Mark Snyder

Detroit Free Press

After Michigan's basketball season ended in the first round of NCAA tournament, Spike Albrecht thought ahead. He texted his father and told him that he needed to continue playing.

He'll get the chance as a graduate student, but it will be at another school. He received his release from Michigan on Monday and will transfer.

After sitting out most of this season following a slow recovery from double hip surgery, Albrecht felt he wasn't done.

"I'm not going to half-ass anything," Albrecht told the Free Press Tuesday. "I wasn't going to let this (define me). When I'm done playing basketball, I'm going out on my own terms. I'm not going to go out sitting on the sidelines."

U-M's two-year co-captain forced the issue with coach John Beilein, requesting a meeting last Friday to clarify his status.

"I told him, 'I know what's going on with college basketball, tournament's winding down, teams are looking for guys, guys are transferring, going to the NBA, so spots are opening up.' So I just didn't want to miss out," he said.

They talked about the past and the future, and Beilein granted the release, repeating his season-long contention that there was no room for Albrecht on next year's roster.

Even with center Ricky Doyle also announcing his transfer on Tuesday, U-M only has 13 scholarships for the 13 players slated to return. Albrecht had no promises that there would be more departures.

Plus his position is already deep. In addition to returning senior point guard Derrick Walton Jr., point guard recruit Xavier Simpson will be a freshman.

"Coach Beilein was pretty upfront with us; I've got to give him credit for that," Spike's father, Chuck Albrecht, said. "He told us from the start. I talked to coach last year, and we discussed a redshirt. I didn't like the way things were progressing and I know Spike sat down and talked to him. He just said, 'We don't have a scholarship next year, and also, we're bringing in this point guard.' He thought Spike would be gone. We've got to appreciate and understand what Michigan is going through, too.

"I don't feel bad, we feel grateful. Coach Beilein gave Spike an opportunity (in recruiting) at a time when nobody was giving Spike an opportunity, especially at that level."

From the moment espn.com first reported late Monday that Albrecht would use his final year of eligibility to play at another school, his phone exploded. Texts and calls from well-wishers, friends, family and reporters -- everyone wanted a piece of him.

Then this morning, U-M assistant LaVall Jordan told him that there are multiple teams who have inquired about his potential transfer. For Albrecht, who was only considering Appalachian State out of prep school in 2013, before Michigan called, it's exciting.

"I'm hoping I'll have some come calling," he said. "Hopefully, it's a little different than four years ago, when no one called me."

Albrecht played only the first nine games of this season. He made the decision to end his season after the Dec. 8 game at SMU and spend the year rehabbing his injured hips.

At the time, he said his basketball career was over because of the pain. But he also was ending the season early to preserve a year of NCAA eligibility, just in case he felt better.

He went to rehab and class and didn't do much, in terms of practice, but by the final month of the season, he was beginning to do more, acting as a passer in drills for the team.

Albrecht is feeling much better. The family got a second opinion from a Chicago hospital, and the timetable was reset to 12 to 15 months past last summer's double hip procedure. He got the idea about playing again about a month ago, when his X-rays and MRI exams were improved.

While he doesn't have a set plan about where he wants to transfer, the chance to win is important. U-M's two-game NCAA tournament experience this month gave him the feeling of the postseason again, after the program missed it in 2015.

His priorities are to play for a winning program -- one that's stable and one in which he'll get a chance to be on the court a significant amount, which wouldn't have occurred at U-M.

That actually is better for him physically, as well, Chuck said. Sitting for long stretches is difficult on his hips.

Professional basketball overseas never was a real consideration for Albrecht, whose life goal was to play Division I basketball. If a good opportunity opens overseas after next season, he would consider it, but it's not currently in his plans.

Chuck said this morning that they haven't spoken to other schools yet and would understand if U-M didn't want Spike choose another Big Ten school. Beilein was vocal in his displeasure about center Max Bielfeldt, who also wasn't asked back for a fifth year at U-M, spent his graduate season at Big Ten rival Indiana this year.

Albrecht said U-M restricted his release, preventing a transfer to a Big Ten school or any other school on U-M's current schedule in the next two years.

Beilein said in a statement he'll miss his former point guard.

"As graduation day approaches, it will come in on us what his four years were like, what it could have been," Beilein said today on WDFN-AM (1130). "The big thing is, over those four years, I've become a better coach. I hope he's become a better man. I believe he has. It's what we really do as coaches. In our short time, no matter what it is, we are trying to develop them for a better life afterwards. So we will certainly miss him. He was a great part of our success this year. Even though it didn't show up in the box scores, behind the scenes, coaching some of our guys up."

Albrecht became a cult hero at Michigan after he scored 17 points in the 2013 national title game, subbing for national player of the year Trey Burke in the first half. As Burke watched from the bench in foul trouble, Albrecht rained down three-pointers and pushed U-M to a double-digit lead.

It was remarkable because no one nationally had heard of Albrecht, who was a late signee the previous spring.

After that burst late in his freshman year, his role grew over the next two years, sharing the team MVP award last season, when he averaged 32 minutes and 7.5 points per game, running the team after Caris LeVert's and Walton's season ended in January with foot injuries.

Promising start, painful end for Michigan's Caris LeVert, Spike Albrecht

Contact Mark Snyder atmsnyder@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter at @mark__snyder. Download our new Wolverines Xtra appon iTunesandAndroid!