Nate Oats explains why Alabama didn’t add Yaxel Lendeborg out of the portal
By Jacob Moss
Published:
Nate Oats and the Alabama Crimson Tide are set to take on the No. 1-seeded Michigan Wolverines in the Sweet 16 this Friday with a ticket to the Elite 8 waiting for the winner of this heavyweight showdown.
The Tide can reach their third consecutive NCAA Tournament Regional Final with a win, but Oats and company will have to find a way to neutralize star Michigan big man Yaxel Lendeborg if they want to keep dancing past Friday night.
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Lendeborg is plenty familiar with Alabama, as the dynamic wing spent the first 2 years of his college career at UAB. He entered the transfer portal, and indicated he would have been interested in making the move from Birmingham to Tuscaloosa. Despite his desire to join the SEC juggernaut, though, Lendeborg recently said that Oats didn’t bother recruiting him very hard once he entered the transfer portal.
When asked why he decided against pursuing such a dynamic player in his own backyard, Oats explained that the decision had nothing to do with talent, but the Tides’ inability to outbid Michigan and other suitors.
“He was at UAB. We did make a call. It never got very deep,” Oats said. “I think there were some programs that were in a little deeper with a lot more money at the time. It’s one of those, you kind of call, see where the situation is at. Probably wasn’t something we were going to be able to do, so didn’t spend a lot of time on it… It wasn’t for lack of thinking he wasn’t a very good player. He was the best player in the portal.”
It’s clear that Oats holds Lendeborg in high regard, but he will have to find a way to contain the dynamic wing this Friday if he wants to keep his Elite 8 streak intact.
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