Alabama head coach Nate Oats opened his press conference Friday by noting that the current NCAA eligibility system is broken. Oats followed that preface up by defending Charles Bediako’s ability to be eligible and Alabama’s decision to play him on Saturday against Tennessee.
“You tell me how I am supposed to tell Charles and the team that we’re not going to support him when he’s been deemed legally eligible to play,” Oats said. “Charles is still within his five year window. He’s 23-years old. He’s pursuing his degree here at Alabama. We’ve got a roster spot open so this is not taking any opportunities away from a high school recruit or anybody else. … I know Charles will draw a lot of attention for this game but we are going to play him. He’s eligible to play. We’re going to follow the court orders.”
Bediako played two years at Alabama before declaring for the 2023 NBA Draft. After going undrafted, Bediako signed a two-way contract with the San Antonio Spurs. He has not played in the NBA, rather spending the last 2.5 years in the G League in the Spurs, Denver Nuggets and Detroit Pistons organization.
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Oats made the case for Bediako’s eligibility while pushing back against professional players, particularly in Europe, being eligible to come play college basketball.
“We’ve got to come up with a uniform and transparent system that doesn’t give preferential treatment to international players like the current system does,” Oats said. “To play four years professionally and then come here. Is it good for the sport? At some point we’ve got to get it to where everybody has a uniform, transparent, we all know who we can recruit and who we can’t recruit. That doesn’t give preferential treatment to international players. Once they figure that out, we’ll be great.”
The seventh-year Alabama coach noted that nearly everyone the Crimson Tide has played this season has had a former professional on it. That’s the case with Tennessee who has both Clarence Massamba and Ethan Burg on its roster.
Bediako started for the Crimson Tide’s 2023 SEC Championship team. A high-level rim protector, Bediako averaged 6.4 points, six rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game in a season the Crimson Tide was the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament.
