Angel Reese thought it was a “joke” that Iowa also received a White House invitation.
Even though LSU won the women’s college basketball championship, First Lady of the United States Jill Biden thought Iowa should visit the White House as well.
LSU’s Angel Reese, who was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player, tweeted that Biden’s comments were “a joke” as it’s not customary for a losing team to receive such an invitation.
During a recent appearance on a podcast, I AM ATHLETE with Brandon Marshall and Ashley Nicole Moss, Reese expanded on her thoughts.
“If we were to lose, we would not be getting invited to the White House,” Reese said. This was another example of the double standard that Reese faced during her tournament run.
The First Lady’s Press Secretary, Vanessa Valdivia, said Biden’s comments were meant to “applaud the historic game and all women’s athletes” and that she looks forward to celebrating LSU’s victory at the White House.
LSU women’s basketball head coach Kim Mulkey initially said that the team would attend the White House. She has previously visited the White House after championship wins for Baylor in 2005 (visiting with President George W. Bush), 2012 (visiting with President Barack Obama), and 2019 (visiting with President Donald Trump).
Reese, however, posted on Instagram and insisted they aren’t coming. Here is what she said (at the 27-minute mark):
“I don’t accept the apology because you said what you said … You can’t go back on certain things that you say … They can have that spotlight. We’ll go to the Obamas’. We’ll go see Michelle. We’ll see Barack.”
Reese’s teammate, Alexis Morris, posted on Twitter asking if the Obama family would want to host them at their house. Former President Barack Obama tweeted his congratulations to the Tigers.
We will see if Barack and Michelle extend an invitation to Reese and her teammates, but it is also worth noting that this wouldn’t be the first time that LSU declined an invitation from the First Lady.
Reese also indicated that Biden was supposed to come to their locker room before the game, but she said the team said no.
When asked why, she said it was because President Biden “put somebody else” to win the national championship and didn’t have LSU in his bracket. For context: Biden predicted Villanova would win the title and his pre-tournament bracket did not have LSU advancing past the second round.
Biden isn’t exactly known for having impressive predictive skills about the sports world. His incredibly chalky bracket was unfortunately busted by an early Arizona loss not six hours after he published it.
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