The decision wasn’t easy, but when Eric Puls decided to give up basketball last month and leave the Michigan team, the junior had someone with a similar experience to lean on.

His brother.

Dan Puls was in his second season in the minor leagues with the Chicago White Sox when he faced the academics or athletics decision this summer. Then he found out he couldn’t defer his acceptance to graduate school at Michigan’s Ross School of Business another year without reapplying. So he quit in the middle of his second season.

It wasn’t that he wanted to - or that Eric wanted to leave Michigan basketball midway through this season - but they had to.

“He understood everything that was going on in my mind because it’s weird how similar his situation was,” Eric Puls said earlier this week. “He was definitely helpful and he supported my decision.”

Puls went to his civil engineering professors, trying to explain the situation. The professors told him there was nothing he could do, so he was left with the choice of academics or athletics to be able to graduate on time. Being a walk-on, paying for an extra year is not a cheap option.

Something else helped Puls make his decision. He and Michigan coach John Beilein had discussed his game throughout the past six months. Younger players on scholarship passed him on the depth chart. Meanwhile, he felt his game stagnate.

“I didn’t know if I had reached my full potential or what it was, but I didn’t feel like I was improving anymore,” Puls said. “Like I talked to coach Beilein several times about that, and he and I couldn’t figure it out.”

This allowed him the 6-foot-10 Alpena native to pick civil engineering - he would like to be involved in the structural design of building, roads and bridges when he graduates from Michigan - over basketball.

It doesn’t mean that it is easy. For the first time in 12 years, there was no more basketball practice to go to. And this was before the announcement of redshirt freshman center Ben Cronin’s hip injury ending his career. Puls said he wasn’t sure if that announcement had come before his decision would have altered his thinking, but he doesn’t regret his choice.

Now, he’s adjusting to life as a regular student.

Before the Kansas game, he hadn’t watched a Michigan game on television since his redshirt year when he didn’t always travel. It has also left him with much more free time than he imagined.

“I’m definitely still going to pay attention to the team. I don’t know if I’m going to be going to the games or not, and I’m not like saying I’ll never go back,” Puls said. “But I’m still, I still totally support the team and I’m paying attention. But it’ll be weird not being a part of it anymore, getting done with class and not having stuff to do the rest of the day.

“It’ll be nice to have some time off, though.”

Michael Rothstein covers University of Michigan basketball at AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at (734) 623-2558, by e-mail at michaelrothstein@annarbor.com or follow along on Twitter @mikerothstein.