Roy Williams and the Tar Heels are not going to the White House.Elsa/Getty Images
Hours after President Donald Trump pulled an “invitation” for the Golden State Warriors to visit the White House to celebrate their championship, the University of North Carolina announced that their championship-winning men’s basketball team will also skip out on the tradition.
According to Andrew Carter of the News-Observer, the White House did invite the Tar Heels, however, the two sides could not agree on a date for the trip.
“We couldn’t find a date that worked for both parties,” the spokesperson said. “We tried about eight or nine dates and between they couldn’t work out that date, we couldn’t work out that date, so – we would have liked to have gone, but not going.”
While the spokesperson noted that the players “were fine with going,” the move is notable because of the timing in relation to the feud between Trump and the Warriors, and for UNC head coach Roy Williams’ comments in May, prior to the team winning the championship.
When asked about the importance of playing the Big East Tournament in a big market like New York, Williams took a shot at Trump.
“Now everybody has got social media, and we don’t need The New York Times to find out what in the dickens is going on in our country,” Williams said in May. “You know, our president tweets out more bulls— than anybody I’ve ever seen. We’ve got social media.”
Trump’s comments on the Warriors came after Stephen Curry said he would vote for the team not going to the White House and reportedly before any actual invitation had been extended.
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