On Tuesday, former Alabama basketball player Charles Bediako filed a lawsuit against the NCAA, looking to return to the Crimson Tide. Bediako had been playing professional basketball in the G-League after entering the 2023 NBA Draft, where he was not selected by an NBA team.
Later on that day, the NCAA responded with a public statement about the lawsuit. The organization did not share Bediako’s way of thinking.
“The NCAA is aware of media reports about a lawsuit filed against the NCAA by Charles Bediako,” the NCAA wrote in a statement provided to AL.com. “Mr. Bediako signed three NBA contracts after competing in college for two seasons. The NCAA has not and will not grant eligibility to any prospective or returning student-athletes who have signed an NBA contract. Eligibility rules ensure high school students get a shot at earning scholarships, and we will continue to consistently apply and defend these rules.”
Bediako has signed a two-way contract in the G-League, something NCAA president Charlie Baker has said will make players ineligible to return. He is seeking both temporary and permanent injunctive relief in Tuscaloosa Circuit Court.
Even temporary relief would be enough to allow Bediako to play for the Crimson Tide this season. Alabama has struggled on the glass, and the center would likely be a major contributor in that area, as well as on defense, for Alabama.
The NCAA also pointed to a previous statement that UA head coach Nate Oats made on the idea of G-League players returning to college basketball.
“If they’re eligible and somebody else is going to get them, I wouldn’t say that I’d be one of the guys that was necessarily for it to begin with,” Oats said on SiriusXM’s SEC This Morning show. “Because I think it’s taking away opportunities from kids coming out of high school. I was a high school coach for 11 years. I wanted my 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 that you can get, then you probably have to go after them.”
The organization also noted that it has had some success defending eligibility lawsuits, claiming that, out of 52 filed eligibility suits, 26 preliminary injunctions have been denied, while 10 have been granted. The NCAA said eight cases are still pending and eight others were dismissed voluntarily.
Alabama plays Tennessee Saturday in Tuscaloosa.