A Charles Bediako decision is nearing with an Alabama court holding a preliminary injunction Friday. The decision of Judge Daniel Pruet will then decide Bediako’s eligibility status for the rets of the season.
The preliminary injunction is still set for Friday despite Bediako’s lawyers requesting to push back the hearing by 10 more days. Part of Bediako’s request was for the NCAA to perform a “request of admission” that listed 38 student-athletes who were former professional basketball players and are now eligible and playing in college.
That list included a pair of Tennessee basketball players— Ethan Burg and Clarence Massamba.
“Admit that you have granted eligibility to Ethan Burg, a current student-athlete at the University of Tennessee and former member of Bnei Herzliya from Israel.”
“Admit that you have granted eligibility to Clarence Massamba, a current-student athlete at the University of Tennessee and former member of AS Monaco Basket from Monaco,” Bediako’s lawyers wrote.
Both Burg and Massamba are in their first years in the Tennessee basketball program and play very limited roles. Burg, a 23-year old guard, played two seasons for Bnei Herzliya in the Israeli Basketball Premier League. Before that, Burg served two years in the Israeli military.
Massamba is 19-years old and played one season with the AS Monaco U21 team. The 6-foot-5 guard is a Paris native who came to the United States in high school and played two seasons of high school basketball. He returned to his home country as a senior and played on the U21 professional team before coming to Tennessee.
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Alabama head coach Nate Oats has frequently defended Bediako and his current eligibility by pointing out the number of foreign professionals in 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 last month after Bediako gained eligibility. “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.”
There’s one major difference between Bediako and other foreign professionals in college basketball— Bediako previously played two years at Alabama before foregoing the remainder of his college eligibility when he declared for the 2023 NBA Draft.
Other professionals, like Burg and Massamba, did not turn down college basketball to play professionally. Nor did they leave college basketball for professional opportunities after starting their eligibility clock.
A Tuscaloosa County judge originally granted Bediako’s request for a temporary restraining order on Wednesday, Jan. 21 giving him eligibility ahead of Alabama’s 79-73 loss against Tennessee in Tuscaloosa. The preliminary injunction was originally scheduled for the next week before the NCAA requested a delay due to inclement weather in the region affecting the travel of its lawyers.
The preliminary injunction was delayed until Feb. 6 and is still scheduled to happen that day after a judge denied Bediako’s request for a 10-day delay.
Bediako has played four games for the Crimson Tide under the temporary restraining order, averaging 9.5 points, five rebounds and 1.8 blocks in 21.5 minutes per game. Alabama is 2-2 in those four games. The Crimson Tide return to the court Saturday when they go on the road to face rival Auburn.
