Biden honors NCAA basketball champs South Carolina and celebrates surging interest in women's sports

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden 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.”

Biden later Tuesday will honor the Connecticut men’s basketball team. UConn coach Dan Hurley’s men’s team went 37-3 in winning its second straight title.

South Carolina’s unblemished year came even after Staley lost all five starters from her 2023 team that was defeated in the Final Four. The Gamecocks were dominant throughout their historic season, leading the nation in scoring defense, margin of victory and blocked shots.

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.

It was the first White House visit for South Carolina. Staley and the Gamecocks did not go to the White House following championships in 2017 and 2022. Vice President Kamala Harris paid a visit to the team while she was in Columbia, South Carolina, earlier this year.

Staley, a three-time Olympic gold medalist and coach of the U.S. women’s basketball team in Tokyo three years ago, recently served as a member of the presidential delegation to the Paris Olympics.

Several prominent current and former South Carolinian politicians attended Tuesday’s ceremony for the Gamecocks, including Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, Democratic Rep. James Clyburn, and former Columbia mayor Steve Benjamin, who is now a senior adviser to the president.

Biden joked that the South Carolina’s officeholders could have some fierce competition if the popular Staley were to give politics a try.

“All of those of you who hold public office in South Carolina, you better hope she keeps coaching and doesn’t run,” Biden said of Staley.