The worst thing about the Big Ten tournament for Michigan basketball fans wasn't the loss to Purdue in the title game. It was watching Yaxel Lendeborg limp at the end of it.
Yaxel, the Big Ten Player of the Year, and the most important player in terms of Michigan winning a national championship, was limping around after what looked like an ankle injury.
After a couple of days of rest, Michigan was in Buffalo, New York, the site of the first-round game against Howard, and Yaxel looked like his ordinary self.
While Lendeborg looked good in practice, the official injury designation came last night. The injury reports are a little different in the NCAA tournament. The good news, though, is that Michigan didn't even designate Yaxel with an injury.
However, on Wednesday, Yaxel talked about how he was feeling according to Michigan Insider:
Yaxel Lendeborg carries no injury designation for Michigan men's basketball's NCAA Tournament opener against Howard.
— Alejandro Zúñiga (@ByAZuniga) March 19, 2026
The U-M star is officially good to go: https://t.co/76D4FSQw6X
"I feel okay," Lendeborg said Wednesday. "I'm gonna wear these shoes with the high tops just in case something happens. I practiced yesterday. I was doing good moving forward, jumping, but the cutting bothered me a little bit. But I feel like when the game time comes and all the adrenaline starts rushing, I think I'll be OK."Â
That's not what you want to hear as a Michigan fan, that he thinks he'll be "OK." But Michigan didn't even list him on the injury report, so he should be a full-go, which is great news for the Wolverines.
Yaxel Lendeborg injury news is huge positive for Michigan
With LJ Cason out, Yaxel needs to be more of a playmaker. He needs to score more and play the way he did against Duke/Michigan State for the rest of the season.
Being as close to 100 percent as possible will help with that.