John Beilein on Louisville's vacated title in 2013, Michigan's Big Ten title chances

Michigan Wolverines basketball and Louisville played one of the most entertaining national championship games in recent history in 2013, with the Cardinals coming out on top, 82-76.

Rick Pitino‘s Louisville squad, led by a stellar performance from Luke Hancock, who scored 22 points and made 5 three-pointers, also got the benefit of some questionable calls. Michigan guard Trey Burke — the national player of the year — only played 26 minutes due to foul trouble. He was called for a foul on a clean block with five minutes to play that sent Louisville to the line instead of giving the Wolverines the ball back down three points.

Four years later, the NCAA vacated Louisville’s its national championship as a result of an alleged sex scandal involving players and recruits. Its 2018 appeal was denied.

“The violations in the case resulted in some men’s basketball student-athletes competing while ineligible,” the NCAA explained.

Officially, there is no national champion for the 2012-13 season — not Louisville nor Michigan, the runner-up. At the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame, at which John Beilein was inducted in 2022, the former Michigan head coach had a realization.

“I’ve never been a proponent of it, until I went to the College Basketball Hall of Fame back a few years ago in Kansas City,” Beilein said on ‘The HUGE Show’ with host Bill Simonson, of the idea that Michigan should be considered the champions. “They have all the national champions, and I’m trying to recount all of them. And then it comes to ‘13, and it says, ‘vacated.’ 

“That’s when it struck me that, wait a minute. I don’t care if they put an asterisk by our name — we were the second-best team in the country by [six points].

“A lot of things didn’t work out that game that we would’ve liked to work out. There were a lot of questionable things that happened in that game, that people are still talking about.”

When Michigan’s 2013 team was honored for its 10-year anniversary at a home game in 2023, a student in the ‘Maize Rage’ held up a whiteboard with the text ‘The Block Was Clean.’ It’s a common phrase uttered among Michigan fans, and each one knows exactly what it means.

“I work for University of Michigan Medicine, and I’m down there, and I have this elite doctor come up and say, ‘By the way, Trey Burke’s block was clean,'” Beilein said. “And he’s like this neurosurgeon or something, this elite one, and that’s the only thing he wanted to tell me today. You have no idea the people that watch these games.”

The Worst Call In CBB History

Do You Believe The Block By Trey Burke Was Clean? 〽️

pic.twitter.com/9x2nx05Ad5

— Will Johnson Enjoyer (@WillJEnjoyer) December 18, 2024

John Beilein discusses Michigan’s Big Ten title chances

Michigan and Michigan State are tied atop the Big Ten standings at 13-3 with four games to go, including the regular-season finale against one another in East Lansing. It reminds Beilein of his final season in Ann Arbor, before he took the head-coaching job for the Cleveland Cavaliers, when the Wolverines and Spartans were both in the hunt.

“I’ve seen this one before,” he noted. “This is so much like ‘19, where both of us were so good, and Michigan State came up and whipped us in Ann Arbor. And now, the last game of the season, back at Michigan State, the championship will probably be on the line in the final game of the year.

“I lived it. We lost both. We lost again to them up at Michigan State. No matter what you say, it’s certainly better than what we endured the last few years, especially with Michigan having some down years and then Michigan State not being who they are. Both teams could have a chance at Final Fours if they have some breaks.”

Michigan is still right there in the chase due in part to a 49-46 win over Nebraska Monday night in which both teams shot under 30 percent. It was ugly but especially would’ve been disappointing had the Wolverines not left Lincoln with the victory.

“Let me tell you a funny story: I’m at Canisius coaching. I had a doctor, and he had done a root canal with me,” Beilein explained. “And it was like two months later in the season, and we’re playing somebody; we won. And I said, ‘I’ve had root canals that were less painful, that went better than that game.’ I had the dentist call into the radio show — ’believe me, that game was much worse than that root canal I gave you.’

“They needed to get that win. They got it, and that’s what you do — you get on the plane. You treat them as Ws this time [of year]. You can’t treat them any other way. And try to grow from it, but they don’t have much time. They’ve got Rutgers coming in, who has not been a great team on the road this year, but they can be a great team on any given day.”

Michigan has Rutgers Thursday night, before taking on Illinois Sunday and Maryland the following Wednesday — all inside the friendly confines of Crisler Center. The Spartans, meanwhile, start their stretch run with a game at Maryland Wednesday evening.

“They do have the three at home,” Beilein said of Michigan. “They’re not gonna be easy games, that’s for sure, but they can win those. They’ve proven they can win at home, except with Michigan State. That’s where that is.

“Michigan State going to Maryland is gonna be very interesting. We’ve been talking all year long about the Big Ten. Maryland being a sleeper here with the best starting lineup in the league — with no depth, but the best starting lineup in the league. So that’s gonna be a tough one. If Michigan State can go to Maryland and win, they’ve put themselves in a whole different category.

“Michigan has gotta hold court on these three, and that was a close game. In the back court is where they were really beat on Friday night. That back court is better than they played. They gotta come and be more aggressive and tougher when they play Michigan State the second time.”