Obama not taking sides in UNC-Duke

President Obama may be identifying with Coach K.

At a roundtable of regional reporters in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, the president came close to predicting a rebound for Duke basketball's Coach Mike Krzyzewski at tonight's highly anticipated Carolina-Duke game.

He said Duke is "coming off one of the worst losses it has had in several years," but noted that Coach K had been working the team pretty hard this week.

"They might be fired up," he said. "I hope it's a close game."

Obama, of course, has been similarly pushing Congressional Democrats to pass an economic stimulus package tonight after getting rebuffed by Republicans and losing a Cabinet pick to tax trouble.

Still, the president avoided taking sides in the famous rivalry, although he played a pickup game with many of the Tar Heel standouts before the May primary.

Pointing to his body man, former Duke basketballer Reggie Love, he said he has to remain on the sidelines, as it were.

"If I said anything contrary to Duke, I might not be able to find my Blackberry," he said.