Auburn legend and NBA Hall of Famer Charles Barkley commended the state of Alabama's basketball success on Saturday following Alabama's Elite Eight loss to Duke.
Following the game in the CBS studio, Barkley first praised Alabama basketball coach Nate Oats for getting his program to the Final Four and Elite Eight in back-to-back seasons.
Commentator Kenny Smith said it was "hard to believe that the state of Alabama is the capital of basketball when the biggest airport is Birmingham."
"It's just hard to get to at times," Smith added.
Barkley joked, "You don't have to fly into Birmingham. You can fly into Leeds."
He then went on to say he was "proud" of Alabama and Auburn and acknowledged the success of other programs like Troy and Alabama State for making the NCAA Tournament, as well as UAB, which made it to the NIT quarterfinals this year.
"I will be honest with you. I am so proud of Alabama and Auburn because obviously I have great pride in my school and being from Alabama. I never in my wildest dreams thought that Alabama and Auburn would make it to the Final Four. And that is not a knock. Everybody knows that football is King Kong. But what Bruce Pearl and Coach Oats have done ... Andy Kennedy at UAB ... Troy made the tournament ... Alabama State ..."
Smith interrupted, saying, "Alabama is on top of the college basketball world!"
"Yeah," Barkley replied. "But I just wanted to acknowledge, man, what Coach Pearl and Coach Oats have done. I am just proud to be from Alabama."
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