Charles Barkley has made plenty of questionable predictions in his day, but there is one in particular he had to address on Monday.
In January, Barkley referred to the Alabama Crimson Tide as the best team in the country. The Tide basketball program made the most of the comment from the Auburn legend, using the remark during their pregame hype video before home games.
Alabama wound up flaming out in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament, which led to Barkley having to address his bold pronunciation.
“Well, clearly I was wrong,” Barkley said ahead of the Regions Tradition celebrity pro-am in Hoover, via Nick Alvarez of al.com. “When I made that statement, most people picked them to win the tournament. Listen, like I said, in a one-game scenario, anything can happen. I didn’t know they were gonna use that in a video, but, hey, part of my job is people, whenever I say stuff, they can use it anywhere they want to. I was surprised they didn’t get farther.”
Barkley is right that his take wasn’t absurd at the time. However, the program was destabilized by allegations about star Brandon Miller’s ties to a campus murder, and Miller went 3-of-19 in the team’s loss to San Diego State.
Credit to Barkley for owning up to it. He’s right that one-and-done games can be a crapshoot. Plus, it’s not his fault Alabama decided to make use of his remarks.
