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Breaking news: The NCAA picked up a win in court on Monday!
Buy a lottery ticket and watch for Big Foot, because anything can happen.
Alabama basketball center Charles Bediako's request for a preliminary injunction to play the remainder of the season was denied by Tuscaloosa Circuit Judge Daniel Pruet on Monday, Feb. 9. Nearly three years after the 7-footer left Alabama to declare for the NBA draft, he rejoined the team for five SEC games under a temporary restraining order that now no longer restrains NCAA eligibility rules. Bediako, therefore, is done; his stretch of two-plus weeks with the Crimson Tide, at least from a legal standpoint, goes down in history as a failed experiment.
And a spectacular failure, at that.
INJURY UPDATE: Positive health news for Alabama's Latrell Wrightsell Jr. before Ole Miss
BEDIAKO: Court denies injunction for Alabama basketball’s Charles Bediako
Per Pruet, Bediako's attorney, David W. Holt, failed to meet three required elements for injunctive relief, and a full reading of his order makes it rather clear that the decision was a slam dunk for the NCAA. In the big picture, of course, it was like a slam dunk by the losing team in the closing moments of a blowout. The NCAA's eligibility rules have been riddled with so many holes by the court system, there's no real cause for it to celebrate.
But NCAA President Charlie Baker hung on the rim anyway.
"Common sense won a round today," he said in a statement, and by a round, he was clearly referencing the pummeling his organization has absorbed in so many rounds previous.
In his argument on Bediako's behalf, Holt cited precedents of G-League and overseas pros populating NCAA rosters, but couldn't argue around the fact Bediako's case was distinct from others, because he'd already played college ball once before. Bediako wanted to be considered differently, and to be clear, my position is that none of these pros — Bediako included — should be playing college basketball. Anyone who signs a contract to be paid to play basketball, in any league anywhere in the world, has no business in the NCAA.
Whether it's for the first time, or in Bediako's case, the second.
As UA coach Nate Oats noted soon after the Bediako saga began, the presence of experienced professionals in the college game is ultimately going to affect recruiting, because any college coach can win more with a 25-year-old pro than with an 18-year-old freshman.
The NCAA's near-perfect record of losing court cases brought by athletes over the past five-plus years lent some credence to the idea Bediako's case just might be successful. But as I noted after listening to nearly two hours of arguments by attorneys on both sides Friday, I can't say I'm shocked Pruet sided with NCAA governance.
Bediako's case fell shorter than an airball from halfcourt. And the NCAA, for once, actually won an eligibility squabble.
Case it in glass and put it in the museum. You might not see it again anywhere else.
Tuscaloosa News columnist Chase Goodbread is also the weekly co-host of Crimson Cover TV on WVUA-23. Reach him at [email protected]. Follow on X.com @chasegoodbread.
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: NCAA scores eligibility win, and dunked on Charles Bediako | Goodbread
Continue reading...
Buy a lottery ticket and watch for Big Foot, because anything can happen.
Alabama basketball center Charles Bediako's request for a preliminary injunction to play the remainder of the season was denied by Tuscaloosa Circuit Judge Daniel Pruet on Monday, Feb. 9. Nearly three years after the 7-footer left Alabama to declare for the NBA draft, he rejoined the team for five SEC games under a temporary restraining order that now no longer restrains NCAA eligibility rules. Bediako, therefore, is done; his stretch of two-plus weeks with the Crimson Tide, at least from a legal standpoint, goes down in history as a failed experiment.
And a spectacular failure, at that.
INJURY UPDATE: Positive health news for Alabama's Latrell Wrightsell Jr. before Ole Miss
BEDIAKO: Court denies injunction for Alabama basketball’s Charles Bediako
Per Pruet, Bediako's attorney, David W. Holt, failed to meet three required elements for injunctive relief, and a full reading of his order makes it rather clear that the decision was a slam dunk for the NCAA. In the big picture, of course, it was like a slam dunk by the losing team in the closing moments of a blowout. The NCAA's eligibility rules have been riddled with so many holes by the court system, there's no real cause for it to celebrate.
But NCAA President Charlie Baker hung on the rim anyway.
"Common sense won a round today," he said in a statement, and by a round, he was clearly referencing the pummeling his organization has absorbed in so many rounds previous.
In his argument on Bediako's behalf, Holt cited precedents of G-League and overseas pros populating NCAA rosters, but couldn't argue around the fact Bediako's case was distinct from others, because he'd already played college ball once before. Bediako wanted to be considered differently, and to be clear, my position is that none of these pros — Bediako included — should be playing college basketball. Anyone who signs a contract to be paid to play basketball, in any league anywhere in the world, has no business in the NCAA.
Whether it's for the first time, or in Bediako's case, the second.
As UA coach Nate Oats noted soon after the Bediako saga began, the presence of experienced professionals in the college game is ultimately going to affect recruiting, because any college coach can win more with a 25-year-old pro than with an 18-year-old freshman.
The NCAA's near-perfect record of losing court cases brought by athletes over the past five-plus years lent some credence to the idea Bediako's case just might be successful. But as I noted after listening to nearly two hours of arguments by attorneys on both sides Friday, I can't say I'm shocked Pruet sided with NCAA governance.
Bediako's case fell shorter than an airball from halfcourt. And the NCAA, for once, actually won an eligibility squabble.
Case it in glass and put it in the museum. You might not see it again anywhere else.
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Tuscaloosa News columnist Chase Goodbread is also the weekly co-host of Crimson Cover TV on WVUA-23. Reach him at [email protected]. Follow on X.com @chasegoodbread.
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: NCAA scores eligibility win, and dunked on Charles Bediako | Goodbread
Continue reading...
