Calling President Barack Obama’s now annual appearances on “SportsCenter” to fill out an NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament bracket, “shallow, populist, pandering”, the New York Post’s Phil Mushnick (who also, we should stress sometimes criticizes public figures who are white, too) is saddened that top flight college hoops’ sleazy side, “doesn’t seem to bother (Obama) a bit.”

Our President is one of those sports fans — a yahoo — who doesn’t appear the least bit concerned Division I basketball and football now seem to have a better chance to temporarily house and feed young criminals than to produce educated young men prepared to move up and beyond.

Consider that nearly every NFL and NBA player arrested — and that stack grows weekly — has one other thing in common: They’re college men.

To think what a few, stern words from the President on this — something to indicate that he knows the score — might do. Instead, he picked Michigan State to win the tournament.

Ah, yes, the Spartans. The star guard on Michigan State’s 1986 team, senior Scott Skiles, at the NCAA Tournament’s conclusion, reentered jail to serve 30 days for a parole violation. Until then, he had remained eligible to play.

Skiles could have done his 30 days during the basketball season, but that was out of the question. He could have served his time at the conclusion of the academic semester. Forget that, too. When basketball ended, he chose jail. Student-athletic priorities.

And in 2014, even the President of the United States is in on it. Again.

Fascinating analysis from Phil, who might be the first columnist with the courage to point out that President Obama is the only elected leader to have ever taken an interest in college sports. And does this country deserve a President who has the common decency to predict an early exit for Michigan State based on something that happened 28 years ago?