The national champion UConn men's basketball team visited the White House Tuesday afternoon. President Joe Biden spoke to the team, which made its second straight visit to the White House after winning a national championship.
"Let me be the first to say ‘Welcome back!'" Biden told the team. "I won’t be here next year, but you may be."
UConn coach Dan Hurley's men's team went 37-3, defeating Purdue in the final this year to win the school's second straight title.
“Clearly, you must have something in the water up there,” said Biden, who also noted that 11 athletes who competed in the this summer's Paris Olympics had UConn ties.
For UConn, it was the school's sixth men's national title. They joined the 2006-07 Florida Gators and the 1991-92 Duke Blue Devils as just the third team to repeat since John Wooden’s UCLA dynasty of the 1960s and ’70s.
Biden also cheered NCAA 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.
South Carolina's title game against Iowa drew more viewers than this year's men's championship, averaging 18.7 million viewers on ABC and ESPN and peaking at 24 million viewers.
“I think it’s fair to say everyone, everyone watches women’s sports now,” Biden said during the celebration. “When new fans watch for the first time, when young girls see their idols, they see the power of your example.”
Connecticut Public's Matt Dwyer and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
