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Video & Quotes: Caris LeVert reflects on career, injury

Michigan senior guard Caris LeVert announced that he was shutting it down for the season on Monday, today he met with the media at the Crisler Center to reflect on his career and his injury.

Michigan senior guard Caris LeVert announced that he was shutting it down for the season on Monday, today he met with the media at the Crisler Center to reflect on his career and his injury. Watch the full interview with LeVert in the attached media player.

On when he made the decision to shut down: “I would say a couple of days ago. From there we tried to get our words together to address the media and things like that.”

On the deciding factor: “I just couldn’t really help the team the way that the team needed, the way that I wanted to help the team. Coach Beilein really thought it was best and I thought it was best. I really wanted to play, it was a really tough decision, but we both thought it was best to shut it down.”

On how hard it is to watch: “It’s tough, especially with it being my senior year, last go at things. I’m really proud of the way that the team has played this far. We’re still one game away, I think if we win this next game then we’re in. I’m proud of the way that Muhammad has played, he’s my position and he’s really grown the past couple days and weeks.”

On the Purdue game:  “I felt good going into the game. There was still some slight pain, but I talked to the doctors and Coach B and they thought it was safe to kind of push through it a bit. I kind of had a little mishap during the game where it wasn’t too serious, but it gave me a lot of pain. So we tried to shut it down a couple more weeks and like you said we kind of ran out of time.”

On the specific injury: “We thought it was best to (not) disclose that.”

“The coaches were behind me with every decision I was going to make whether I wanted to go out there or wanted to shut it down for the year. They just wanted to make sure it was the best for my future.”

On how different this year could have been: “Definitely. As you can see seniors are a big part of college basketball this year and I really think Spike and myself could have helped the team out had we been healthy.”

On whether he’ll be ready for workouts or if he’ll have to have a procedure: “I don’t think I’ll have to have any procedure done. Hopefully I’ll be ready. I’m going to take a couple of weeks off to get healthy and then try to go at it again and train for the combine.”

On Beilein’s message: “Coach B has encouraged Spike and myself to take on more of a coaching role throughout the process and that’s rewarding to see guys step up and play well in big games.”

On playing in the Final Four as a freshman: “That was the first year of college, it feels like last week. It all goes by really fast.”

On the direction of the program: “I think we’re still moving in the right direction. We’ve had to adjust a lot to me and Spike getting injured the last couple years. That’s a huge blow to the team, a lot of people don’t see that, but we’re the two oldest guys on the team, we’ve had the most experience on the team, we’ve played in the biggest games. I think we’ve adjusted well to those circumstances.”

On why he isn’t disclosing the injury: “We just felt like it was the best decision not to. Moving forward people definitely probably will know going into workouts and things like that, but right now we thought it was the best to keep it to ourselves.”

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