{"id":527993,"date":"2026-03-17T02:58:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T02:58:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/527993\/"},"modified":"2026-03-17T02:58:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T02:58:08","slug":"march-madness-yaxel-lendeborg-turned-down-big-kentucky-offer-in-choosing-michigan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/527993\/","title":{"rendered":"March Madness: Yaxel Lendeborg turned down big Kentucky offer in choosing Michigan"},"content":{"rendered":"

ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) \u2014 Yaxel Lendeborg<\/a> has made more money<\/a> than he ever dreamed was possible entering March Madness<\/a>, allowing him to pay his mother\u2019s bills and buy her a new ride.<\/p>\n

Lendeborg, though, could be even richer.<\/p>\n

Michigan\u2019s 6-foot-9, 240-pound point forward was the top prospect<\/a> in the transfer portal last year and Kentucky<\/a> was prepared to make him the highest-paid player in college basketball.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey started the number with $7 (million) to $9 (million),\u201d Lendeborg said in an interview with The Associated Press. \u201cThey were pretty much going off on the route like we\u2019ll pay him anything to get here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Instead, he chose to play for Dusty May and the Wolverines<\/a> even though the former UAB star said he would have earned about three times more money if he suited up for Mark Pope and the Wildcats.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was raised without it and I went my whole life without it,\u201d Lendeborg said. \u201cAnything was going to make me super, super happy at the time.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was thinking long term. What if I mess up my career because I chased the money instead of a future? Another big reason why I went with Dusty was he didn\u2019t talk about money at all. It was all about making me better and helping me achieve my goals.\u201d<\/p>\n

It has certainly worked out so far for him \u2014 and Michigan<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He was named the Big Ten Player of the Year as the top player for the one-seeded Wolverines, who will open the NCAA Tournament<\/a> on Thursday and have a shot<\/a> to end it with the school\u2019s second national championship and first since 1989.<\/p>\n

The 23-year-old Lendeborg seems to be an example of what\u2019s potentially positive about the transfer portal, which created a path for him to level up after stops at a mid-major program in Alabama and a junior college in Arizona.<\/p>\n

While anyone who has paid attention to college basketball this season has seen him shine, they may not know his unlikely journey.<\/p>\n

Or the heartache that motivates him every day.<\/p>\n

Lendeborg was born in Puerto Rico, moved to the Dominican Republic and then Ohio before spending the second half of his childhood in New Jersey.<\/p>\n

Baseball was his favorite sport growing up, but he was more interested in video games than school until his mother\u2019s heart-to-heart talk changed the trajectory of his life.<\/p>\n

Yissel Raposo told him that he was going to take 10 community college classes in one year to graduate from high school. He followed her instructions and rallied enough academically during his senior year to play organized basketball for the time over the final 11 games of the season.<\/p>\n

His mother then successfully lobbied to land him a spot at Arizona Western. And after three years at the junior college, including a COVID-shortened season, he transferred to UAB and flourished.<\/p>\n

Lendeborg joined Basketball Hall of Famer Larry Bird last year as the two Division I basketball players to have 600 points, 400 rebounds and 150 assists in a season.<\/p>\n

Leading a talented squad with an influx of transfers, his statistics were not as spectacular this season. He averages a team-high 14.6 points and is second on the team with seven rebounds and three-plus assists per game.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf he\u2019s on the court, he\u2019s giving you leverage,\u201d May said.<\/p>\n

After Lendeborg scored a total of 53 points in two wins over rival Michigan State, coach Tom Izzo said Lendeborg lived up to his billing.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe handled it, he passed it, he shot it,\u201d Izzo said.<\/p>\n

Off the court, Lendeborg also has been influential and impactful on an unselfish team. In warmups, he often wears his teammates\u2019 jerseys to show them some love.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe thing that\u2019s been most impressive about Yaxel is how great of a teammate he is, and how much he\u2019s embraced our culture and the way things are done here,\u201d May said.<\/p>\n

Even though Lendeborg can afford to fly his mother to every game, she has been able to attend just a handful because she was diagnosed with appendix cancer just before the season started.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s doing great,\u201d he said. \u201cShe has three more sets of chemo left, and then she\u2019s going to be done with that treatment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lendeborg will never forget, or take for granted, his mother\u2019s tough love that turned his life around.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of times when I think about it, I do get emotional,\u201d he said softly, sitting in a Crisler Center seat under Michigan\u2019s 1989 national championship banner. \u201cI\u2019ve always felt like I didn\u2019t belong, especially in the spotlight. It\u2019s been a dream.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is, however, a reality his mother envisioned.<\/p>\n

\u201cYaxel never believed in himself growing up,\u201d she said Monday in a telephone interview. \u201cI always talked to him in a positive way, telling him he was talented and he could make it in basketball.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel so happy and proud that now he knows he is good, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Follow Larry Lage on X<\/a><\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP March Madness bracket: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/ncaa-mens-bracket<\/a> and coverage: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/march-madness<\/a><\/p>\n