"March Madness" is becoming less of an exaggeration. The NCAA Annual Tournament is probably the biggest non-professional sports spectacle in the United States, and no less than the President wants in on the fun.

ESPN has made an annual TV special where US President Barack Obama fills out his own tournament bracket live. This year, he picked the Michigan State University Spartans to win it all.

From ESPN, Obama said: "Tom Izzo is a great tournament coach.I've got Michigan State going all the way. ... He knows how to motivate folks and he knows how to coach. My pick: Michigan State. Bring it home for me. It's been a while since I've won my pool. I know these are not imaginative picks, but I think they're the right ones."

But that's not to say that the President did not have upsets in his bracket: "Obama likes two 12-seeds to pull off upsets in their openers -- Harvard over Cincinnati, and North Dakota State overOklahoma. He also likes North Carolina to beat 3-seed Iowa State to reach the Sweet 16."

That was not so daring though. It was quite a popular choice ESPN's numbers on their own bracket count: "Of those 6.97 million brackets, 30.5 percent picked Harvard, 22.3 percent picked N.D. State, and 31.2 percent had the Tar Heels advancing at least that far."

The Michigan State Spartans were delighted by the news, but they admit it's added pressure.

Forward Brendan Dawson shared: "When I saw that it was just bizarre that Barack Obama picked us and he was talking about Keith [Appling] and injuries and us getting back and playing together as a team," 

 Star guard and NBA Draft Prospect Gary Harris: "That's an honor for him to say that "It's not going to be handed to us. We have to go out there and prove it." 

Guard Keith Appling: "I'm glad that he has such high expectations. But nothing has been accomplished yet." 

Their coach, Tom Izzo who Obama singled out, responded in half jest: "I'm trying to get ahold of the president right now and see if he has any pull with the officials since he picked us that high."

Don't be so sure though. President Obama has correctly chosen the champion only once since 2009.