Remarks Honoring the NCAA Men's Basketball Champion University Of
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Administration of Barack Obama, 2012 / May 4 NOTE: The President spoke at 11:53 a.m. In School; Reps. Todd W. Akin and W. Joseph his remarks, he referred to Amirah Delwin, Walsh; Brendan Buck, press secretary for student, Washington-Lee High School, and Speaker of the House of Representatives John her mother Kezia Truesdale; Tim Craig, fa- A. Boehner; and James T. Fallon, Jr., host, ther of student Brendan Craig; Elma Molina, NBC’s “Late Night With Jimmy Fallon” pro- mother of student Rina Castaneda; Gregg gram. He also referred to his sister Maya Robertson, principal, Washington-Lee High Soetoro-Ng. Remarks Honoring the NCAA Men’s Basketball Champion University of Kentucky Wildcats May 4, 2012 The President. Thank you. Come on over players, Coach started off by asking them some here, Coach. Thank you very much. Thank you simple questions: Do you want to win a nation- so much. Everybody, have a seat. Have a seat. al title? The answer was yes, apparently. Have a seat. Welcome to the White House, [Laughter] Can you do it by yourself? The an- and congratulations to the Kentucky Wildcats swer was no. He took a roster with six former on your eighth national championship. Eighth All-Americans and got them to do something national champ—that’s not bad. [Laughter] even more impressive, and that was share the That’s not bad. Although, this is the first in 14 ball. So you had six players average double fig- years. [Laughter] ures in points this year; nobody averaged more Now, this was the fourth year that I filled than nine shots a game. If you didn’t play de- out my bracket on ESPN. And what I’ve fense, you didn’t play. learned is that if I make the right picks, I look And as a result, the Wildcats started win- like a genius. But if things go the other way, ning. At one point, they won 24 straight. And then a team like Kentucky gets to come to my they spent the final 8 weeks of the season house and remind me in person that I was ranked number one. They cruised through the wrong. [Laughter] So it is a double-edged tournament, trailed for less than 10 minutes to- sword. tal, before beating Kansas in front of 70,000 Of course, I knew Kentucky was good. I had fans at the Super Dome. So that’s a pretty good them in the championship game. But in the run. end, I thought, these—they got all these fresh- Most importantly, though, they did it as a men. These guys are too young. [Laughter] team. And nobody, I think, was a better exam- And keep in mind, at this time last year, three ple of that than Anthony Davis, who—every- of the Wildcats’ five starters were still in high body kept on remarking on it. Nobody has ever school. Michael Kidd-Gilchrist couldn’t even seen somebody who didn’t have a lot of field vote yet. [Laughter] goals and yet still controlled the game. Still But let’s face it, sometimes talent triumphs ended up being the most valuable player: experience. And sometimes, a bunch of young racked up 16 rebounds, 6 blocks, 3 steals. That players, even if they’re used to being big fishes doesn’t count all the intimidation factor— in their ponds, even if they’ve never played to- [laughter]—that the other team had to go gether before, they can buy into a system, they through. Of course, that’s what happens when understand the concept of team, and they do you grow 8 inches between your sophomore something special right away. And that’s exact- and senior years of high school. In fact, he has ly what happened in Kentucky. grown an inch since he got to the White Of course, a lot of credit for that goes to House. [Laughter] His pants are already like their outstanding coach, Coach Calipari. My this. [Laughter] Just got a new suit, you know, understanding is, when he recruited these and his—[laughter]. 571 May 4 / Administration of Barack Obama, 2012 When Anthony needed help, Doron Lamb They were saying: “We’re going to the White stepped up, dropping 22 points in the biggest House! We’re going to the White House!” game of his career. First off the bench, Darius [Laughter] Because they wanted to meet you. Miller, who became the first player in Ken- As a member of our team, I’d like our se- tucky history to be named Mr. Basketball, win niors, Darius Miller, to give you his number- a State championship in high school and win a one jersey that he wore for 4 years. national title with the Wildcats. I’m pretty sure The President. That’s great. Coach Cal is right that if Darius decides to run Coach Calipari. Eloy Vargas has a ball that for Governor, he’ll do all right in Kentucky. he—the team has signed, and the young—[ap- [Laughter] I also want to congratulate Darius plause]. There’s the number-one jersey. and Eloy Vargas for getting their diplomas on The President. That’s a good-looking jersey Sunday. That’s worth a big round of applause. right there. And I want to congratulate them for doing Coach Calipari. And the young guy from their share of community service in the Lex- your home city of Chicago—— ington community, from packing backpacks The President. Chicago! [Laughter] full of food for kids who don’t have enough to Coach Calipari. ——would like to present raising money for tornado victims. you with the 2012 National Championship So these guys do it all. Everybody’s got to ring, and I might say, it is the first. take a good look now, because a whole bunch The President. Hold that up. Look at that. of these guys are going on to the NBA. Who That’s all right. That’s beautiful, man. Fantas- knows, one of them might end up here in tic. Well, this is some nice gear. [Laughter] I Washington. We’ll take him. have to say, by the way, after the game, I called Coach Cal is back on the recruiting trail, and the coach and the team, and I mentioned to if the next group of Wildcats is anything like Anthony that I had actually been to his school, this one, then I might see them again some- a small charter school in Chicago, when I was time soon. still a Senator. And I had spoken to the kids So congratulations again to all the fans, to all there, and he told me, yes, I was there. the faculty, to all the—everybody who helps to [Laughter] But I didn’t recognize him. He make Kentucky such an outstanding university. looked a little different apparently 4 years ago. Most of all, congratulations to the team and to So what a wonderful set of gifts. I appreciate Coach Calipari. that. Head Coach John V. Calipari. Thank you very much. Mr. President, on behalf of the Big NOTE: The President spoke at 5:03 p.m. in the Blue Nation, the Commonwealth of Kentucky, East Room at the White House. In his re- we are honored and humbled to be here. This marks, he referred to Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, team, when they won that championship on Anthony Davis, and Eloy Vargas, forwards, and that court in New Orleans, they were jumping Doron Lamb and Darius Miller, guards, Uni- up and down not saying: “We did it! We won!” versity of Kentucky men’s basketball team. The President’s Weekly Address May 5, 2012 This week, I traveled to Afghanistan to Air Base, I visited with some of our outstand- thank our troops serving far from home and to ing men and women in uniform. I thanked sign a historic agreement that will help us com- them for their extraordinary service. And I let plete our mission and end the war. them know that America honors their sacrifice. As Commander in Chief, nothing is more Because of their bravery and dedication, the humbling or inspiring than the chance to tide of war has turned in Afghanistan. We’ve spend some time with our troops. At Bagram broken the Taliban’s momentum. We’ve built 572.