No, not that one,
Goodbye college basketball.
Goodbye college basketball.
Bediako
- Thread starter SPK145
- Start date
I like how they all come crawling back to college now when they realize they suck and won’t make the NBA.
I assume Alabama coach already said yes, otherwise he would be attending a school where coach said yes.
Favorite comment I saw about this: "Dude declared for the NBA Draft before Barbie and Oppenheimer were in theatres."
Seriously, he played a year in college already, then left college and declared for the draft. Then played professionally for 2 and a half years. And now he's coming back to college? What, to play until he's pushing 30?
Seriously, he played a year in college already, then left college and declared for the draft. Then played professionally for 2 and a half years. And now he's coming back to college? What, to play until he's pushing 30?
I get what Forde is saying, but can we also not pretend any longer that the job of Division I college coaches is not entirely about putting the best assemblage of talent out there, assuming no actual criminals? He and his brethren are paid millions of dollars per year, and so are their best players. The rest are making nice salaries, too. It's professional, minor league basketball hosted and housed by colleges and universities, which is weird, but that's what took shape.
So, yes, Oats sounds silly when he virtue signals about opportunities for high schoolers. And Forde sounds silly when he criticizes Oats for admitting that either he takes the guy or someone else will. I guess some coaches are still caught in that odd rhetorical space where the NCAA and many coaches still use ridiculous terms like "student-athlete" while coaching professional players, a great deal of whom are no longer remotely acquainted with the classroom, at least in any earnest way. (Some are, yes, and more power to them.)
It's like they're all still figuring out how to act now that the professionalism is all above board and in the public view, and they are no longer (or barely) beholden to the hypocritical language of amateur collegiate athletics.
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THIS plus Carson Beck, the Miami quarterback's comments about not having any classes tells you all you need to know about the state of "college" football. A sham..... but the fans love it.......cheering wildly for the hired guns.
Let’s bury the hatchet with Powell and get him back for the rest of the season could use his offense
Maybe we will get Kadary back. Surely those bouts of general soreness entitles him to more eligibility
Charles Bediako gets TRO for Alabama return in NCAA lawsuit
Myron Medcalf
Jan 21, 2026, 12:06 PM ET
Former Alabama standout Charles Bediako, who entered the 2023 NBA draft and signed a two-way contract with the San Antonio Spurs that year, has been granted a temporary restraining order to return to the Crimson Tide and college basketball immediately, a judge ruled Wednesday.
Bediako, who went undrafted and never appeared in an NBA game after he played on two NCAA tournament teams at Alabama in 2021-22 and 2022-23, had sued the NCAA a day earlier after it denied the school's appeal to allow him to return to college basketball.
The judge's monumental ruling came hours after NCAA president Charlie Baker reiterated that Bediako and other players who've signed NBA contracts would not be granted eligibility to play college basketball.
The case could potentially reshape the sport in a turbulent time. While the NCAA has recently cleared international players with professional experience and G League players, those athletes had not previously played college basketball. This is the first time a player who entered an NBA draft and signed an NBA contract after playing college basketball has been given the chance to return to Division I basketball.
James H. Roberts Jr. of the Tuscaloosa (Alabama) Circuit Court ruled that Bediako "is immediately eligible" to participate in all team activities with the Crimson Tide. He also ruled that the NCAA is "restrained from threatening, imposing, attempting to impose, suggesting or implying any penalties or sanctions" against Bediako, Alabama, its coaches or players.
The temporary restraining order is valid for 10 days. A full hearing on Bediako's request for a preliminary injunction will happen Tuesday at 9 a.m. local time.
"The University of Alabama supports Charles and his ongoing efforts to be reinstated for competition while he works to complete his degree," Alabama said in a statement.
"These attempts to sidestep NCAA rules and recruit individuals who have finished their time in college or signed NBA contracts are taking away opportunities from high school students," the NCAA said in a new statement Wednesday. "A judge ordering the NCAA let a former NBA player take the court Saturday against actual college student-athletes is exactly why Congress must step in and empower college sports to enforce our eligibility rules."
In his initial complaint against the NCAA, Bediako cited the eligibility of Baylor center James Nnaji, the 31st pick in the 2023 NBA draft who was cleared to play college basketball in December despite playing in the NBA's summer league and multiple years with EuroLeague standout FC Barcelona. Bediako's initial complaint stated that the NCAA has been biased toward the international players with professional experience who had recently been cleared to play.
"The NCAA's recent reinstatement of James Nnaji, along with other European professional players, has shown that its current application of eligibility rules favor players who have competed internationally over athletes who have pursued domestic opportunities," Bediako's complaint said. "Despite being selected 31st overall in the NBA Draft, Nnaji was recently reinstated and will have four seasons of NCAA eligibility. This, despite Nnaji playing professionally for at least three seasons in Europe, including two for powerhouse FC Barcelona. The NCAA's rules also create an entirely arbitrary distinction between student athletes who go directly from high school to professional competition and those who initially enroll in college, later leave for the draft, and then seek to return."
