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John Beilein On Pay For Play: 'You Never Have To Worry About Us And That'

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ROSEMONT, ILL. — It was almost laughable, really, when a few writers tried to imply that Michigan basketball could be in trouble because former receiver Tai Streets paid one of his AAU MeanStreets players $5,000.

It wasn't an enticement to go to Michigan, and it had nothing to do with the Wolverines when top 100 recruit Brian Brown allegedly took the cash. In fact, U-M wasn't among Bowen's 12 finalists, and it wasn't even implied that head coach John Beilein had done anything wrong.

Still, Yahoo.com's Dan Wetzel tweeted the following after yesterday's testimony in a federal case:

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Michigan compliance always takes these things seriously. They offered the following when asked about potential violations:

“Following testimony in a federal court today, a claim was made that a former U-M student-athlete offered money to a basketball player in exchange for participation on a youth team," a statement read. "Integrity in the college basketball environment is an important issue and we will continue to monitor this situation.”

But there's not much to monitor, and Beilein made that clear at Big Ten Basketball Media Day Thursday.

"Somebody just mentioned that to me," Beilein said near the conclusion of his press conference. "I don’t know enough about it right now. [But] I don't think you’ll ever have to worry about us and that in any area."

Beilein was voted cleanest coach in the country in a vote of his peers last August in a poll conducted by CBS Sports.

"John Belein is a by-the-book, letter-of-the-law guy," one anonymous coach told CBS Sports. "L-E-T-T-E-R-O-F-T-H-E-L-A-W. You get two hours to work out guys for the week. If he works out a kid and, say, they go one hour and one minute, he's going to start the next time with 59 minutes on the clock and go 59 minutes. That's the truth."

Another anonymous coach added, "Personally, we've gone up against him [in recruiting] ... and there have never been any issues. You go head-to-head with some of these guys, and you know what's going on. ... But nothing has popped up that's even been in the gray area [with Beilein]."

Beilein led the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Ethics Coalition in 2009, a collaborative effort between the NCAA and coaches to promote ethical conduct through leadership, education and mentoring. That clearly didn't slow the cheats, given the recent revelations with Bowen and others.

Beilein and Michigan, however, have remained above the fray.

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