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Obama tweets congrats to Dayton hoops team, player


President Obama tweeted about the NCAA basketball tournament Saturday, and paid tribute to a specific player.

"Congrats to the @DaytonFlyers on a huge upset win! Devin Oliver, I may need to take you up on that pick-up game one of these days," said the presidential Twitter message signed with the tell-take "bo."

Obama posted Saturday after underdog Dayton -- an 11th seed in the tournament's South region -- bumped 3rd-seeded Syracuse out of the tournament with a 55-53 win.

It turns out that Oliver, a 6-7 senior forward who had 13 rebounds and 7 points in the win, met Obama when the president visited Kalamazoo Central High School in 2010.

Oliver said he challenged the president to a game of one-on-one back then, reports the Kalamazoo Gazette.

Asked about the president's shout-out, Oliver said: "I'm definitely going to tweet him back and see what's going on ... Hopefully, I can try to get a game with him."

From Reuters:

"The president is known to unwind by watching sports on television and reporters could see basketball games on the screen in the front cabin of the president's plane during a flight to Florida on Thursday, the first day of the tournament.

"The president leaves for Europe and the Middle East on Sunday with the crisis in Ukraine a pressing global problem. Not everyone on Twitter shared Obama's enthusiasm for basketball.

"'You have bigger issues to be worrying about,' one person tweeted in response."