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Eye on the Y: Former President Obama’s bracket bounces BYU in the first round, but Sister Jean has Cougars in the Final Four

Former President Barack Obama doesn’t have high hopes for the Cougars, while Sister Jean does.

BYU center Richard Harward (42) defends against Gonzaga forward Drew Timme during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game for the West Coast Conference men's tournament championship Tuesday, March 9, 2021, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/David Becker)

March Madness is finally here.

While the First Round isn’t scheduled to start until Friday, we get the First Four games Thursday — and finally figure out the remainder bracket.

Speaking of, let’s take a look at a couple of brackets people have filled out.

Former President Barack Obama released his men’s and women’s March Madness brackets Thursday morning and it doesn’t look great for the Cougars. In fact, he has both teams bowing out in the first round — the men falling to Michigan State and the women to Rutgers.

For a men’s team that is making its first visit to the Big Dance since 2015, that seems like a disappointing outing for BYU fans. However, there’s someone else who believes the Cougars could make a deep run.

Sister Jean, the 101-year-old Loyola Chicago Chaplain, released her men’s bracket yesterday and has BYU going all the way to the Final Four — a first in program history if that were to happen.

The March Madness darling’s other Final Four teams include No. 1 Gonzaga, Baylor and West Virginia.

Both Obama and Sister Jean predict Gonzaga will win it all.

While we obviously don’t know what events will transpire over the next few weeks, looking at both Obama’s and Sister Jean’s brackets lead to a simple conclusion: How BYU will fare during March Madness is all over the map.

If the Cougars play the way they did in the first half against Gonzaga in the West Coast Conference title game, they have a chance to make a serious run. But if they perform the way they did in the WCC semis against Pepperdine, BYU could be in trouble.

I guess we’ll have to wait and see which version of the Cougars takes the court on Saturday.

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