We all know NBA legend Charles Barkley and we all know he never shies away from speaking his mind.
So as hard as it was for Barkley to praise Alabama (he hails from bitter rival Auburn), he couldn't help himself when it came to telling the truth as he saw it.
And Barkley did not like what he saw from upstart Grand Canyon in its second-round NCAA tournament loss to the Crimson Tide. The game was actually extremely close throughout, before Alabama pulled away to win by a 72-61 count.
Barkley is normally the star of TNT's Inside the NBA pre- and postgame shows. But as always, he's offering insight on the college game for CBS and its partners during the tournament. He reserved some of his strongest words for Grand Canyon.
"Grand Canyon, that was the dumbest game of basketball I think I've ever seen," he said, smirking. "Everybody went 1-on-1, they missed how many free throws? I'm not sure what they were doing offensively. I don't think they ran a play the entire second half."
He is right on about the 1-on-1 part at the end. The Lopes had no offense other than to get the ball to Tyon Grant-Foster and get out of the way. Oftentimes, Grant-Foster delivered, looking like Michael Jordan's one-man act when he first got to the Chicago Bulls back in the early 1980s.
But that style can only get you so far — especially against a top seed such as Alabama.
"That was some of the dumbest basketball I've ever seen from grown college men," Barkley continued.
Of course, he didn't let Alabama escape unscathed. He purposely called it "Alabama University," just because, you know, he's Charles Barkley. (He admitted he did it to get under the skin of PGA golfer Justin Thomas, an Alabama alum.)
As for Barkley himself ... well, we wouldn't want him any other way.
"Grand Canyon, that was the dumbest game of basketball I think I may have ever seen... I don't think they ran a play the entire 2nd half.... They just went 1-on-1 every single time... 5 whole assists? We've got a crack staff if they found 5 passes." - Charles Barkley pic.twitter.com/G35tPIaxeD
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) March 25, 2024
