If there was any lingering tension, it wasn't visible on Friday as LSU's women's basketball team was feted at the White House for its first ever NCAA Tournament title.
LSU star Angel Reese even got some special attention, with President Joe Biden telling her that he'd bet on her in a 1-on-1 game with her cousin, Jordan Hawkins, who was also on hand as a member of the champion UConn men's basketball team.
“In this team we saw hope, we saw pride and we saw purpose," Biden said. "It matters.”
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The trip itself became a topic of debate after comments from first Lady Jill Biden that suggested that runner-up Iowa should be invited as well. There was the suggestion that the Tigers not go at all, which ultimately was not the case.
Jill Biden, who attended the championship game in Dallas, also spoke at the White House and applauded the Tigers for their role in helping to expand the women's game and the example they set for young players.
“In this room I see the absolute best of the best. ... You didn’t just play basketball," Jill Biden said. "You didn’t just make history, you showed us, girls and boys, women and men, what it means to be a champion.”
Vice President Kamala Harris also spoke at the event, which was derailed temporarily as forward Sa'Miyah Smith appeared to faint on stage as Biden was wrapping up his remarks. She was attended to by doctors but was fine, head coach Kim Mulkey assured the crowd as she took the podium. Smith also spoke with WBRZ's Michael Cauble about what happened.
The trip was the fifth for Mulkey and her fourth as a head coach. Biden joked with Mulkey about that topic, saying she must be bored because "she's been here with 19" other presidents. Mulkey said it was the first she could remember where family members were allowed to come.
"I came back to the state of Louisiana to be a positive. Little did I know that I would get to coach this group of people," Mulkey said. "They came to our state, and you are looking at the finest our state has to offer right here."
Reese and teammate Emily Ward helped wrap up the event by presenting the Bidens matching LSU jerseys that read "POTUS" and "FLOTUS" on the backs and bore the No. 46.
