[ad_1]
The University of Virginia men's basketball team has announced it will not celebrate its victory at the White House National Championship with President Donald Trump.
In a statement shared Friday on Twitter, Cavalry head coach Tony Bennett said his team "should respectfully decline an invitation."
"We have received inquiries regarding a visit to the White House, and if there are multiple players looking for business opportunities or leaving UVA, it would be difficult, if not impossible, to get everyone together, and we should respectfully decline an invitation." – Tony Bennett
– Men's Virginia Basketball (@UVAMensHoops) April 26, 2019
Bennett said that the decision by the Cavaliers, who won the 85 to 77 wins against the Texas Tech Red Raiders on April 9, was attributable to logistics.
"We have received inquiries about a visit to the White House," he said. "With multiple players looking for professional opportunities or leaving UVA, it would be difficult, if not impossible, to get everyone together."
However, celebrating national sporting victories at the White House has become a contentious issue under the Trump administration. Some professional and academic players and players have opted out to protest government policies.
Trump withdrew an invitation from the Golden State Warriors following his win at the 2017 NBA Championship after star goalie Stephen Curry explained why he did not want his teammates to celebrate with his president.
Stephen Curry does not ask himself whether he will vote or not to visit the White House. pic.twitter.com/n2PBAtYQdA
– Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) September 22, 2017
It is not certain that the White House actually invited the Virginia team to participate, although the Baylor University women's basketball team announced it would celebrate its national championship with Trump on Monday.
Trump did not comment on Virginia Cavaliers' announcement, following her much-criticized criticism that there would have been "very good people from both sides" at the deadly 2017 meeting of "white supremacists and neo" -Nazis "in Charlotteville, the same city where the campus of the University of Virginia is located.
[ad_2]
Source link
