White House reverses course, will invite Gamecocks to visit ‘later in the fall’

This morning it was reported South Carolina still had not been invited to the White House, even though other teams who had won a championship — well after the Gamecocks — had been.

Up until this point, no official word had come from the White House until recently when Nikki Haley, from the office of United Nations Ambassador, shared with The Post and Courier an invitation was indeed coming for South Carolina.

Haley says the invite for the Gamecocks to come to the nation’s capital “will come later in the fall.”

As for the moment, head coach Dawn Staley has expressed her feelings on the lack of an invitation, but told the Post and Courier, "I got bigger fish to fry than worry about an invitation.”

Staley is currently in California running her first camp as head of the U.S. women's basketball team.

For those who don’t know, Staley and Haley formed a friendship years ago when Haley was the governor of South Carolina. So for what it is worth, Staley does have a close friend in the White House to help assist her team in being able to continue a championship ritual which has been in place for over 30 years.