Here's a transcript, and some video from the UConn men's and women's teams visit to the White House on Monday:

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, everybody. (Applause.) Everybody, have a seat, have a seat. I’ve just got a few things to say here. Welcome to the White House, first of all.

AUDIENCE: Thank you. (Laughter.)

THE PRESIDENT: You’re pleased to be here, aren’t you? (Laughter.) I think we should give it up for the men’s and women’s national college basketball champions, the Connecticut Huskies! (Applause.) Now, I have to say that, as President, one of my goals has been to eliminate waste and cut out duplicative programs to make things a little more efficient, but this might be carrying things a little too far. (Laughter.)

We have, as you might expect, some big Huskies fans here today, including some outstanding members of Congress. I also want to recognize your university president, Susan Herbst -- (applause) -- your athletic director, Warde Manuel, and Larry McHugh, the chairman of your board of trustees. Give them a big round of applause. (Applause.) And of course, you’ve got a couple of great coaches in what I called when we were meeting back there the grizzled veteran, Geno Auriemma -- (laughter) -- and the new blood, Kevin Ollie, both in the house. (Applause.) I can make that joke now that I’ve got gray hair. (Laughter.)

Only once before, in 2004, has one school won both the men’s and women’s Division I titles. And of course, that was who?

AUDIENCE: UConn.

THE PRESIDENT: It was UConn. This is the women’s 9th national title, more than any other women’s basketball team in history. (Applause.) For the men, it is their fourth title in the last 16 years, which is twice as many as anybody else during that same span of time. (Applause.) Which makes me think, what’s up with you guys? Why aren’t you sharing? It is just a remarkable thing what these two programs have accomplished.

Of course, this season the women went a perfect 40-0, won their games by an average of 34 points -- so there was not a lot of suspense during their season. (Laughter.) In a championship game billed as one of the biggest in women’s basketball history, the Huskies routed the previously unbeaten Notre Dame -- and gave me bragging rights -- it gave me bragging rights to pick them in my bracket. This was not hard. (Laughter.) I mean, me and 95 percent of the country. And this marked the 5th time that UConn has finished a season as undefeated national champion.

Of course, a lot of this success belongs to Coach Geno, who has cemented his place as not only a legend in women’s basketball, but one of the best coaches that we’ve ever seen at any level and any sport, period. (Applause.) So we are grateful to have you. Congratulations. (Applause.)

But I think Coach Auriemma would be the first to tell you that the credit goes to the players. And these were just some outstanding young ladies. You’ve got Breanna Stewart named the Final Four’s Most Outstanding Player two years in a row. You’ve got Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis, who overcame injury and illness during the season, and came up big -- as she is prone to do -- during the tournament. You’ve got Stefanie Dolson and Bria Hartley, who went on to become top-10 picks in the WNBA draft.

And Stefanie, I did not forget that you challenged me to a dance-off last year. It is going to happen. It is going to happen. (Laughter and applause.) Don’t think that I -- don’t think that you’re going to beat me on that. (Laughter.) I also appreciate that you told the world about it after the title game. I have daughters in junior high and high school, and for their sake, I will not be dancing too much while the cameras are around. (Laughter.)



Now, I also have to confess, I did not pick the men to win in my bracket. (Laughter.) Of course, neither did anybody else unless you went to UConn. (Laughter.) Look at these guys, they’re all raising their hand. (Laughter.) Come on now, tell the truth. We were not counting on Shabazz Napier leading the way as the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player, and hitting big shot after big shot and locking down the perimeter defensively. The Huskies also had huge contributions from guys like Ryan Boatright, DeAndre Daniels, and Neils Giffey, who’s not here because he’s playing overseas.

After the tournament wins over Villanova, Iowa State, Michigan State, Florida, and Kentucky, UConn became the first seven-seed ever to win the title. (Applause.) And afterwards, Coach Ollie said, “Somebody told me we were Cinderellas” and I said, “no, we’re UConn” -- that’s “what we do, bred to cut down nets.” That’s Coach Ollie. He’s always confident and calm and collected. In fact, a sportswriter once referred to him as “our future President.” (Laughter.) I don’t know with a name like “Kevin” whether that’s possible. (Laughter and applause.) But who knows, anything could happen.

Now, Coach Ollie is doing one other important thing -- he’s making sure his team hits the books as hard as they hit the boards. And this season, both the men and the women ranked among the nation’s best academically and that’s worth applauding. (Applause.)

