The 2024 national champion UConn men's basketball team is in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday where they were honored at the White House.
It's the second year in a row that the back-to-back NCAA champion Huskies have been honored by President Joe Biden and the sixth time the program has been invited to the White House as national champions.
In addition to last year's visit with President Biden, the Huskies were honored by President Bill Clinton in 1999, President George W. Bush in 2004, and President Barack Obama in 2011 and 2014.
Head coach Dan Hurley walked into a ceremony on Tuesday afternoon with the president as "Hail to the Chief" played.
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“Let me be the first to say, welcome back,” Biden said. "I won't be here next year, but you may be."
Biden called the UConn men’s team “a force.”
“Winner win,” Biden said. “Winning takes a lot of work. We know that. Together you capped off one of the most successful two-year runs in the history of the sport, ushering in a new era in UConn men’s basketball, passing the likes of Duke and Indiana for all-time national titles.”
Dog House
“Now there’s no doubt at all about who are the blue bloods of basketball,” Biden said to applause.
U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona was among the people gathered for the celebration and Biden said his personal aide, Jacob Spreyer, who sits outside the Oval Office, played tennis at UConn.
“But you’d think during basketball season he played basketball. That’s all he talks about,” Biden said, joking.
Senators Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy as well as former Senator Chris Dodd were there as well.
Earlier Tuesday, President Biden cheered NCAA women’s basketball champs South Carolina and Coach Dawn Staley for helping spark a surge of interest in women's sports during a White House celebration Tuesday to mark their historic title run.
South Carolina went 38-0 on the way to its latest women's title. It was head coach Dawn Staley's third championship with the Gamecocks since 2017.
