8A — Friday, October 21, 2016
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

The legend of Spike Albrecht continues at Purdue

It’s been 1,292 days since Spike

Albrecht cemented himself into
Michigan basketball lore with a
17-point first-half performance in
the 2013 National Championship
Game.

It seems hard to believe that

after all the time has passed since
that legendary night in Atlanta,
the 23-year-old is gearing up
for yet another season of college
basketball. But an even more
incredible sight will be Albrecht
in a Purdue uniform rather than
the Wolverine one he donned for
the previous four years.

Albrecht was granted a release

from Michigan in late March
after coming to a decision with
Michigan coach John Beilein
that there were more ample
opportunities for him to find
regular playing time elsewhere.

Under the NCAA’s graduate

transfer
rule,
Albrecht
was

eligible to play immediately
without having to sit out a
year, essentially making him
a free agent. After reportedly
considering
schools
such
as

Indiana, Wichita State, Texas
A&M and Syracuse, the 5-foot-11
guard landed in West Lafayette,
just an hour’s drive south of his
hometown of Crown Point, Ind.

It wasn’t a hard sell for

Purdue coach Matt Painter to
convince Albrecht to join the
Boilermakers. With only one
point guard on the roster, Painter
could offer Albrecht the playing
time he desired.

“I think we needed him,”

Painter said at last week’s Big
Ten
basketball
media
day.

“We had one point guard in
PJ Thompson, who we felt
like could grow into a point
guard, but right now we felt
like he was more of a scorer.
So we needed two good point
guards. Obviously, (Albrecht)
is familiar with us playing
in the Big Ten. What you’d
normally sell to somebody, he
already knew about us. He knew

our reputation. He knew our
program. He had respect for our
program.”

Since the announcement of

his decision in May, Albrecht has
been working with the Purdue
staff to make strides toward full
health. When the Boilermakers
traveled to Spain to play four
games
over
the
summer,

Albrecht saw his first minutes
of competitive basketball since
a hip injury last December
prematurely ended his senior
season with Michigan.

Painter still doesn’t think

Albrecht is back to 100 percent,
but has seen improvement since
the trip to Spain.

“He’s been a lot better in

practice now than he had been
in practice in the summer,”
Painter said. “He’s had a lot of
rest, and it took him some time
to get going. We lift a lot, and I

think that was an adjustment
for him. We’re not trying to get
him to a magic level, we’re just
trying to get him healthy and
feel good about himself.”

While it remains to be seen if

Albrecht will be healthy enough to
make an impact on the court when
Purdue opens its season Nov.
11, he’s already helped Painter
establish a winning mindset in a
young Boilermaker squad.

“He has a calming influence,”

Painter said of Albrecht. “He’s
confident in his abilities. He
has a lot of experience. He’s
been through adversity. But he’s
about winning, and you can’t
have enough guys that are about
that.”

* * *

It may seem at this point

that Albrecht and Purdue form

a
perfect
match,
but
some

controversy
over
the
inter-

conference move and graduate
transfer policy still lingers.

Albrecht is the second player

in as many years who has left
Michigan to play his final year
of eligibility elsewhere in the Big
Ten, following Max Bielfeldt’s
move to Indiana in 2015.

The NCAA’s graduate transfer

rule is highly scrutinized by
many coaches, including Beilein
and Painter, for creating a
separate market for immediately
eligible transfers that essentially
makes seniors with a remaining
year of eligibility free agents.

“I don’t like the rule, but I

don’t make the rules. So I just
abide by them,” Painter said.
“I can’t change the rule, but if
they put me in charge, I would.
I don’t think there’s anything
wrong with (fifth-year transfers)

leaving, but I think they should
sit a year like anybody else. It
just makes it free agency. A lot
of people look at us differently
because we keep doing it. But the
market sets itself. I don’t set the
market. I don’t make the rules,
but I’m going to do everything
in my power within the rules to
help Purdue.”

Painter has taken advantage

of the policy, bringing in three
players in three years to add
depth to his squad. This time,
the
Purdue
coach
further

capitalized on the rule when
Beilein made the decision to lift
restrictions that would have
stopped Albrecht from going to
another Big Ten school.

When asked why he chose to

do so, Beilein made it very clear
that, to him, Albrecht isn’t just
another player choosing to walk
out the door.

“There was a lot of uncertainty

last year about his health and
how much (Albrecht) wanted
to play with (freshman guard)
Xavier (Simpson) coming in and
(senior guard) Derrick (Walton)
coming
back,”
Beilein
said.

“You just got to go and make
a call on that. You can’t waffle
on that. Spike and I had a lot of
discussion on that. We basically
said, ‘Ok, we don’t like anything
about this, but it’s the right thing
to do for both programs right
now. Especially for Spike.’ ”

Beilein’s
admiration
for

Albrecht
created
a
difficult

situation for the Michigan coach.
Losing someone as experienced
as Albrecht to a conference foe
could hurt the Wolverines in
Big Ten play. But few players
have earned as much respect
from Beilein over his three-plus
decades of coaching as Albrecht
has, and he wanted nothing but
the best for the guard no matter
what decision he made.

When Painter was recruiting

Albrecht, he saw the difficulty
the Michigan graduate would
face putting on a uniform for any
other team.

That only made him want

Albrecht more.

“The number one thing that

was appealing to me about
Spike was the respect he had for
Michigan and for Coach Beilein,”
Painter said. “He wanted to make
sure that he was professional and
handled his business correctly
and did things the right way
here. That to me stood out,
because a lot of times when
guys are moving on, they don’t
care. He really cared, and it was
important to him that everybody
at Michigan knew. He stated,
‘I wouldn’t be in this position
if it weren’t for the opportunity
Michigan gave to me.’”

Albrecht will return to Ann

Arbor with the Boilermakers on
Feb. 25, Michigan’s Senior Day.
And just like Michigan’s seniors,
he too will have a chance to write
his final chapter as a Michigan
basketball legend that day.

JAMES COLLER/Daily

Spike Albrecht’s Michigan career ended last year with a season-ending injury, but he has a chance to write one last chapter as a graduate transfer at Purdue.

BRANDON CARNEY

Daily Sports Writer