Alabama Supreme Court denies Charles Bediako request for injunction pending appeal

Charles Bediako‘s hopes of returning to college basketball this season took another hit Friday. The Alabama Supreme Court denied his request for an interim injunction pending his appeal currently before the court, according to court documents obtained by On3’s Pete Nakos.

The 23-year-old Bediako originally filed an emergency motion with the Alabama Supreme Court earlier this week. It was an effort to return to the court for the Alabama basketball team after Tuscaloosa County Circuit Court judge Daniel Pruett denied an immediate injunction request on Tuesday.

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Bediako was ruled ineligible on Jan. 9 after Pruett denied a previous temporary injunction request in his still-pending eligibility case against the NCAA. The former NBA G-League player previously appeared in five games for the Crimson Tide across two weeks between Jan. 24-Feb. 7 after being granted a temporary restraining order (TRO) by another Tuscaloosa County judge — who recused himself due to his status as an Alabama booster — on Jan. 21.

Bediako averaged 10.0 points and 4.6 rebounds across his five appearances while shooting 77.3% from the field. The 7-footer re-enrolled at Alabama in January and was seeking to return to college basketball after spending the past 2 1/2 seasons in the NBA G League after entering the 2023 NBA Draft following two seasons (2021-23) in Tuscaloosa.

After he was granted temporary eligibility due to the TRO, there were questions about how Bediako’s return could impact NCAA Tournament seeding. That applied to both Alabama and the teams the Crimson Tide played during that span.

But according to the terms of the TRO issued by the original judge, the NCAA is unable to punish the Crimson Tide for playing Bediako. The NCAA selection committee later confirmed it would not adjust its process when it’s time to evaluate Alabama’s seeding for the NCAA Tournament. That means the Tide will not receive any punishment for allowing Bediako to play.

Alabama had a 3-2 record with Bediako in the lineup. But NCAA Tournament selection committee chair Keith Gill said Saturday that as the committee looked at the big picture, his addition likely didn’t make as much of an impact as some injuries across college basketball did. That said, it was a point of discussion.

“We certainly talked about it a lot,” Gill said on the CBS reveal show. “They were 3-2 with Bediako, 16-5 without him. We didn’t necessarily apply, like, a material change to that just because it seemed like it wasn’t as impactful as maybe some of the other injuries may or may not be.”

— On3’s Nick Schultz contributed to this report.