle-tested in the nation's top conference, and should help the Buckeyes survive any early upset bids. 
 
 The East region is difficult with several contenders like Florida State, Vanderbilt and the aforementioned Orange of Syracuse. That said, I think the President got another one right. 
 
 How many Final Four picks will President Obama get right? 0 1 2 3 4 Submit Vote vote to see results How many Final Four picks will President Obama get right? 0 3.6% 
 
 1 10.8% 
 
 2 43.1% 
 
 3 30.7% 
 
 4 11.8% Total votes: 752 
 
 North Carolina 
 
 North Carolina is led by the terrific trio of Harrison Barnes, Tyler Zeller and John Henson. No team in the first couple rounds will have the size to match up with those talented forwards, which means the Tar Heels will be on cruise control. 
 
 They appear to be on a collision course with Kansas in the Elite Eight. The Jayhawks will be able to match UNC's depth and have two stars of their own in Thomas Robinson and Tyshawn Taylor. If the clash materializes, it would be on of the tourney's best games. 
 
 After selecting Kansas two years in a row, it would only be fitting for the Jayhawks to break through once the President jumps off the bandwagon. That's exactly what I expect to happen. ||||| March Madness is here, and it can only mean one thing: people yelling at you to fill out a bracket by noon on Thursday. College basketball's championship derby is an entertaining blast, and always includes thrilling upsets and buzzer-beaters, but it's increasingly become a pressurized, almost compulsory national quiz show, as hard-core fans and newcomers crunch data, consult athletic friends and cluelessly guess to select the winners of a tournament that concludes April 2 in New Orleans. There's no basketball spectacle quite like it (other than the NCAA women's tournament), and no shared event that brings a workplace closer together (other than free donuts.) But before you click on video live-stream program, turn down the volume, and pretend to be doing your actual job, here are some March Madness rules to consider: 
 
 WSJ sports editor Jason Gay offers his set of rules for watching March Madness basketball games and preparing your brackets this season. 
 
 1. There is only one certainty to filling out a March Madness bracket, and it is this: You will lose to someone who has never watched an NCAA basketball game in his or her life. You will also lose to a 7-year-old, a golden retriever and a lobster. 
 
 2. The person at the office who knows every single detail about college basketball, who can name the pets of assistant coaches and spend 45 minutes rhapsodizing about strength of schedule? Out of the pool by Friday at 2 p.m. Every time. 
 
 3. If this is your first NCAA office pool, a fun thing to do is just fill in every blank bracket with the words "BACON OMELET!!!" You will always beat the guy who picks Syracuse. 
 
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 4. Do not pick all four number-one seeds to make the Final Four. Jeez. That's like going to Paris and dining at Pizza Hut. 
 
 5. Do NOT skip work to watch the NCAA tournament. If your company didn't want you to watch the NCAA tournament at work, they would never have given you a computer, pom-poms and a frozen margarita machine under your desk. 
 
 6. Yes "Bracketology" is a word. But it is also a felony to say "Bracketology." 
 
 7. The NCAA and television networks don't want you to know this but all the tournament games are played in an airline hangar in Burbank, Calif., with a cast of 12,500 hired actors playing "college fans." If you look very closely at your screen, you can see this is the case. That guy covered in Duke blue? He was cheering for Creighton a couple hours ago. He also works part-time at Jamba Juice and has done two episodes of "NCIS" and one "Vampire Diaries." 
 
 8. On Tuesday and Wednesday the NCAA holds something called the "First Four." Like that 4 p.m. office "brainstorming" meeting, this is half-baked and utterly optional. 
 
 9. Remember, it's the "Final Four," the "Elite Eight," the "Sweet Sixteen," and the "We Don't Have Anything That Works With 32." 
 
 10. You're totally allowed to go into your bracket at any time and change all of your picks. This is what your boss has done for years. 
 
 11. Look, everyone knows about your secret "other" bracket and your secret "other" pool. You're going to secretly lose that "other" one, too, genius. 
 
 12. There's always somebody who makes a big deal about how the NCAA is much more entertaining than the NBA. This person hasn't been watching the Miami Heat, the Chicago Bulls, or the Oklahoma City Thunder. 
 
 13. It's okay to love the NCAA anthem "One Shining Moment." But true story: "One Shining Moment" was written by a unicorn living in Barry Manilow's backyard. 
 
