How Yaxel Lendeborg’s mid-major roots have propelled him to new heights

The story of the man who has led Michigan to the 2026 Final Four almost didn’t start.

To get here, Yaxel Lendeborg — the Wolverines’ 6-foot-9, do-everything, superstar forward — took the path less traveled, to say the least. Academically ineligible throughout most of his high school career, Lendeborg only played 11 games of varsity ball in his hometown of Pennsauken, New Jersey. His collegiate career began at JUCO Arizona Western College, in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. The idea that anyone playing at Arizona Western, let alone an unsure, inexperienced kid from New Jersey, would one day make front-page, nationwide headlines was a far-fetched one.

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But Lendeborg did it. And his roots — the roots of Michigan’s national championship hopes and dreams — draw their nourishment deep underneath the national topsoil.

In every way, Lendeborg’s journey was improbable, if not borderline impossible. Yaxel, who moved from Puerto Rico to Cincinnati to Pennsauken, all before his ninth birthday, barely played at the high school level. Academic problems got him kicked off the team as a freshman, nullified his sophomore and junior years, and only let up when he finally kicked himself into gear midway through his senior year.

Those 11 games were enough to earn Lendeborg, who is Dominican, a spot at an event in New York City aimed at promoting Dominican players. He played well, by all accounts; well enough to earn the attention of a friend of Kyle Isaacs, then an assistant coach at Arizona Western.

“We [at Arizona Western] got a text message [in November] from a good friend of ours saying ‘hey, here’s a 6-foot-8 kid,’” Isaacs told Mid-Major Madness. “We had an additional scholarship available. I think [Lendeborg] maybe had 60 seconds of clips, and it was just, yeah, we need a kid with size.”

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That was enough for Lendeborg, or at least for his mother, Yissel Raposo. Raposo forced an uneasy Lendeborg onto the plane, and just like that, he…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/yaxel-lendeborg-mid-major-roots-213754582.html

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Publish date : 2026-04-02 21:37:00

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