Both teams have also done tremendous work in the community. They’ve raised awareness for cancer and autism. They’ve volunteered at senior centers, spent time with underprivileged youth. Coach Ollie and Coach Auriemma spoke at the Pentagon last month as part of our Hoops for Troops program. And last year, after the tragedy in Newtown, the men put on a clinic for kids at a local rec center -- and they asked the media to keep it under wraps so the kids could just have a good time.

Finally, I want to take a moment to single out the women here, because I could not be more proud of the example that they present for my daughters. They’re showing that just like the boys, girls can be tough, athletic, beautiful, successful, competitive and make fun of me, which is what my daughters do all the time. (Laughter.) So thank you guys for the outstanding example. (Applause.)

Congratulations to your championship Huskies. (Applause.) And this really isn’t goodbye probably, because I suspect I’ll see some of these folks again before I leave office. So let’s strike the podium. We’ll take some good pictures. Come on. And I know we’ve got some jersey presentations here. Where’s my jersey? (Laughter.)

A few quotes from UConn players and coaches:

*** Napier on President Obama:

“He doesn’t present himself as somebody more powerful than you. He’s definitely well-respected. He doesn’t want to ‘wow’ you with how powerful he is. He’s just a well-respected guy, and someone that you respect because of the way he handles himself. I’m definitely honored and humbled, don’t get that wrong, because he is one of the most powerful men, if not the most powerful men in the world. Probably ten years down the line, it’s definitely something I’m gonna look back at.”

*** Ollie on Obama:

“He’s a person that always responds with courage. That’s the kind of things I tell the kids in practices -- being steady in games and responding to adversity. I think President Obama does those things. And his humility -- you see that each and every time he speaks. He’s always thanking others. That’s what we want our kid to understand each and every day they walk on our campus, or when we’re away visiting another team, what they represent. Hopefully, they do understand.”

*** Ollie will be honored at the Franciscan Sports Banquet on Tuesday night in Southington.

“Just being in that place, a feel like I’m a little holier. The grace of God is with me. Just to walk in there and feel the love of all the Franciscan nuns and everybody involved, it’s just a great night and I’m looking forward to it.”

Fun night at Gampel on Friday for First Night. Big crowd that was packed to the rafters and seemed to enjoy the whole thing.

Team Geno won, 51-49, thanks to Omar Calhoun's 3-pointer with 20.3 seconds left. Shabazz Napier and Rodney Purvis each netted 11 points, while Kentan Facey and Calhoun had 10 each. Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis was the top female with seven points and Breanna Stewart added five.

Here are some quotes and video from First Night festivities:



*** Purvis, who must sit out this season as a transfer, seemed particularly active in the scrimmage, knowing it's his one time to shine this season.

"KO told me, just go out and have fun. This will be the first and last time the fans can see me until next year, so I had to go out there and have a little fun."

Purvis is a real nice and engaging kid, and he truly seems to be falling in love with Storrs.

"I love the fans here," he said. "They’re committed fans, they’re great ... I’m getting accustomed to everything. The guys here play really fast. I had to get used to this – practices are very long and hard. I’m ready now, I got in pretty good shape, so I’m ready.”

*** All the players seemed to enjoy the chance to play with and against members of the men's and women's teams.

Calhoun: "It was definitely fun, seeing both sides. We’re all friendly and cool. We all support each other at the games."

Napier: “I enjoyed going against Moriah, seeing Stephanie step back and take a 3. We hang around each other a lot, but we don’t actually play each other, so it was actually good for us to do that. It shows we’re in it together.”

Stefanie Dolson: “I think it was definitely my favorite out of the four years I’ve been here. The environment was insane, playing with the guys was fun. We kind of let them do their thing, and then had our moment to shine. It was a great night.”

*** Calhoun said he's going full-contact in practice, doing everything everyone else is doing, and is "about 80-percent" right now. He says he's a head of schedule and believes he'll be able to play in UConn's exhibition opener on Oct. 30 vs. SCSU.

*** Nolan said there's a real battle going on for the starting center spot.

"Everyone’s going at each other every single day," he said. "Literally, it’s like a three-headed monster in practice. We all want that starting spot. We’ll see who’s going to get it at the end of the day.”