 14. Cheer for Harvard, but be careful: You don't want Harvard people thinking they're something special. 
 
 15. Don't be one of those cynics who thinks that the NCAA tournament is just a creepy big-money spectacle of adults obsessing over college students. You'll sound like a fool. Everyone's obsessed with 4th grade basketball prospects anyway. 
 
 16. You're not a real college basketball coach until you own a mustard-colored, double-breasted blazer. 
 
 17. There's no word that's more exciting to say than "Gonzaga." 
 
 18. Take the tournament with a grain of salt. Nobody remembers who went to the Final Four anyway. Who was in the 2011 Final Four? No peeking! That's right: Bennington, Reed, Oberlin and the Rhode Island School of Design. 
 
 19. If you are planning to go to the Final Four in New Orleans, please be aware that the bars close promptly at never. 
 
 20. Best thing about March Madness: Next week, everyone's going to be talking about a lovable school you have never heard of. 
 
 21. Of course, days later, that lovable school you have never heard of will get smoked by 40 by Kentucky. Oh well. 
 
 22. Someone will come in Monday and loudly announce that his or her bracket is "totally destroyed." This person is going to win the pool. 
 
 23. Don't worry: None of us has any idea how to spell "Krzyzewski." ||||| Andy Katz and Doris Burke take viewers behind the scenes of President Barack Obama filling out his NCAA brackets. 
 
 President Barack Obama is going back to Carolina in his NCAA tournament bracket. 
 
 The president, who correctly picked North Carolina to win the 2009 NCAA championship, has the Tar Heels as the team to beat in his 2012 bracket, which was unveiled Wednesday. 
 
 Obama has North Carolina beating Kentucky, the overall No. 1 seed, in the title game. Ohio State and Missouri are his other Final Four selections. 
 
 Obama filled out a bracket for the fourth consecutive year. The past two seasons, he picked Kansas to win the title. The Jayhawks were eliminated early both times. 
 
 "I am going with North Carolina getting revenge for the regular-season victory [Kentucky beat the Heels in December]," Obama said. "They are an older team more of experienced team. I think Kentucky is unbelievably talented, but I think [guard Kendall] Marshalls' play -- [forward Tyler] Zellers' play -- I see North Carolina winning it all." 
 
 Obama said he went back and forth on North Carolina and Kentucky, but finally settled on the Tar Heels. 
 
 "I think this will be a great game," he said. "I think it will come down to the wire. But in the end -- I think it goes back down to Chapel Hill." 
 
 The president has a couple of surprises in his Sweet 16 -- New Mexico, the fifth seed in the West, and North Carolina State, the 11th seed in the Midwest. 
 
 The NCAA tournament continues Thursday. Obama attended a first-round game Tuesday night in Dayton with British Prime Minister David Cameron. The pair saw Western Kentucky rally to beat Mississippi Valley State 59-58. 
 
 Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said he won't be filling out a tournament bracket. 
 
 "I'm not plugged in well-enough this year to do that," Romney said Tuesday during a brief exchange with reporters traveling with him in Missouri. 
 
 The president has Baylor, St. John's, Connecticut and Notre Dame in the Final Four of his women's bracket, which will be unveiled in its entirety Friday. The NCAA women's tournament begins Saturday. 
 
 Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
– March Madness is fun and all, but it's also increasingly "a pressurized, almost compulsory national quiz show" laments Jason Gay of the Wall Street Journal. With bracket deadlines looming, here are some things to keep in mind to keep you sane: No matter how much you know about basketball, "you will lose to someone who has never watched an NCAA basketball game in his or her life. You will also lose to a 7-year-old, a golden retriever, and a lobster." You don't have to skip work. "If your company didn't want you to watch the NCAA tournament at work, they would never have given you a computer, pom-poms, and a frozen margarita machine under your desk." If you screw up, you can always change your picks. "This is what your boss has done for years." "Yes, 'Bracketology' is a word. But it is also a felony to say 'Bracketology.'" The early "First Four" games are "like that 4pm office 'brainstorming' meeting … half baked and utterly optional." Even if your bracket goes down in flames, next week you'll inevitably be swept up in following a lovable school you've never heard of before. "Of course, days later, that lovable school … will get smoked by 40 by Kentucky." Speaking of Kentucky, President Obama put them in his Final Four, in his annual pick-em session on ESPN. Head to Bleacher Report for analysis of the president's picks. Or click for Gay's full column.