The NCAA announced on Tuesday that it had denied Louisville's appeal, meaning the men's basketball team must vacate its records from 2011 to 2015, including the 2013 national championship that featured a 72-68 win over Wichita State in the Final Four.
Back in October at the American Athletic Conference media day, WSU coach Gregg Marshall lamented the what-ifs about the situation. Could that Wichita State team, with future NBA players Cleanthony Early, Fred VanVleet, and Ron Baker, have won a national championship?
At his weekly press conference on Tuesday, Marshall once again suggested the two teams that Louisville beat in the 2013 Final Four _ WSU and Michigan _ play for the right to be called 2013 national champions.
"I know Ron's banged up a little, but maybe we can get Cle and Tekele (Cotton) and Fred if Toronto can lend him to us for a weekend and (Michigan coach John Beilein) can get his guys," Marshall said. "It would be fun. Or we could just go with the teams that we have now."
Marshall had the opportunity to float his idea to Beilein this past November when the two teams were in Hawaii for the Maui Invitational.
"He and I had a conversation and I jokingly brought up the fact that maybe we should play a game and dub it the 2013 national title game," Marshall said. "He laughed. I don't want to speak for him, but I think he had some of the same sentiments about the whole situation as I do.
"It's a sad situation obviously for everyone involved."
The NCAA ruled Louisville must vacate its records from 2011 to 2015, which will cost the program 123 wins, the 2013 title, and a 2012 Final Four, as well as return the revenue money generated for its NCAA Tournament appearances during those seasons.
Marshall said in October that he still ponders what might have been that weekend at the Georgia Dome if the playing field had been level.
"Our lives are altered by that," Marshall said. "That negatively affected my life, Ron Baker's life, Carl Hall's life, Fred Van Vleet's life. It affects lives."
