Critics pile on Biden’s March Madness picks

Social media piled on President Biden for his safe March Madness bracket on Thursday — with more than one user pointing out the commander-in-chief missed the time-honored noon office pool deadline to submit his picks.

“Good luck to every team in this year’s NCAA tournament,” Biden tweeted 20 minutes after West Virginia and Maryland tipped off the round of 64.

“I’ve got Arizona in the men’s tournament and Villanova in the women’s — and as you know, in this household, Villanova always wins,” Biden added, a reference to first lady Jill Biden’s well-known Philadelphia sports fandom.

“Brackets were due by noon, Mr. President,” gambling house BetOnline.ag chided in response.

“Vintage Biden,” joked Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy. “Tweets out bracket after tournament started. Auto DQ. See ya next year buddy.”

Biden also did not pick any team seeded lower than 12 to win a first-round game — which promptly came back to bite him when No. 13 Furman stunned 4-seed Virginia. The president also picked the Cavaliers to advance to the Sweet 16, along with every other top-4 seed.

“Biden’s a big risk taker,” crowed one Twitter user. “All 16 1-4 seeds moving on to the Sweet 16.”

The president chose Arizona, Texas, Marquette and Kansas — all first or second seeds — to advance to next month’s Final Four in Houston.

One journalist compared Biden’s bracket with that of former President Barack Obama — and found him wanting.

“As I recall @BarackObama was pretty decent at his brackets. Would suggest you revisit,” tweeted Marianne Goodland, a chief legislative reporter for Colorado Politics. “Arizona? Villanova? Appalling. (the obvious choice was Indiana for both).”

A 2019 review from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism found Obama made his best brackets during his first term in the Oval Office.

Even members of Biden’s own party took issue with his picks.

“I’m sorry Mr. President @JoeBiden … in @dawnstaley & @GamecockWBB we trust!!!” tweeted Democratic National Committee chairman Jaime Harrison. “Let’s put some SC BBQ vs Philly Cheesesteaks on the line!  Loser provides lunch to @TheDemocrats staff! MVP @KamalaHarris, @DouglasEmhoff & @ClyburnSC06 y’all want to get in on this?!”

And some went as far as to suggest there was a political motive to the picks.

“Of course he picks a swing state! Typical liberal pandering agenda,” one Twitter user said of Biden’s Arizona choice. “We all know who he really thinks is going to win and WHY! #ThanksObama.”