Yaxel Lendeborg has been a revelation this season, one that everyone saw coming. Yaxel is 23 years old, ancient for a college player especially one with his size and skill. No surprise then that he radiates maturity both on and off the court. This was not always the case, to say the least, and is a big reason that Yaxel is still playing at the college level rather than in the NBA. 

Yaxel Lendeborg is an unusual name, particularly for someone born in Puerto Rico to Dominican parents. There aren’t too many Scandinavians in the Caribbean, but you’ll find a few. Derived from Old Norse, Lendeborg means fortified hill. His first name? Did his parents make that one up? Nope. Not common, but it is a Latino name. A blend of Spanish and Hebrew, meaning something like exalted. So, Spanish/Hebrew/Scandinavian. Got it.

Lendeborg’s parents were star basketball players in the Dominican. They met in college in Puerto Rico. Yaxel’s mother, Yissel Raposo, played well into her pregnancy, fearful that she would be deported if her condition was discovered. After graduation, the Lendeborg-Raposo family moved to the mainland, eventually settling in Pennsauken, NJ (which is just outside Philly, near the Cherry Hill mall).

Yaxel Lendeborg apparently was one of those children that drive you nuts. A “good kid” completely lacking in motivation for anything other than video games. His high school grades were so poor that he didn’t qualify to play basketball. Yaxel didn’t care. More time for NBA 2K. Life? He’d figure it out. Some day.

If your grades are that bad, basketball is the least of your worries. Going into his senior year of high school, Yaxel was not on track to graduate. Exasperated, his mother enrolled him in high school level classes at Camden County College and implored him to take school seriously. He did. His first semester grades were good enough for him to return to Pennsauken High. And maybe even see if he could join the basketball team. At that point he was 6’9” tall, after all. With Lendeborg, Pennsauken went 10-1 to finish the season. Yaxel graduated with his class. Mission accomplished. Back to video games.

Yissel got Yaxel a job where she worked. A warehouse. That’s when reality finally sunk in. Seeing his mother perform long shifts of manual labor and realizing the sacrifice she made to get up and drive him to school in Camden shamed him. Lendeborg says: “Just seeing how much labor she’s been putting in and how she does it with a smile on her face made me want to do more, but it was already too late for me. So it was like, damn, I really messed my life up. And I’m not helping my Mom out.”

Yissel used some of her hoops contacts to get Yaxel an invitation to a prep showcase. He stayed up all night playing video games, but played well enough to get an offer from Western Arizona, a junior college in Yuma. Yaxel didn’t want to leave his Mom and Jersey. Yissel made him. Yaxel cried most of the flight to Arizona. Fortunately, Yaxel liked the coaches and players in Arizona, although he still doubted basketball would amount to anything for him.

At his size, he’d always played near the basket. At Western Arizona, they played him on the wing in a point forward role. He excelled, becoming a JUCO All-American. After two years in Yuma, his phone blew up with offers from DI schools. He ended up at UAB, mainly because they said he could bring one of his teammates with him. The transition was not easy, but eventually Yaxel averaged a double-double while earning conference defensive player of the year honors. After two years at UAB, he was a legitimate NBA prospect, and he went through the draft process.

The NBA does its homework. Yaxel is smart and skilled, but not exactly an explosive athlete. And the stories about his work ethic, or lack thereof, haunted him. Would he be drafted in the first round, with a guaranteed contract? It wasn’t clear. There was another option. Yaxel had another year of college eligibility due to the Covid season. And he was ranked as the top player in the transfer portal. Every team wanted him. Including my team. Yaxel says he turned down a “$7-9 million offer” from Kentucky to go to Michigan. There is no way this is even close to reality. I think he said this for the benefit of the Wolverine faithful not considering that UK fans would be listening too. Did Kentucky offer him more than the reported $3 million that Michigan paid Yaxel this season? Wouldn’t surprise me. And I blame Kentucky coach Mark Pope for not closing the deal more than I blame Yaxel for not taking it. But 7-9 is a range, not an offer. When the story blew up, Yaxel didn’t exactly retract his claim, but he got good at changing the subject. He also said Alabama didn’t recruit him (also not true)…right before Michigan played Bama in the tournament. Even at 23, good kid with some growing up to do.

Yaxel Lendeborg has been stellar at Michigan, winning Big Ten player of the year and earning the nickname “Dominican LeBron”. Then came a call from his mother. Yaxel knew instantly that something was wrong. Yissel had appendix cancer and was well into a round of chemotherapy. She kept it from him so as not to influence his play, which might jeopardize Yaxel’s future. Yissel couldn’t travel and missed the end of this season. Even though she is still in the middle of chemo, she made it to the NCAA tournament. The look on her face watching her baby boy is priceless.

