March Madness has an entertaining habit of producing what would have been once thinkable results and moments, whether it’s generating unlikely heroes, unexpectedly deep tournament runs or shocking upsets in which a small school knocks off one of college basketball’s powerhouse programs.

Even in a month known for the unpredictable, perhaps nothing could have prepared television viewers for two words they heard come from Auburn alum Charles Barkley’s mouth Thursday night.

In the minutes leading up to 4 seed Alabama’s Sweet 16 matchup against 1 seed North Carolina in the 2024 NCAA Tournament, Barkley, the legendary former Auburn player working as an analyst for CBS during the tournament, not only picked the Crimson Tide to win, but punctuated his prediction with an enthusiastic “Roll Tide.”

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While breaking down the game between the Tide and Tar Heels, Barkley noted that “UNC is going down tonight” while sitting next to his longtime “Inside the NBA” co-host, Kenny Smith, a former North Carolina standout.

“I’m gonna curse on live TV tonight. I’m gonna curse on TV tonight,” Barkley said. “When UNC plays, I’m going to say those bad words.”

While the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer siding with his former school’s hated rival could be viewed as an attempt to needle his friend and colleague, the former SEC Player of the Year at Auburn has a recent track record of putting his faith in Alabama.

Last year, Barkley picked the Tide, the tournament’s top overall seed in 2023, to win the national championship, a prediction he said at the time was “painful for me to say.” That Alabama team, which won a program-record 31 games and featured the No. 2 overall pick in the 2023 NBA Draft, fell in the Sweet 16 to eventual national runner-up San Diego State.

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Charles Barkley picks Alabama to beat UNC in Sweet 16, yells 'Roll Tide!'