LSU women's basketball team officially set to visit White House after invite controversy
The LSU women's basketball team will officially be going to White House.
The team confirmed Monday the national champions have accepted an invitation will be visiting 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington D.C. on May 26 after weeks of speculation on whether the team would visit President Joe Biden.
The visit will come less than two months after LSU dominated Iowa to win the school's first NCAA women's basketball championship, and will be the fourth team from the school to visit the White House after winning a national championship (football, baseball and track and field teams). Head coach Kim Mulkey has taken each of her past three national championship teams at Baylor to the White House.
LSU, White House controversy
While it's become tradition for national championship teams to visit the White House, LSU's visit comes after their invitation has been a source of controversy ever since they beat the Hawkeyes on April 2.
First lady Jill Biden was in attendance for the Tigers' win in Dallas, and after the game, said she wanted Iowa to come to the White House "because they played such a good game." LSU star and Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four Angel Reese said it was "A JOKE" about what Biden said. Biden later walked back on her invitation to Iowa, but Reese didn't accept the apology.
"I'm not going to lie to you, I don't accept that apology because she said what she said," Reese said during an appearance on the "I Am Athlete" podcast published on April 5. "You can't go back on certain things that you say. You felt that they should have came because of 'sportsmanship,' right? (Iowa) can have that spotlight; we'll go to the Obamas. We'll see Michelle. We'll see Barack."
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Two days later, Reese said in an interview with ESPN she would join her team at the White House after the team confirmed it would visit, despite feeling "hurt" by Biden's comments.
"I'm a team player," Reese said. "I'm going to do what's best for the team, and I'm the captain. I know the team would love it."
The Tigers will be visiting the same day as the UConn men's basketball team, who defeated the San Diego State Aztecs on April 3 to win it's fifth men's national championship.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: LSU women's basketball title team will visit White House in May
