Spike Albrecht to Purdue: Latest Transfer Details, Comments and Reaction

Three years after emerging as an unlikely hero in the 2013 national championship game, Spike Albrecht is leaving Michigan. The senior guard announced his intention to finish out his collegiate career at Purdue on Tuesday. 

The Crown Point, Indiana, native made the move official on Twitter:

Albrecht, 23, was limited to just nine games last season due to a hip condition. He initially announced he would be stepping away from college basketball entirely, but he had a change of heart as the 2015-16 season ended.

"I'm not going to half-ass anything," Albrecht told Mark Snyder of the Detroit Free Press. "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."

Michigan gave him his immediate release and allowed him to pursue other programs without restriction. Albrecht is immediately eligible under the graduate transfer rule, which allows players who completed their undergraduate degrees to change schools without sitting out a year or forfeiting any eligibility.

"Ending my career like this just wasn't going to sit well with me," Albrecht told Brendan F. Quinn of MLive.com. "I was going to regret that for the rest of my life if I didn't try to get out there and give this another try."

Albrecht was not without his share of suitors. While he's best known nationally for scoring 17 points off the bench as a freshman in Michigan's title game loss to Louisville, Albrecht was a quality starter for the Wolverines during his junior campaign. He averaged 7.5 points and 3.9 assists per game, leading the Big Ten in assist-to-turnover ratio.

Even if the hip injury renders him a bench cog, Albrecht has been a solid three-point shooter throughout his collegiate career and takes care of the ball. That makes him valuable on any team, and it's worth noting he was injured throughout his junior year. It's possible the year off gave him enough time to recover and become a starter again as he closes in on age 24.

The Boilermakers went 26-9 last season and were a force to be reckoned with in the Big Ten, but their campaign ended in bitter disappointment when they were upset in the first round of the NCAA tournament by Arkansas-Little Rock.

A big reason for that defeat was a lack of production from the backcourt, which is something Albrecht can help rectify, if healthy.

While Purdue will lose leading scorer A.J. Hammons to graduation, it still has a strong core made up of Vince Edwards, Caleb Swanigan and Isaac Haas.

The Boilermakers have all the makings of being a tournament team again in 2016-17, and having a player like Albrecht with big-game experience should help immensely under the bright lights.