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Michigan junior Spike Albrecht smiles while taking questions from the media during a press conference at Crisler Center on Thursday, October 2, 2014.

(Melanie Maxwell | The Ann Arbor News)

ANN ARBOR -- John Beilein pulled Spike Albrecht off to the side for a one-on-one talk.

This was a conversation few could have ever imagined. The Michigan basketball coach had plucked Albrecht from relative obscurity less than two years earlier. Now in the preseason to the 2013-14 season, here was Beilein telling Albrecht that some of his teammates wanted him to be a team captain.

Albrecht recalls the conversation coming in a hallway.

"Hey, we're not going to name a captain, but I do just want to let you know that you do have some guys who look at you as a captain," Beilein said that day.

As it turns out, Michigan would name three captains: Jordan Morgan, Jon Horford and Glenn Robinson III. The first two were obvious choices -- Morgan and Horford were the team's lone upperclassmen. Robinson was selected as a representative from U-M's loaded sophomore class featuring Mitch McGary, Nik Stauskas and Caris LeVert.

But behind the scenes, many members of the team had someone else in mind.

According to Stauskas, at this time last year, Michigan faced the possibility of Albrecht being a team captain as a sophomore.

"I don't know if he had the most votes, as far as captains go, but I know a lot of people wanted him to be that," said Stauskas, who is entering his first season with the Sacramento Kings. "We wanted Spike to be our captain last year and he didn't want it because he likes being more of a lead by example, 'rah, rah' -- rally up the troops, kind of guy."

Sitting in a ballroom reliving the story Thursday during Big Ten media day at the Hyatt Regency near O'Hare Airport, Albrecht thought about all the improbabilities of his college career. Heading into his junior year, the 5-foot-11 point guard is not only set to be a captain, but is in fact the Wolverines' unquestioned leader. Beilein has said he's the voice of the program. That's why Albrecht sat alongside LeVert as the team's representative at media day.

Zak Irvin could have been there instead. Derrick Walton, Jr., too. Both are expected to produce big numbers alongside LeVert this season. Albrecht, meanwhile, is unlikely to even be a starter. He's averaged 2.7 points in 11.3 minutes per game in 76 college appearances.

Yet, there was Albrecht, in a gray blazer, blue shirt and gold and blue patterned tie, answering questions for an hour.

Michigan point guard Spike Albrecht averaged 3.3 points per game as a sophomore.

"It's crazy," Albrecht said Thursday. "Three years ago today, I didn't even know if I was going to be playing college basketball. I was really just concerned about going to a state school just for school. Two years later, I've played in the national championship and won the Big Ten and now I'm sitting at Big Ten media day with a bunch of big-time athletes. It's kind of surreal, but it's been a lot of fun."

The fun is a product of a long shot. This is the same Spike Albrecht who only held a scholarship offer from Appalachian State after prep school; the same player who joked about Michigan recruiting him ... while it was still recruiting him.

"I came in here and it's like, man, does this kid deserve to be here? Should he be here?" Albrecht said.

Few thought he did. In his final year at Northfield (Mass.) Mount Hermon School, the Crown Point, Indiana native averaged 9.3 points, 6.9 assists and 3.7 rebounds. He was hoping for any scholarship offers, let alone one from Michigan. Three months prior to his accepting an offer from Beilein, he cheered as his friends back home, Indiana residents Glenn Robinson III and Mitch McGary, pledged commitments to U-M.

Albrecht didn't, for a minute, think he'd eventually join them.

It happened in April 2012.

"Spike, you're either going to make me look like a genius or you're going to get me fired," Beilein told Albrecht when he signed his scholarship.

Beilein's job is safe. Asked about Albrecht on Thursday, he said, "Every time he walks on the floor, he just -- he's got incredible confidence that I can play at this level and he's shown that so well. He's a pleasure to coach. He's become a really excellent team leader right now. I'm really leaning on him to be the pulse of the team."

Looking around the ballroom in the Hyatt Regency, Albrecht saw the differences between him and the Big Ten's top players. If most of them were asked what they'll be doing after college, all would have likely said playing basketball.

Albrecht?

"I don't know," he said with a shrug. "I've been thinking a lot about it. It would have to be the right fit to go overseas and play. It would be tough being that far away from family and friends, things like that. ... I wouldn't mind coming out and getting into coaching. ... Who knows? I could be working in a cubicle, going 8-to-5. I don't know."

Albrecht laughs, tapping into his normal self-deprecation. In the end, he's not worrying about figuring out where he's going because he's not sure how he got here in the first place.

"It's unbelievable," he said. "Everything about it is just right."

Brendan F. Quinn covers University of Michigan basketball and football. Follow him on Twitter for the latest on Wolverines hoops. He can be contacted at bquinn@mlive.com