Michigan's Spike Albrecht confident in quick recovery from hip surgery

Soon after having right hip surgery April 8, Spike Albrecht faced the uncomfortable reality: he was not done.

"When I came out of surgery, I remember for an hour I looked at my dad and said, 'Are we sure I've got to do this, the other one?' " said Albrecht, Michigan's junior co-captain, understanding his left hip also was damaged. "It wasn't easy, but seeing where I am now, it's only been a week, and it's not a big deal, pretty simple. If (trainer) John (DoRosario) and the doctors think I should do the left, then I'll probably do it. I've got a good feeling I'll recover quick."

That's the optimistic Albrecht, a week after the surgery, hobbling around Wednesday's basketball awards celebration on crutches, a black brace keeping his hip from an "impingement." While he was winning five awards, including sharing the Bill Buntin most valuable player, he had to stay at his Crisler Center table instead of climbing to the podium.

The good feelings were a long way from his first few days when he could hardly move and felt nauseated, ignoring doctor's orders not to eat too much coming off the anesthesia.

"They went in my right hip and made three incisions," Albrecht said. "They went in and shaved down the bone in one. The ball and socket was too big, a square peg in a round hole. The labrum was torn, and they had to fix that up. And I had a fracture in there that he just shaved down."

He didn't know that the other side has the same issues, but he accepts some of the blame, saying one fracture was caused by his body compensating to create more space.

Albrecht watched teammate Max Bielfeldt essentially go through the same general procedure a year earlier, the same time when Albrecht delayed his a year so he could play and help guide the young team.

"I've said this all season, Max was the guinea pig," Albrecht said. "I wasn't ready to go do it myself. I wanted to see how he'd recover and all that. He was telling me a few weeks out he could feel the difference and it helped him so much. You could tell last season on the court."

If he were to have the other hip done, it wouldn't be until May, when it's determined that the right hip was strong enough to support him after another procedure.

As of now, he still expects to be off the court until late September or early October, following Bielfeldt's 41/2- to 5-month time line.

"It stinks that I'm probably going to miss the whole summer and off-season, which is tough," he said.

But for a pain-free season and career, he understands the trade-off.

Looking at his brace, it was classic Spike: "It could be worse."

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