Champion LSU women’s basketball team accepting Biden invitation to White House

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LSU’s national champion women’s basketball team will receive an invitation from President Joe Biden to visit the White House.

University spokesman Michael Bonnette confirmed LSU’s intentions on the matter Thursday, a day after Tigers star Angel Reese suggested in a podcast interview that his team should celebrate its title with former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama instead of President Joe Biden and his wife first Jill Biden.

Reese made the suggestion after saying he refused an apology from Jill Biden for suggesting that LSU and runner-up Iowa be invited to the White House. President Biden didn’t follow through on the idea, inviting only LSU and men’s national champion Connecticut.

Vanessa Valdivia, a spokeswoman for Jill Biden, said the first lady was not disparaging LSU and that her comments were meant to honor the historic game and all female athletes. With a 102-85 victory over the Hawkeyes, LSU’s point total was the most ever scored in a championship game by a single team. The combined total of 187 also shattered the previous mark. The game also drew a television audience of 9.9 million, a record for an NCAA women’s title game.

There is currently no set date for the White House visit, Bonnette said. He could not confirm that all players and coaches could attend.

In an appearance in Denver on Monday, Jill Biden praised Iowa athletes and congratulated both teams. He also said that as part of the long-standing tradition of being a champion in the White House, Iowa should also come “because they played a very good game.”

Reese on Monday called Jill Biden’s suggestion “a joke.”

Some social media commentators noted the racial dynamics at play, saying that only the winner should be rewarded with a visit to the White House and that hosting both teams would diminish the accomplishments of LSU’s team, which is predominantly black. The Iowa team was mostly white. Others noted the important role black women played in Democratic Party politics.

President Biden was Obama’s running mate and vice president for eight years. Obama, meanwhile, is actively campaigning for Biden in the 2020 election.

‘White, Black, it doesn’t matter, you’re a woman’

After LSU’s win, coach Kim Mulkey said he would go to the White House if invited. Reese said Wednesday he wasn’t sure if he would leave.

Reese faced criticism on social media for mockingly holding her hands in front of her face while looking at Iowa star Caitlin Clark late in the game. Clark, The Associated Press Player of the Year, made a move similar to that of a certain nobody during Iowa’s victory over Louisville in the Elite Eight.

Reese said he doesn’t think LSU, had it lost to Iowa, would have gotten the praise from Jill Biden the way the Hawkeyes did.

“If we lose, we won’t be invited to the White House,” he added. “I remember he made a comment about both teams being invited because of sportsmanship. And I was like, ‘Are you saying that’s because of what I did?’ Stuff like that, it bothers me because you’re a woman at the end of the day. White, Black, it doesn’t matter, you’re a woman, you have to stand behind us before anything else.”

During LSU’s championship parade through campus on Wednesday night, a smiling Reese kept waving her arms in front of her face, between waves to cheering fans, as she sat in the back of an orange Corvette convertible.

Reese’s expression on and off the court has increased interest in him. According to Canadian Sports Betting, Reese gained 500,000 Instagram followers within two days of LSU’s national title victory, totaling more than one million followers.

Reese is also mentioned by high-profile athletes with a global following. Seven-time Formula 1 champion driver Lewis Hamilton posted a photo of Reese on his Instagram page. And when the Memphis Grizzlies visited New Orleans this week, star guard Ja Morant made a short trip to LSU’s Baton Rouge campus for a meeting with Reese posted on social media.



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