The case could open the floodgates for other former college basketball stars who've signed two-way contracts or even full NBA contracts and want to return to college basketball -- a potential scenario Tom Izzo, Dan Hurley, John Calipari and other leaders in the sport have highlighted. When Louisville announced the commitment of London Johnson, the second G League player who'd been cleared by the NCAA, in October, Izzo envisioned the scenario that's unfolding with Bediako.
"Someone is going to say, 'Well, if they go pro and it doesn't work out, they should be able to come back,'" said Izzo, who added that college basketball has "no rules" right now.
UConn AD David Benedict told ESPN's Pete Thamel that he's imploring Baker and the NCAA to take a stand in eligibility cases where there are NCAA rules being circumvented by a judge's ruling.
"If legally we can't control or impose NCAA rules in terms of who can play and who can't, based on a legal decision, the NCAA still has the right to determine what games count toward the NCAA tournament. And what games don't count," Benedict said.
"The NCAA has deemed [Bediako] ineligible. Fine, he can play [on a judge's ruling]. It doesn't mean the games need to count toward the NCAA tournament. Otherwise, throw away the rulebook and set it on fire. There are no rules."
Earlier this month, Alabama coach Nate Oats said Nnaji and other former professional and G League players who've secured college eligibility would hurt high school kids seeking opportunities in college basketball. But he also noted that he would consider going after those same players if he could.
"I wouldn't say I'd be one of the guys that was necessarily for it to begin with because I do think it's taking away opportunities from kids coming out of high school," Oats said on SiriusXM Radio. "I was a high school coach for 11 years. I wanted kids to get opportunities when they left my program. This is taking opportunities away from those kids. But on a competitive level, if it's allowable and they're going to be eligible to play and they're the better players you can get, then you probably gotta go after them."
The other professional players, including the European prospects who turned to college basketball as the next steps in their development, had never played Division I basketball. That's why Bediako's case is unique.
In his initial complaint, Bediako said he would have stayed at Alabama had he known that revenue sharing and NIL opportunities would be available to him in the future. He also cited injuries and his struggles to find a spot at the next level -- he never appeared in any NBA games -- in his request to play college basketball again.
Based on the NCAA's five-year window, Bediako can join Alabama for the rest of the season -- depending on what happens at his next hearing -- before his eligibility is exhausted. He'll join Alabama, which will face Tennessee in Tuscaloosa on Saturday, as it wades through defensive struggles (67th in adjusted defensive efficiency).
In two seasons at Alabama, Bediako averaged 6.6 PPG, 5.2 RPG and 1.7 BPG. In his most recent season with the Crimson Tide (2022-23), Alabama had the No. 3 defense in America.
And you believe it...what he said was in jest. He did have fall semester courses he was enrolled in. His eligibility was done so since he is an nfl draft hopeful as well he doesn't have any credit needed for a spring semester.
Whoa whoa whoa let’s go easy on the assumptions Source. There’s plenty of room for the “legally challenged” in our game too. Dior Johnson is currently leading the nation in scoring last I checked.
Forgetting for a moment that it probably doesn't matter, but do these players have to actually be enrolled in the college, as a student? Do they technically have to have a course schedule?
I am not only thinking of these latest examples of ex-pro's coming back, but the Beck comments about having graduated, having no classes, etc. I mean....how far are they taking this?
I guess I haven't quite been unburdened of all my naïveté. So, yeah, them too, I guess!
At this time, they still have to play the game and go through the motions of being enrolled and all that silly stuff. (And again, much respect to the people who actually are enrolled, attending classes, and taking it seriously toward some earnest pursuit of a degree. That remains a decent perk in all this). But why? It's past the point where this ought to be required. Make it optional. Universities are just essentially lending their names and facilities to this developmental league operation. It almost seems unreasonable to require these professional athletes to maintain the charade of being students (unless, of course, they want to!).
A note about Carson Beck, though: His offhand comment has really taken on a life of its own. He has been enrolled in and taken grad-level classes for the past two years. Are they all part of an earnest attempt to get a master's? Doesn't seem that way, but he's actually not just been a ringer who has never taken a class since his bachelor's degree.
Sorry.... he explicitly said andI detected no jest.... "no classes. I graduated 2 years ago". I understand there's something about advanced degrees, etc. But my contention still stands. Glad we have a jest detector amongst us.
Thanks for pointing this out. He could have chosen his words a bit more carefully. But there are plenty of folks out there who will mistakenly seize on what he said to claim he had no business playing football.
What is tro? You offer insightful info. but trying to decipher your lingo is like building a 20,000 piece jigsaw puzzle
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Who do you believe? The guy who said he took no classes... or the guy who seems to be giving Beck cover. I don't know for sure ..... but that doesn't change the lousy state of college sports. If Beck attended classes good for him..... ???? why he said what he said adds doubt to the story.
OUT
Said another way, the veteran Associated Press journalist who reported an easily verifiable fact (which as been corroborated by others) or the quarterback who made a flippant remark? Wouldn't a sports reporter rather dig into the story about a quarterback in the national championship game who, as it turns out, hasn't attended a class in two years if that were in any way true? Why on earth would he give him cover?