During the offseason after the 2024-2025 college basketball season, Yaxel Lendeborg had every Michigan fan on the edge of their seat as he went through the NBA Draft process. He took it all the way down to the wire before deciding to return to the college ranks to make one more run at a National Championship.
Well, Lendeborg is closer than ever to achieving that dream of hoisting a trophy as the Wolverines are set to face UConn in the National Championship on Monday night. This probably doesn't come as a surprise to Lendeborg, though, as he called this all the way back in November.
CBS Sports writer Matt Norlander retweeted a post that he published back in November, quoting Lendeborg calling Michigan's natty shot.
"Today was about putting the world on notice that we're the best team in the nation," Lendeborg said after beating No. 12 Gonzaga in the Players Era Championship. Michiga
Bringing this one back. https://t.co/ItQrHdPMhz
— Matt Norlander (@MattNorlander) April 5, 2026
Michigan is looking like the best team in the country and they plan to finish the job
Michigan spent its fair share of time at the top of the AP Top 25 ranking until a loss to Duke knocked them down a few pegs. After that, the only loss the Wolverines suffered was in the Big Ten Championship to Purdue. That was the last time the Wolverines dropped a game, and they plan to make it the last time this season.
Michigan has just one more team standing in its way of hoisting a trophy and cutting down the nets. When many didn't believe they could do it, this team never lost faith that they were the best team in the country, just like Lendeborg said.
Dan Hurley and UConn are the final team standing in Michigan's way, and if the Wolverines can play as well as they did against Arizona, even without a fully healthy Lendeborg, there is no doubt that they will be cutting down the nets for the first time since 1989.