NCAA Basketball Champion Virginia Cavaliers Announce White House Decision
In a somewhat surprising move, the reigning men’s college basketball national champions have declined a potential visit to the White House.
Virginia Cavaliers head coach Tony Bennett made the announcement late Friday.
“We have received inquiries about a visit to the White House,” Bennett said. “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.”
“We have received inquiries about a visit to the White House. 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.” – Tony Bennett
— Virginia Men’s Basketball (@UVAMensHoops) April 26, 2019
Bennett’s decision continues the curious tradition of not a single NCAA men’s basketball championship team visiting the White House during Donald Trump’s presidency.
North Carolina declined to visit the White House after winning the title in 2017, claiming that a convenient date could not be reached. Villanova didn’t visit in 2018, with coach Jay Wright saying no invitation was formally extended and the team probably wouldn’t attend if it had been.
Interestingly, Villanova was the last NCAA champion to visit the White House after winning the 2016 title. The Wildcats visited former President Barack Obama’s White House.
That 2016 Villanova visit, however, does begin to poke some holes in Bennett’s reasoning for wanting to skip the White House visit.
At face value, the Virginia coach’s assertion that the logistics of bringing back departing players would be too difficult makes some sense. But a little sleuthing finds that claim absurd.
When Villanova visited Obama’s White House after the 2016 win, they had five departing players. Ryan Arcidiacono and Daniel Ochefu both eventually made it to the NBA. They also had three other departing seniors.
That’s five players whose varying schedules Villanova had to figure out to make a White House visit occur.
Virginia, meanwhile, had four of their top players declare for the NBA draft. Kyle Guy, Ty Jerome, Mamadi Diakite and De’Andre Hunter will be leaving the program to pursue NBA careers.
Throw in redshirt senior Jack Salt, and that makes five players leaving Virginia.
So Villanova could make the necessary schedule arrangements for Obama in 2016, but Virginia can’t do the same for Trump in 2019? It’s a curious explanation, at the very least.
Another comparison worth considering is the logistics involving football teams, whose rosters are significantly larger than basketball teams, visiting the White House.
Alabama and Clemson, the last two national champions in college football, seemed to have no problem accommodating the schedules of large rosters typically chock full of future NFL players to visit the White House.
As of publication, Trump has not responded to Bennett’s comments or claims that inquiries about a White House visit were made.
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