Slow start, because there were fouls called virtually every trip down the floor. Not a ref complaint this time, there were legitimately a lot of fouls. Unfortuantely for Michigan, two of them early on their 7'2" Spaniard shot blocker, Aday Mara. Tennessee big man, Nigerian Felix Okpara, soon had two of his own and headed to the bench as well. The Vols kept jacking up 3s that were not even close. Michigan continued to pound the ball into the post, even with Mara out. Most coaches sit a player with two fouls for the remainder of the first half. Michigan's Dusty May put Mara back in after only a short break. Okpara soon came back in for Tennessee and almost immediately committed his third foul against Lendenborg, who completed a reverse layup plus one. Yaxel got comfortable, Michigan started hitting 3s. Tennessee kept settling for jumpers, which they missed (10 in a row at one point). 21-0 Michigan run en route to a 19-point lead. Tennessee's Rick Barnes called two time outs, but he had no answers for the Wolverine onslaught. 

Tennessee's Jaylen Carey is built like a defensive end at 6'8" and 270 pounds. He comes by that comparison legitimately. His Dad, Vernon Carey who goes 6'5" 340, played offensive line for the University of Miami and the Miami Dolphins. Jaylen Carey was the Tennessee offense (8 in the first), the only Vol matching the Michigan physicality. They shot a miserable 23% in the first.

48-26 Michigan at the break. Yaxel led his team with 15 points in the first half.

Charles Barkley summed things up at halftime: "They ain't coming back. That's a wrap. Get ready for football. When is Tennessee spring football?". Chuck is the best.

He was right. Michigan dominated every phase of the game in the second half. Mara even hit a 3, only his third of the season. Wolverines win going away, 95-62.

Tennessee has (still) never made a Final 4.

Michigan has scored more than 90 in every tourney game; no team has done that this century. The last team to score over 90 in four straight games? UConn in 1995.

Yaxel Lendeborg with 27 points, 7 boards, 4 assists. And he sat the last five minutes. Wow.

Tennessee's star freshman, Nate Ament, with 7 points and 6 rebounds.

Most mock drafts have Ament taken before Yaxel. Yaxel is 23 years old, Ament is 19. Ament has more upside, I get it. But Yaxel is special. If I had the tenth pick or so and both were available, I'm taking Yaxel. And then I'm stealing his Playstation.

Arizona-Michigan next Saturday. Those two teams are the class of the field. Should be epic. 

Yes, that was a (stupid) goaltend.

Not a fan of either of these teams. I found myself pulling for the New Englanders. My Laettner hate runs that deep.

At the start of this one, Duke couldn't miss. Four quick 3s. Both Boozers scoring at will. UConn went to the post on virtually every play, and their bigs were effective. But 3>2. 

UConn's Alex Karaban couldn't buy a bucket. Duke built a double digit lead that ballooned to 19 powered by a 14-0 Duke run. Credit Duke's defense, which locked in holding the Huskies scoreless for over 5 minutes. 44-29 Devils at the break.

Your basic UConn disaster, with Alex Karaban shut out in the first half. The Boozers outscored the whole UConn team. Cam (19!) and Cayden (14) for 33 vs 29 for the Huskies. 

Duke was 5-11 from 3; UConn 1-11 from 3.

Like Tennessee in the early game, this one felt over at the break. Barkley agreed: "Little Boozer and Big Boozer are killing them. The fat lady may not be singing, but she's warming up her vocal cords." 

Not so fast, my friends. UConn went on an extended 16-6 run (over a 6 minute period) to cut the lead to 7 with 11 minutes to go. The Devils must have put a Protego Maxima spell on the scoreboard, because the margin would not go below 7 points. The Siths finally broke through. UConn's Solo Ball with a steal, score and one. Huskies down 2, 3:42 remaining.

Karaban finally hit a 3, cutting the deficit to a point with 50 seconds to go. Cam Boozer followed with a spin move to get open for a jumper in the lane. He only walked a little. 3-point game. 

UConn's Demary fouled. Goes to the line. 81% shooter. Miss (!). He hit the second. UConn down 2, 10 seconds to go. 

UConn full court press. Duke gets it in to Cam, who passes back to Sarr, who forwards the ball to Cayden at half court. As a double team converges, Little Boozer tries to throw the ball ahead. UConn tips it. Loose ball! Stolen by Padawan Mullins, who passes the ball to Anakin Karaban who fans it right back to Mullins. He tosses it up from the logo. The force is strong with this one. 

0.3 seconds remaining but that was it. UConn wins!  73-72 

One of the more memorable finishes in NCAA tourney history. Let's revisit it.

From the Random Notes Preview post:

"Basically, KenPom loves the #1 seeds, but Duke, Arizona and Michigan more than Florida.

KenPom is fond of the #2 seeds, but thinks UConn should have been a #3. He would have given UConn's 2-slot to Illinois."

KenPom nailed it, right through halftime of the UConn-Duke game. He didn't see the UConn second half coming.

His work is never done. KenPom continues to update his statistics throughout the tourney. He predicted the winners of all the Elite 8 games. His analysis now is (in order): Arizona, Michigan, Duke, Illinois. Also, Purdue-8, UConn-9, Tennessee-15, Iowa-22.