Koch, Obama agree: Kansas Jayhawks are No. 1

David Koch and Barack Obama, fierce opponents in politics, agree on one thing: The University of Kansas will win the NCAA national basketball championship.

Both men have created tournament brackets that place the Jayhawks number one.

“Only Kansas and NCAA Basketball can bring folks together from both sides of the aisle and in between,” Koch joked. “Go Kansas!”

Koch probably knows the game better than most. At MIT he earned a master’s degree in chemical engineering in 1963 – and was a 6-feet-5-inch star.

“I like to say that being the best athlete at MIT is like being taller than Mickey Rooney,” he told The Eagle in 2014. But he averaged 21 points per game over three years, a school record, and scored 41 points once, a single-game record that stood from 1962 until 2009.

KU is not the only Kansas team that Koch, a Wichita native, follows.

He has the Wichita State Shockers reaching the Sweet 16 in his bracket.

“I have always been a Kansas fan for 50 years,” he said. “They have a stellar team and a terrific coach. I am also a big fan of Coach Marshall and wish the Shockers all the best and have them advancing to the Sweet 16. But I think this is the year for the Jayhawks.”

This story was originally published March 17, 2016 at 6:38 PM with the headline "Koch, Obama agree: Kansas Jayhawks are No. 1."