Virginia will not be visiting the White House to celebrate this month's NCAA national championship win over Texas Tech, their coach Tony Bennett has confirmed.
This follows the decisions of NBA champion Golden State Warriors, who elected to decline an invitation to visit the White House back in 2017, and then early this year opted to pay a visit to former President Barack Obama while in Washington to play the Wizards. The 2018 NBA champions made that move right around the time that a title winning team would typically visit the White House.
Back in 2017, President Trump moved to rescind any invitation for the Warriors to visit, after it appeared that the team were more than a little reluctant. He tweeted;
“Going to the White House is considered a great honor for a championship team. Stephen Curry is hesitating, therefore invitation is withdrawn!”
But in the case of NCAA champion Virginia, coach Tony Bennett appeared to cite logistical issues as among the chief reasons that the team would not be able to visit the White House;
“We have received inquiries about a visit to the White House,” He said in a statement, “With several players either pursuing pro opportunities or moving on from UVA, it would be difficult, if not impossible to get everyone back together. We would have to respectfully decline an invitation.”
The decision appears to confirm that all three national champion NCAA men's basketball teams who've won titles during Donald Trump's term will not visit the White House. North Carolina and Villanova are the two previous teams not to have paid a visit following their titles; as per USA Today, the Wildcats say they never received an invitation, while the Tar Heels claimed that scheduling conflicts would prevent them from attending.
Three stars from Virginia's national championship run, Kyle Guy, DeAndre Hunter and Ty Jerome have announced their intentions to enter this year's stacked draft class.
President Trump made headlines earlier this year after ordering a fast food buffet in for national champion Clemson after their triumph over Alabama in the College Football Playoff National Championship. This was allegedly due to staff absence during the government shut down.
He then repeated the feat several months later, once again serving up fast food to FCS national champion North Dakota State.