Beilein: Louisville beat Michigan 'fair and square' for 2013 title
Michigan coach John Beilein won't consider his Wolverines the 2013 national champions, even if Louisville is forced to surrender the title due to NCAA sanctions.
"They beat us fair and square in a game," Beilein said Monday on "The Doug Gottlieb Show," according to Mark Snyder of the Detroit Free Press. "I'm not going to go into what their issues were there. It was a basketball game and we had a tough game. The breaks did not go our way. We had some wins where the breaks went all our way."
Last week, the NCAA ordered Louisville to vacate up to 100-plus victories between 2010 and 2014, including its national title from the 2012-13 season, due to the program's escort scandal.
The NCAA began investigating Louisville in 2015 after self-proclaimed "Escort Queen" Katina Powell published a book detailing her experiences with the Louisville program. She alleged a former Cardinals staffer paid thousands of dollars over a four-year period to have recruits sexually entertained while on campus.
Louisville intends to appeal the NCAA's ruling on the belief that the punishment was too extreme.
An NCAA championship in men's basketball has never been vacated.