Charles Barkley paid the Michigan Wolverines a very high compliment during their dismantling of the Arizona Wildcats in Saturday’s Final Four game.
Michigan jumped out to a 48-32 halftime lead on the way to an eventual 91-73 victory over Arizona at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, In. on Saturday, and had the game well in hand throughout. That prompted Barkley to essentially name Michigan as one of the three best teams he has seen since he began doing the NCAA Tournament in 2011.
“We’ve been doing this tournament double-digit years, and there’s only two teams I’ve thought were unbeatable: Anthony Davis’ (Kentucky) Wildcats and that second UConn team. I said everybody else is playing for second place,” Barkley said. “I think we might be seeing the third. I thought Arizona was on the same level. They’re not.”
"I thought Arizona was on the same level. They're not… This might be the third team where I've said 'yeah, everybody else is playing for 2nd place.'"
— CBS Sports College Basketball 🏀 (@CBSSportsCBB) April 5, 2026
-Charles Barkley reacts to @umichbball's dominant first half pic.twitter.com/eL1BWQnT2i
It was hard to argue with Barkley after such a thorough dismantling. Arizona was regarded as one of the three best teams in the country all season along with Michigan and Duke, but the Wildcats were essentially run off the floor on Saturday. They even did it with limited contributions from star player Yaxel Lendeborg, who spent most of the game battling foul trouble and later injury.
Lendeborg is adamant that he will play Monday against UConn. The Huskies are going to have to be at their best to have a chance of winning that game.