*** UConn had numerous recruits in the house, including (among others) Jessie Govan, Malachi Richardson, Will Jackson and Jalen Adam. It appears Brewster Acadmey's Donovan Mitchell and Jared Reuter were not able to attend, however. Hearing Mitchell headed home for the weekend to southwestern Connecticut but couldn't get a train to get to the event on time.

We've heard this before, but this time it's coming from a different source: the Huskies plan to run a lot this year. And press. And box out.

That's what Kevin Ollie's been stressing so far in the preseason, and he'll be doing so even more as the season officially unveils Friday night at First Night festivities (or, more appropriately, Saturday morning at the team's first full practice).

Jim Calhoun has, of course, promised to do all of these things more in recent years. But the truth is, UConn really hasn't been much of a running team -- at least not an effective one -- lately. And I can't think of more than a handful of times over the past couple of seasons where UConn has applied choking, fullcourt pressure. Please refresh my memory if I'm wrong.

And boxing out? Please -- a lost art in most of college basketball, but a veritable relic in Storrs the past few seasons.

Anyway, here's my story from today's Husky Run, where Ollie promises a "West Coast style, up-and-down, with an East Coast mentality" this season. Really, with such a guard-oriented team, the Huskies don't have many other options.

*** Ollie certainly has a few mottos. One of them today, we learned: "all 10 toes in, not five. You’ve got five in, you don’t belong here. I’m gonna tolerate you for a little bit until I can find someone else.”

*** Inevitably, Ollie and his players were asked by many media types, "With no postseason, what are you playing for this year."

All the right answers were given, but Ollie also touched on an interesting subject. With no NCAA or Big East tourneys, can his players still get proper attention from NBA scouts?

The answer: Of course.

"You’re always getting evaluated," Ollie said. "Kyrie Irving played 11 games and was the No. 1 pick (in 2011). We’re going to still have general managers (here)."

Though nothing's even close to certain, Ryan Boatright would seem to be the top candidate to possibly enter the NBA Draft after this season. I asked him if he thought the lack of a postseason could hurt his draft stock.

"Honestly, for me going to the league, I don’t feel like the tournament would benefit (me)," he said. "I mean, it would benefit, but I don’t think it’ll hurt me. I mean, last year, Jeremy (Lamb) just played one game in the tournament, the first game we lost. Damion Lillard (of Weber State) was the No. 6 pick, I never even heard of that school before. If you’re good, they’re going to find you. They’re going to hear about you, and you’re going to get your opportunity.”

*** Boatright will defend the dunk contest he won from Andre Drummond last year. He'll go against (we're told) freshmen Omar Calhoun and Phil Nolan, as well as Breanna Stewart from the women's team.

"I haven’t been doing as many dunks as I did in high school," Boatright confessed. "In high school, that’s all I wanted to do is dunk all the time. I’m gonna pull something out of my sleeve, definitely try to defend my title. It’s gonna be fun. It’s gonna be a good show.”

Omar Calhoun said he may try his hand at the 3-point contest, as well.

*** As always, Shabazz Napier had some interesting things to say:

(on the postseason ban)

"Why not go out there and hurt someone else’s postseason? We’re going to do our best to win every game possible, and realize we’ve still got a chance to win a championship – the regular season championship."

(on Ollie's one-year contract)

"We want the coaching job to stay in the family. We all love Coach Ollie, we’ve all created bonds with him. We all kind of felt upset he only had seven months, we felt he’d have more than that. But at the end of the day, I guess you’ve got to prove yourself.

(on the difference between Ollie and Jim Calhoun)

"Coach Ollie’s going to put a little spice on it. He’s going to be able to get to the younger guys. Not that Coach Calhoun didn’t, but … Coach Ollie’s a guy who’s going to push you to the limits, he’s not just going to let you go the extra mile, but he knows how to do it in a certain way that’s going to help everybody. Coach Calhoun helped me out because he understood he had to dig deep in me and yell at me. Not a lot of people are like that. Ryan’s that way, Kemba was that way, guys like that, he helped them."

Napier hopes to be able to practice, at least partially, on Saturday.

*** Omar Calhoun on UConn's tradition of great guards.

"It’s a rich tradition. There’s a lot of great guards that have come out of UConn and have made great impacts on the league. I feel like I can be next in line. Kemba, I definitely had a good relationship with him. Seeing his process and growth at UConn, it’s definitely something I looked at when making my decision.”

Omar's sister, highly-touted recruit Sierra, will be on-hand Friday, but not on an official visit.