Alabama planning to play embattled Bediako on Saturday vs. Tennessee

Alabama coach Nate Oats said Friday he plans to play Charles Bediako on Saturday against Tennessee after the former Crimson Tide center was granted a temporary restraining order earlier this week to return to college basketball and play immediately.

“We plan to feed him,” Oates said. “He is eligible to play. We will follow the court orders.”

Bediako played two seasons at Alabama in 2021-22 and 2022-23 before leaving early for the NBA Draft. He went undrafted and has never played in an NBA game, spending the last three seasons playing for three different G League teams, most recently for the Motor City Cruz like this past weekend.

He sued the NCAA for immediate reinstatement after the organization rejected Alabama’s appeal for his return.

Oats pointed out that Bediako is still within five years of his high school graduation and compared his situation to that of several former European professionals who have been cleared to play college basketball.

Oats said, “Since the NCAA has already allowed professionals to play – almost every team we have played or will play this year has a former professional player on their roster – you tell me how I tell Charles and the team that we will not support them when they are deemed legally eligible to play.”

“Charles should not be penalized for choosing the academic route out of high school rather than the professional route like international players.”

Tennessee coach Rick Barnes was tight-lipped when asked about Bediako’s eligibility for Saturday’s road game.

“When you choose to give up your college eligibility, you have given it up,” Barnes said. “And I don’t care if it’s somebody who’s been in the service, come back. Once they start that clock and they’ve made that choice, they’ve made that choice.”

Unlike former pros who were granted eligibility by the NCAA – including Baylor’s James Nnaji, who was the first drafted player to gain eligibility in men’s college basketball – Bediako signed two-way deals with several NBA teams, and the NCAA has previously served as its line in the sand when it comes to eligibility.

NCAA senior vice president of basketball Dan Gavitt issued a statement Friday reiterating the sanctioning body’s rule that anyone who remains in the NBA Draft after a certain date — as Bediako did — has his remaining college eligibility voided.

“(If those rules cannot be enforced, it will create an untenable environment for student-athletes, schools building rosters for next season, and the NBA),” Gavitt said in the statement.

The NCAA had previously released few statements on Bediako’s situation. On Tuesday, before a Tuscaloosa Circuit Court judge ruled that Bediako was eligible to play and that the NCAA could not penalize Alabama in any way as a result, the organization reiterated that it “has not and will not extend eligibility to any prospective or returning student-athletes who sign an NBA contract.”

Following the judge’s decision, the NCAA again appealed to Congress for assistance in dealing with continued threats to its eligibility rules.

“These efforts to circumvent NCAA rules and recruit individuals who have completed their time in college or signed an NBA contract are taking opportunities away from high school students,” the NCAA said Wednesday. “A judge ruling on the NCAA letting a former NBA player take action against actual college student-athletes in court Saturday is why Congress should empower college sports to enforce our eligibility rules.”

A full hearing on Bediako’s request for a preliminary injunction is scheduled for Tuesday morning.

At his press conference Friday, Oats called for an overhaul of the NCAA’s system, calling it “frankly broken.”

“My personal opinion on all of this is that we need an equitable and transparent system that doesn’t penalize Americans, that takes the hypocrisy out of it, that treats both Americans and international players equally, while still providing the opportunities they need for high school players coming out of school. Someone has to be able to create a system that checks all of those boxes,” he said. “But right now, we will continue to support Charles.”

Bediako averaged 6.6 points, 5.2 rebounds and 1.7 blocks in his two seasons at Alabama.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.