Jeff Borzello
Myron Medcalf
Myron Medcalf
ESPN Staff Writer
Myron Medcalf covers college basketball for ESPN.com. He joined ESPN in 2011.
Multiple Authors
Which players are eligible to play college basketball came into clearer focus on Monday.
A Tuscaloosa circuit court judge denied Charles Bediako’s motion for a preliminary injunction the same day the temporary retraining order that first allowed the former two-way NBA player — who played three seasons in the G League but never in an official NBA game — to play for Alabama was set to expire.
Bediako, who spent two seasons with the Tide between 2021 and 2023 before going undrafted in the 2023 NBA draft, averaged 21.6 minutes in the five games he played for Alabama between Jan. 24 and Feb. 7. The team went 3-2 over that stretch.
So what does the ruling mean for Alabama — and for future eligibility cases like Bediako’s? ESPN’s men’s college basketball reporters Jeff Borzello and Myron Medcalf answer the most pressing questions.
What could this mean for future instances of former NBA and G League players making their NCAA eligibility cases?
Borzello: The line in the sand has always been this: Once a player keeps his name in the NBA draft, he knowingly gives up his NCAA eligibility and is no longer able to play college basketball. That line was directly challenged in this case, and for now, the NCAA has prevailed.
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The specifics of Bediako’s situation were different from that of Baylor’s James Nnaji. They were different from that of former G League players Thierry Darlan (Santa Clara) and Abdullah Ahmed (BYU). And they were different from that of former European professionals in the current college ranks. None of them had previously stepped foot on a college basketball court.
There is now precedent for future cases brought to court that aim to challenge the NCAA’s eligibility rules about former college players who have entered the NBA draft and/or signed two-way contracts with the league. And it won’t be long before we see it tested again, with former UCLA guard Amari Bailey — who left the Bruins in 2023 and played in 10 NBA games — exploring a return to college.
Medcalf: This decision creates different categories of players attempting to join the NCAA. As Jeff mentioned, the G League players who were cleared to play college basketball this season had not previously played college basketball. Nnaji hadn’t, either. The judge’s ruling, which could be challenged in a higher court, establishes that any player who plays in the NBA after playing college basketball is not allowed to return to college basketball.
The judge aligned himself with the NCAA in this decision, separating NBA participation after college as the ultimate disqualifier. It’s a major ruling in the NCAA’s favor, and if it holds, any G League, two-way or NBA player who fits that criteria will be denied.
What is Alabama’s outlook without Bediako?
Borzello: With Bediako in the fold, Alabama had close wins over Auburn and Texas A&M, a blowout victory over Missouri, and a pair of losses to Tennessee and Florida. He started two of the five games, averaging 10.0 points, 4.6 rebounds and 1.4 blocks overall.
Where his departure will be felt the most is from a depth perspective, as head coach Nate Oats has been dealing with a litany of injuries all season. He now has to turn to Noah Williamson as his primary big man off the bench. The former Bucknell transfer has struggled all season, hasn’t scored since Jan. 10 and didn’t play in either of the past two games. Starting center Aiden Sherrell, however, has an opportunity here: He has enjoyed a breakthrough campaign and was coincidentally playing the best basketball of his college career just before Bediako joined the program.
Medcalf: The Tide have the same issues they had before Bediako arrived: They’re not a great defensive team. During his first stint in Tuscaloosa, Bediako was a key player for one of the top defensive programs in America. Even though he averaged 1.4 blocks during his second-chance run, the Tide ranked 106th in adjusted defensive efficiency over that five-game stretch and allowed opponents to make 54.1% of their shots inside the arc — one of the worst marks in the country, per BartTorvik. And as Jeff said, their bigger concern without Bediako is simply the lack of players to put on the floor in a tough SEC.
Are Alabama’s three wins with Bediako at risk of being vacated?
Borzello: Vacating wins has long been a path of punishment from the NCAA, forcing programs that played players later ruled ineligible because of NCAA violations to erase those wins and records from the annals. In this case, though, it seems unlikely.
The temporary restraining order that allowed Bediako to play also stated that the NCAA is “restrained from threatening, imposing, attempting to impose, suggesting or implying any penalties or sanctions” against Bediako or Alabama. And even though the order is no longer viable, the NCAA would, in essence, be penalizing the Crimson Tide for what a judge ruled.
NCAA president Charlie Baker didn’t mention the idea of vacating wins in his brief statement in the wake of Monday’s ruling, but he did address it in an interview with Sports Illustrated last week. “For a lot of really good reasons, people who lose in court can’t turn around and punish the people who won,” Baker told SI.
How might the selection committee weigh Alabama’s run with Bediako differently than the rest of their schedule?
Borzello: The selection committee is likely to classify Bediako’s status like it does that of any other player who played only a portion of the season because of injuries, eligibility status, etc. When evaluating a team’s résumé, the committee puts its primary focus on how it performed with the group of players it will have during the NCAA tournament. For Alabama, that will be a team without Bediako. So yes, the wins over Auburn and Texas A&M count, and they will be on Alabama’s team sheet on Selection Sunday. But when the committee is comparing the Tide’s résumé to other squads’ during the seeding process, it will absolutely factor in that those wins came with a player no longer on the team.
Joe Lunardi: At the end of the day, the entire affair will end up overblown in terms of both on- and off-court impact. Bediako was a factor in his five games, yes, but he wasn’t Shaquille O’Neal. The Crimson Tide went 3-2, exactly what most projections had regardless. Bediako’s incremental contributions simply weren’t enough to affect Alabama’s overall numbers. Unless the team falls off a cliff, which no one expects, the committee needn’t spend much time on the topic. And, if they do collapse, the Tide’s issues will be much bigger than one player.
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