The latest NCAA eligibility trend has made itself clear in Tennessee basketball’s windshield. A month after Baylor added a G-League player to its roster, Alabama added its former center and current G-League player Charles Bediako to its roster ahead of the Vols’ matchup against the Crimson Tide.
A Circuit Court of Tuscaloosa County granted Bediako’s request for a temporary restraining order, giving him immediate eligibility ahead of Saturday’s rivalry matchup against Tennessee.
Meeting with the media Friday, Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes explained why he does not believe Bediako or any player in his situation should be eligible.
“I’m not making this comment based on this case or whatever happened earlier. I don’t know all the ins and outs of it,” Barnes said. “To me, it’s simply everybody comes to college and they have college eligibility. When you make the choice to give up your college eligibility, you’ve given it up … once they start that clock and they made that choice, they’ve made that choice.
“I can say that with some of the players that I’ve coached, and they would tell you that if they were standing here. But once you make the choice, you made the choice. And without diving deep into it, because we could sit here all day and talk about all the different angles— this, that, or whatever— but just in a nutshell, that’s what I think. Once you make that choice, to leave college, you’ve made that choice.”
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.
The 6-foot-11 center 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.
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Bediako spent the last 2.5 years in the G-League, playing in 34 games last season where he averaged 10.4 points and 9.4 rebounds per game. This season, Bediako is averaging just 4.3 points and 6.3 rebounds in six games played.
While Barnes believes that Bediako should not be eligible, he doesn’t necessarily blame Alabama head coach Nate Oats for pursuing the option. If this becomes the new normal in the ever changing college basketball landscape, Barnes acknowledged that he may do the same thing.
“Well, you have to adapt,” Barnes said. “I mean, there’s no doubt that’s the key to all this. You have to adapt to it. I think for us older coaches have been in it a long time, and we can go back to the days where the NCAA, you felt like they were watching every move, secret police. And now you wonder what’s going on. … All I can say is, whatever the rules become, or whatever they are, they fold into, we have to adapt. Whether we like it or not, but we’ve also got to be true to the guys that we recruit.”
That last part is where Barnes split a bit from how Alabama has handled the situation. Tennessee does not have any scholarships available currently. But the 11th-year Tennessee head coach says that he would not look to add anyone to his roster even if he did, despite its struggles early in SEC play.
“I love our team,” Barnes said. “I love the fact these guys are continuing to work, and I can say for this particular team, even though we don’t have a scholarship (available), we would not add to this roster, because we’re going to ride this horse, and we’re going to go with it, because we believe in them.”
Both the Vols and Crimson Tide are desperate for a win after a shaky start to conference play. Tennessee is 2-3 after blowing a double-digit halftime lead against Kentucky last week while Alabama is 3-2 in conference play. Tipoff between Tennessee and Alabama is at 8:30 p.m. ET at Coleman Coliseum in Tuscaloosa on Saturday night. ESPN is broadcasting the matchup.
