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John Beilein's ESPN rant ignores Michigan's own culpability

John Beilein's ESPN rant ignores Michigan's own culpability

Maybe it was the disappointment of letting a late eight-point lead slip away against Villanova. Maybe it was the frustration of having a couple critical calls go against him down the stretch.

Whatever the reason, Michigan coach John Beilein launched into an uncharacteristically angry rant at the end of his postgame news conference Tuesday night.

Unprompted, Beilein tore into ESPN for pushing back tip-off of the Legends Classic title game from 10 p.m. to 10:15 EST because the Miami (Ohio) vs. Ohio football game airing beforehand was running long. Viewers would have missed the opening minutes of Villanova's 60-55 victory had ESPN not done so.

"I love ESPN, I love it, but when they told me that game was going to be moved back 15 minutes, something's wrong," Beilein said. "We have a bunch of guys with 8 and 9 o'clock classes tomorrow morning and we moved that game to 10:15 so that a football game could be finished. Let the football game finish (on TV but) let us start our game. But this is way out of whack when we move a game 15 minutes.

"It's already the wrong time, 10 p.m. on the East Coast and now 15 more minutes? I love ESPN, they're so good for us. (But) they got that one wrong. We can't do that to our student-athletes. (Tell) Spike Albrecht when he goes to his 9 o'clock class today."

Though Beilein's heart is clearly in the right place, his argument doesn't hold up under scrutiny.

Nobody forced Michigan to schedule a tournament in Brooklyn on a Monday and Tuesday night. Beilein knew Tuesday's championship game likely wouldn't start until at least 9:30 or 10 p.m. EST, yet he still chose to bring the Wolverines anyway rather than playing closer to Ann Arbor or seeking a tournament not held on a school night.

Would 15 extra minutes of sleep really have made it any easier for groggy Michigan players when their alarm clocks rang Wednesday morning?

Andrew Belein, John's son, reached out to me via Twitter to point out that tip-off times were still TBA when Michigan scheduled the tournament. Even so, the past two Legends Classic title games have began at 9:30 p.m. and 10 p.m., so the Wolverines had to know there was a good chance of a late-night flight and a tough morning turnaround.

What Beilein's outrage does shine a spotlight on, however, is the hypocrisy of university presidents and NCAA officials who insist academics are a higher priority in college sports than ticket sales, nationwide exposure and TV revenue. If that were truly the case, teams wouldn't play in three-day, made-for-TV tournaments thousands of miles from their campuses during the middle of the week, nor would they agree to late-night tip-off times to maximize their TV exposure.

In reality, college basketball is a billion-dollar business that places greater value on winning games and turning a profit than student-athletes getting to class. It's admirable if Beliein is fed up with that, but he has to acknowledge Michigan's role in it.

At 4:22 a.m. EST, Beilein tweeted that Michigan's flight had landed.

"30 minutes to get our guys to the dorm," he wrote. "No college BB game should ever start after 9pm."

Maybe so. But Beilein also has to take responsibility for scheduling his team in a tournament in which he knew beforehand that probably wouldn't be the case.

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Jeff Eisenberg is the editor of The Dagger on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at daggerblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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