Alabama coach Nate Oats said Friday he plans to play Charles Bediako against Tennessee on Saturday, after the former Crimson Tide center was granted a temporary restraining order earlier this week to return to college basketball and play immediately.
"We are planning to play him," Oats said. "He's eligible to play. We're going to follow the court orders."
Bediako played two seasons at Alabama in 2021-22 and 2022-23 before leaving early for the NBA draft. He went undrafted and never played in an NBA game, spending the past three seasons playing for three different G League teams, suiting up as recently as last weekend for the Motor City Cruise.
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He sued the NCAA for immediate reinstatement after the organization denied Alabama's appeal for his return.
Oats pointed out that Bediako is still within the five-year window of his high school graduation and compared his situation to the numerous former European professionals who have been cleared to play college basketball.
"Since the NCAA has already allowed professionals to play -- virtually every team we've played this year or will play has a former professional player on their roster -- you tell me how I'm supposed to tell Charles and the team that we're not going to support them when he's been deemed legally eligible to play," Oats said.
"Charles shouldn't be punished for choosing to go the academic route out of high school rather than the professional route like the international players did."
Tennessee coach Rick Barnes did not mince words when asked about Bediako's eligibility for Saturday's road game.
"When you make the choice to give up your college eligibility, you've given it up," Barnes said. "And I don't care if it's someone that has been in the service, come back. Once they start that clock and they make that choice, they've made that choice."
Unlike the former pros who were granted eligibility by the NCAA -- including Baylor's James Nnaji, the first drafted player to be given eligibility in men's college basketball -- Bediako signed a two-way deal with multiple NBA teams, and the NCAA has previously given that as its line in the sand when it comes to eligibility.
Dan Gavitt, the NCAA's senior vice president of basketball, issued a statement Friday reiterating the sanctioning body's rule that says anyone who remains in the NBA draft past a certain date -- as Bediako did -- forfeits his remaining college eligibility.
"[If those rules] cannot be enforced, it would create an unstable environment for the student-athletes, schools building a roster for the following season and the NBA," Gavitt said in the statement.
The NCAA had previously released a pair of statements on Bediako's situation. On Tuesday, before a Tuscaloosa Circuit Court judge ruled that Bediako was eligible to play and that the NCAA couldn't punish Alabama in any way as a result, the organization reiterated that it "has not and will not grant eligibility to any prospective or returning student-athletes who have signed an NBA contract."
After the judge's decision, the NCAA again appealed to Congress for assistance in dealing with the constant threats on its eligibility regulations.
"These attempts to sidestep NCAA rules and recruit individuals who have finished their time in college or signed NBA contracts are taking away opportunities from high school students," the NCAA said Wednesday. "A judge ordering the NCAA let a former NBA player take the court Saturday against actual college student-athletes is exactly why Congress must step in and empower college sports to enforce our eligibility rules."
A full hearing on Bediako's request for a preliminary injunction is scheduled for Tuesday morning.
In his news conference on Friday, Oats called for an overhaul to the NCAA's system, calling it "clearly broken."
"My personal opinion on all of this is we need a uniform and transparent system that doesn't punish the Americans, that takes the hypocrisy out of it, that gives equal treatment to Americans and international players both, while also allowing high school players the opportunities they need coming out of school. Someone should be able to come up with a system that checks all those boxes," he said. "But for now, we're going to continue to support Charles."
Bediako averaged 6.6 points, 5.2 rebounds and 1.7 blocks in his two seasons at Alabama.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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