CHICAGO − There are a plethora of narratives for Michigan basketball in its return to United Center.
Nimari Burnett reuniting with his former team. Burnett and Morez Johnson Jr. reuniting with their hometown. The entire team returning to the arena which hosted one of the few disappointments this season, when Purdue defeated the Wolverines in the Big Ten Tournament championship.
But another that bubbled throughout media availabilities for both 1-seed Michigan and 4-seed Alabama ahead of their Sweet 16 meeting on Friday, March 27 (7:35 pm, TBS, truTV), was the Alabama ties of U-M star forward Yaxel Lendeborg.
A season ago, he starred for the Crimson Tide’s fellow Alabama school, averaging 17.7 points and 11.4 rebounds per game en route to topping the transfer portal rankings. This season, with the Wolverines, Lendeborg dominated the Big Ten in earning the conference’s player of the year nod.
Still, Lendeborg wanted to know whether the top team in the Yellowhammer State coveted him as an option.
“Once I entered the transfer portal out of UAB, I was hoping to get recruited by Alabama,” he said. “When I didn’t, it kind of hurt me a little bit. Not in a way with I can say, I hate them, and all that. It’s just, it bothered me a little bit.”
Alabama coach Nate Oats remembers it differently. Speaking about an hour before Lendeborg, the former Romulus High School coach was asked about Lendeborg. Oats was frank − he made a call, but it became apparent there “were some programs that were in a little deeper with a lot more money at the time.”
“Probably wasn’t something we were going to be able to do,” he added. “So didn’t spend a lot of time on it.”
Now, Lendeborg will go head-to-head with the Tide and is at the top of Alabama’s scouting report, as he is for every team that faces Michigan. Oats knows Alabama can’t take away everything from a team as skilled and deep as U-M.
Lendeborg comes off a second-round performance in which he went 9-for-13 from the floor (including 3-for-5 on 3-pointers) with a game-high 25 points. It was his eighth game this season with at least three made 3s – a set of games in which the Wolverines are 6-2. Then again, the Wolverines are 27-1 when he doesn’t make at least three 3s.
That’s why even though he can make 3s − he’s 10-for-21 in five Big Ten tourney and NCAA games − it’s not what Alabama is going to try and eliminate against him in the early going.
“We obviously don’t want Yaxel posting us and we don’t want him driving,” Oats said. “So we’ve got to figure out what − you’re going to have to give him something. We’re going to have to get a lot of help.”
Now, the Tide might face an even more motivated Lendeborg.
It wouldn’t be the first time Lendeborg gained focus from off-court trials, such as February’s game against Purdue after an old video surfaced of him saying he would “beat Purdue’s [expletive],” riling the Boilermakers’ fans at Mackey Arena.
Lendeborg answered the crowd with 13 points, seven rebounds and three 3s.
This time, Lendeborg said explicitly, he feels particularly motivated.
“I’m going to try my best to be the best player on the floor,” Lendeborg said. “All it is is extra motivation. Not in the sense where I’m like, ‘This is what you guys missed out on,’ but like, you guys could have at least called.”
Michigan coach Dusty May wants Lendeborg to be aggressive. Sometimes, the Wolverines rely on assistant coach Mike Boynton Jr. riling up Lendeborg, as he did before U-M’s win over Saint Louis.
This time, May will take it from the lack of a recruiting call.
“I think we’ve had several subplots this year, and he seems to be performing well to this point,” May said. “Whatever irritates him, I’m gonna arrive at that and support him. Nate and I are good friends and we talked through that process.”
Even if he knows it might not technically be true.
“Don’t tell Yax,” May added, “but they did try to get him.”
Tony Garcia is the Michigan beat writer for the Detroit Free Press. Email him at apgarcia@freepress.com and follow him on X at @RealTonyGarcia.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan basketball’s Yaxel Lendeborg ‘hurt’ Alabama didn’t recruit him. Except, they did