Tar Heels Visit White House

Permit me a shout out to my alma mater (and Nextgov senior reporter Jill Aitoro's as well), the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The NCAA men's national basketball champions visited the White House on Monday to meet President Obama, who picked the Tar Heels in his bracket to win the championship. Obama, who scrimmaged against the team while campaigning for president in North Carolina (never a bad photo op to be seen hoopin' it up with the state's most popular basketball team in a basketball-crazed state), obviously believes in karma. From his remarks:

Now, I did have a chance to play ball with this crew just over a year ago when I visited Chapel Hill. And I'm not sure whose luck rubbed off on who. I think there was just a good vibe going on there, because they're now national champions and I'm now President. (Applause.) . . . Now, when we played, everybody went out of their way to pass me the ball, set screens for me, let me take a shot. Tyler [Hansbrough] chose not to block my shot -- of course, I was so intimidated by him being near me that I missed it. (Laughter.) There was one exception, though. Jack Wooten -- he stole the ball from me. He blocked my shot. He fouled me once. Coach [Roy] Williams had to remind him that there were a bunch of guys with guns around. (Laughter.)