Louisville beats Villanova, then hangs out with Bill Clinton in locker room

Bill Clinton hangs out in the locker room with the Louisville Cardinals. / Chane Behanan/Instagram

Louisville advanced to the Big East tournament semifinals with an easy win over Villanova Thursday night.

Then the real March Madness began.

6 Photos

Bill Clinton celebrates with Louisville players

After the game, the Cardinals received a surprise locker room visit from none other than President Bill Clinton. A longtime basketball fan, Mr. Clinton and Louisville coach Rick Pitino have been friends since Pitino was at Kentucky and introduced Clinton on campus.

"We got the chance to take a lot of pictures. It was a big treat for our guys," Pitino said. "It was a lot of fun."

Based on the pictures posted to Instagram by sophomore Chane Behanan, it seems like "fun" might be an understatement. Behanan took a number of "photobomb" classics, in which he and his teammates joyfully mugged for the camera alongside the 42nd President of the United States.

"That's just me," Behanan told CBSSports.com's Matt Norlander, who was with the team after the game. "I'm just that type of person with anybody."

According to Norlander, Mr. Clinton stayed in the locker room for nearly 10 minutes, sharing stories, taking photos and chatting with center Gorgui Dieng about his home country of Senegal.

"I mean, I think the president got swag, he got that swag to him," Behanan said. "I don't want to say what type of swag he got, but he got swag. I don't know if it's appropriate -- I mean, its' appropriate, but I don't want to say. I don't want to start nothing up."

[ghostface31]

great win for the cards....they look excited to meet bill as well.

[shyann12]

Very sad that many in Louisville KY will never have chance to learn about basketball as our way of life is lost and political posturing continues.