Bill Clinton picks Final Four on James Carville’s XM sports show

Mar 22

Bill Clinton picks Final Four on James Carville’s XM sports show

James Carville and Luke Russert
Former President Bill Clinton made his Final Four picks on James Carville’s XM Satellite Radio show “60/20 Sports,” picking North Carolina, Memphis, UCLA, and his alma mater Georgetown.

The telephone interview, which was taped Thursday night, airs today at 3pm ET/12-noon PT on (ch 144).

When Russert asked Clinton which team he thought would ultimately win the NCAA championship, Clinton said, “My heart’s with Georgetown, but my head tells me it’s going to be Carolina or Memphis. If you look at Carolina, they have been able to run with everybody this year, as well as play that powerful inside game, which is why I kind of favor them.”

As for Memphis and head coach Jim Calipari, the former President said, “I’ve got a high regard for Calipari as a coach, and when I watch the highlights, Memphis just looks a lot quicker than most teams to me.”

Clinton also cautioned not to count out Duke: “It’s easy to dismiss Duke. Most people don’t think they’ve got any chance because they got whacked by Carolina a couple of times. But, you know, they only lost five games, and Krzyzewski is a great tournament coach. You can’t really write them off.”

Calling from Pennsylvania, where Hillary Clinton will face Barack Obama in the April 22nd Democratic presidential primary, former President Clinton told Carville with a laugh, “As you know, James, I haven’t followed this season as closely as I normally do. I’ve been otherwise occupied. There are probably going to be some surprises this year that, if I had watched enough games this year, I’d have better judgment about.”

Russert asked Clinton: “If you had to compare your wife and her campaign to an NCAA tournament team, which one would it be?”

Clinton chuckled and replied: “Whichever one has shown the most persistence and just keeps coming back and coming back and coming back. Whichever one was dismissed early and came on late, that’s her.”

“60/20 Sports” is hosted by 63-year-old Carville and 22-year-old Luke Russert, son of “Meet the Press” host Tim Russert. Today’s edition of “60/20 Sports” marks the 2nd anniversary of the weekly, one-hour sports talk program. Bill Clinton was in 2006, and .