SAN ANTONIO -- An NCAA ruling in February came down hard on Louisville for the infamous escort scandal that retroactively deemed players ineligible, forcing its proud basketball program to yank down a title banner inside the KFC Yum! Center and simultaneously vacate the 2013 national championship it won by beating Michigan in the title game.

Louisville President Greg Postel subsequently expressed his frustration in the ruling by saying he believed the NCAA was "simply wrong." And while the title is no longer recognized by the NCAA, the coach of Louisville's opponent in that game, Michigan's John Beilein, sided with Louisville when asked about whether or not he feels in his mind that Michigan won that 2013 title because of the NCAA's ruling.

"No, we didn't win that one," Beilein said on Sunday. "It was fair and square. They didn't have six guys on the court. They didn't have Rick's brother-in-law reffing or something like that. There was nothing going on in that game. We lost the game. They won it. I'm going to leave it like that and that's the way it should be."

A win for Beilein and Michigan on the night of April 8, 2013, over Louisville would have given the Wolverines their first title under Beilein. And they were close, too, falling 82-76. But no matter the circumstances with Louisville, he refuses to look at it as if Michigan was cheated out of a championship.

"We had our chance, and we couldn't quite get it done," Beilein said. "And we didn't get breaks in that game. Maybe it all said 'Coach, you're not going to get any breaks in this game, but you don't know it, but in five years Jordan Poole is going to hit an incredible shot to give you another opportunity.'

"So it was a great basketball game. It was really a great game. When you think Luke Hancock, who was virtually unrecruited in high school, and Spike Albrecht, unrecruited out of high school, that's all anybody talked about at halftime. The rumor was Spike's Twitter account went from 5,000 followers to 20,000 followers at halftime. It was a great event, but we didn't win it. And we'll not say we're national champs."

Nearly five years to the day of Michigan's gut-wrenching loss to Louisville in the national championship, Beilein and the Wolverines will have their shot to achieve what that 2013 team wasn't able to when they face Villanova for the 2018 title Monday night.