When Yaxel Lendeborg decided to leave UAB and enter the Transfer Portal a year ago, he was immediately one of the most sought-after players in the country.
Perhaps unbeknownst to Lendeborg, Nate Oats and Alabama kicked the tires on him, but it was clear very quickly that he was going to be well outside of the Crimson Tide's price range.
"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."
Those conversations almost certainly took place with Lendeborg's agent, and he never even knew about them. It's something that he felt was disrespectful, as he revealed on Thursday that Alabama was one of the program's he was hoping would recruit him when he entered the portal, but never did.
Yaxel Lendeborg said he was 'hurt' by Alabama not recruiting him
"It kind of hurt me a little bit," Lendeborg said about Alabama not recruiting him.
"I'm going to try my best to be the best player on the floor tomorrow. 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.'
The only problem with Lendeborg's statement is that Alabama did call. His own coach confirmed that shortly after, doing the Crimson Tide a solid and removing that extra bit of motivation for the UAB transfer.
"Whatever irritates him, I'm gonna arrive at that and support him," May said. "Nate and I are good friends, and we talked through that process. Don't tell Yax, but they did try to get him."
May might have been wise to not let that information out until after the game tomorrow, but it's not like Lendeborg or Michigan needs extra motivation. No one does this time of year. It's win or go home time. You're playing in the Sweet 16, two wins away from making the Final Four, and four wins away from winning the National Championship.
Bulletin board material is irrelevant this time of year.
But it was still a nice assist from May to Oats to remove any illusions that Alabama wouldn't have tried to recruit such a talented player who had spent the last two years playing college basketball less than an hour away from Tuscaloosa.