John Beilein runs players off Michigan roster to clear way for incoming recruiting class, again

Here's your reminder at the start of college basketball's offseason: Tom Crean is no different than any other coach in college basketball when it comes to roster attrition, transfers, and using the oversign.

Late last night, it was announced Spike Albrecht would transfer from Michigan after missing this season due to hip surgery. He'll add an extra year to his career via medical redshirt -- which Beilein knew could've been a possibility at the start of the 2015 season -- but he won't get to use it in Ann Arbor.

Michigan’s Spike Albrecht told ESPN he was granted his release today and plans to play next season elsewhere as a grad transfer.

— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanESPN) March 29, 2016

Today, Michigan announced that one more player, Ricky Doyle, will leave the program.

BREAKING: Ricky Doyle will transfer from Michigan. Full press release: pic.twitter.com/O8f4cQuDH3

— Simon Kaufman (@sjkauf) March 29, 2016

Why is this a big deal? Because Michigan was over the scholarship limit for the 2016-17 with a nice recruiting class coming in next season. Failing to honor Albrecht's final season of his scholarship and effectively pulling Doyle's helped Beilein upgrade his current roster by over-recruiting. It's the second time in two seasons he's done exactly this, of course. Beilein didn't have room for Max Bielfeldt on his roster last season, so he came to Indiana and won a Big Ten title and the Sixth Man Award in the conference. (Correction: He did have room, because Michigan didn't land Jaylen Brown. Beilein still ran him off, however.) Oh, and Beilein threw a baby fit about Bielfeldt's desire to transfer within the conference, too -- cutting an amateur athlete loose and then attempting to control his destination thereafter.

Still, no one's making his last name into a verb over his forced roster attrition.

This isn't to say Crean or Beilein or any other coach is better than the other. The practice of over-recruiting and casting off rostered players isn't a good one -- and it's rampant across college athletics. Of course, It's worth noting that Crean has never attempted to block a transfer, as far as we know. But referring to the practice of running players off the roster as Creaning shouldn't be any more of a thing, than, say, Beileining.

So far this offseason, three players have transferred from Ohio State this season, two from Michigan State, two from Michigan, and one from Purdue.

Creaning, though.