On Tuesday, 2024 NCAA basketball champions South Carolina and Connecticut will be greeted by President Joe Biden at the White House in celebration of their most recent national titles. Only the fifth women's team in NCAA history has gone 38-0 to win the latest women's championship. Dawn Staley, the Gamecocks' head coach, won their third championship since 2017.
Men's basketball coach Dan Hurley's UConn team won its second title in a row by going 37-3. In the East Room, Biden is holding separate ceremonies to honor the squads. South Carolina's perfect year came even after Staley lost every one of the five starters from her 2023 group that was crushed in the Last Four. Throughout their historic season, the Gamecocks led the nation in scoring defense, victory margin, and blocked shots.
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For UConn, it was the school's 6th men's national title. They joined the 2006-07 Florida Gators and the 1991-92 Duke Blue Villains as the third group to rehash since John Wooden's UCLA line of the 1960s and '70s. It will be the first White House visit for South Carolina. Staley and the Gamecocks didn't go to the White House following titles in 2017 and 2022. Earlier this year, while she was in Columbia, South Carolina, Vice President Kamala Harris paid the team a visit.
Staley was a coach for the U.S. women's basketball team in Tokyo three years ago and won three gold medals at the Olympics. Recently, he was a part of the presidential delegation to the Olympics in Paris. Biden honored UConn at the White House last year following the school's fifth title.
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