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Report: Charles Bediako attorneys request delay in preliminary injunction hearing set for Friday

by: Alex Byington02/04/26_AlexByington

The legal team for Alabama center Charles Bediako has filed a motion in Tuscaloosa County court on Wednesday to postpone Friday’s preliminary injunction hearing to Feb. 16-18, according to CBS Sports’ Mike Rodak. This would be the second delay in the hearing originally scheduled for Jan. 27.

The 23-year-old Bediako is seeking preliminary and permanent injunctive relief after the NCAA previously ruled the former NBA G-League player ineligible to return to college basketball last month. The 7-footer has played in Alabama‘s last three games and is set to appear again in Wednesday night’s game against Texas A&M after a prior presiding judge granted Bediako a temporary restraining order (TRO) on Jan. 20 that effectively deemed him eligible until his case could be heard in court. That same judge extended that TRO an additional 10 days on Jan. 26 after the NCAA’s lawyer couldn’t make that Tuesday’s hearing due to the winter storm that swept through the Southeast last week.

Bediako’s legal team is requesting the 10-day delay to provide the NCAA time to answer multiple discovery questions prior to Friday’s hearing, according to a copy of the motion posted by CBS Sports. Among those inqueries is a complete list of all Division I basketball players with previous experience playing in any professional league prior to the NCAA granting them collegiate eligibility, this would seemingly include European players that played overseas. They also request the NCAA confirm on the record that it has granted eligibility to a total of at least 38 current student-athletes that reportedly have prior experience playing professional basketball in Europe. Bediako’s team also requests a list of all college basketball players that have been denied eligibility by the NCAA in the last three years on the grounds they previously played in a professional league.

Should newly-appointed Tuscaloosa County Circuit Court Judge Daniel Pruet approve the plaintiff’s request for a 10-day delay, he’d also likely be asked to extend the original TRO that expires on Friday after previous judge James “Jim” Roberts extended it an additional 10 days last week. Following Wednesday night’s game against the Aggies, the Crimson Tide (14-7, 4-4 SEC) travel to rival Auburn on Saturday with another road game at Ole Miss on Feb. 11 and a home game vs. South Carolina on Feb. 14.

Despite Bediako’s presence, Alabama fell from the Top 25 rankings this week after losing two of the three games in which the 7-footer has appeared in. Still, there are many around the sport that believe Bediako could still be a difference-maker for the Tide, especially once other players on the roster return to full health. Whether he’ll get that chance will utlimately be up to Pruet.