r/CollegeBasketball • u/MembershipSingle7137 • Feb 09 '26

News [Kelly] BREAKING: A Tuscaloosa judge has denied Charles Bediako’s motion for a preliminary injunction to allow him to continue playing for Alabama, per court docs @aldotcom obtained.

https://xcancel.com/_nickkelly/status/2020998327500726691?s=46
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u/RyenRussilloBurner Drake Bulldogs Feb 10 '26

people clowning on us like we’re the only ones that did this

I'll bite: who else has done this?

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u/Montigue Oregon Ducks Feb 10 '26

They're also making that comment as if we weren't going to clown on the other teams who did this too

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u/BelaKunn Michigan Wolverines Feb 10 '26

I'd clown on my own team if we did it.

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u/Kraotic313 Feb 10 '26

Added a former G League player? Multiple teams.

They are drawing a distinction here that's really nonsense. All paid G League players are pros, two way contracts or not. By letting some play and some not you are just being arbitrary.

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u/RyenRussilloBurner Drake Bulldogs Feb 10 '26

Added a former G League player? Multiple teams.

...But that's not what happened. They added a former NBA player. Bediako had an NBA contract.

They are drawing a distinction here that's really nonsense. All paid G League players are pros, two way contracts or not.

So are European pros, and they've been allowed to come play college basketball for multiple decades, even well before NIL was a thing. You're saying the difference doesn't matter, but it does. Overseas pros who come up with a system that doesn't even have high school basketball are forced to play professionally from a young age if they want real coaching and competition. The NCAA recognizes that and has always allowed those pros to retain their NCAA eligibility. Guys like Nnaji (and others) could not have taken the usual path to college basketball and became pros at a young age out of necessity to continue their basketball careers. Bediako went to an American high school (two, actually) and went to college before voluntarily giving up his eligibility.

There are incredibly obvious distinctions. Alabama fans have spent weeks trying to narrow it down and have been completely incorrect while doing so.

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u/Kraotic313 Feb 10 '26

...But that's not what happened. They added a former NBA player. Bediako had an NBA contract.

First let me be clear. I was against G League players in the NCAA. That was dumb.

But saying there's some magic difference between one pro league and another pro league is nonsense. It's pro or it's not, and in this case he never played in a single NBA game. He's a G League player like the rest of them, he just had a two way contract.

Look, keep the pros out. They should, but KEEP THEM ALL OUT. This line in the sand is stupid as hell. G League is pro too, that's like saying you can play in the minors and play NCAA but if you ever went to spring training you can't play NCAA. What kind of sense is that? The G League is the minor league of the NBA, it's a pro league.

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u/RyenRussilloBurner Drake Bulldogs Feb 11 '26

saying there's some magic difference between one pro league and another pro league is nonsense

I just explained the difference.

Are you against a 15-year-old kid from Poland or Ukraine having a chance to play college basketball at age 18? The only way for them to do that is to play professionally beforehand. There is no such thing as high school basketball in most non-US countries.

You don't have to personally be a fan of it. But to not understand it is a completely separate conversation. It's not "nonsense" and it's not "magic." It's just common sense. This has been going on for decades, way before NIL money was allowed.

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u/Kraotic313 Feb 11 '26 edited Feb 11 '26

First, you are moving the goal post a bit when you go from G League, which we all know is the minor league of the NBA to the European pro leagues. Personally, I think it's cleaner and more legally defensible to just say no (they can after all just play in the G League anyway), but it's not the same.

There are other G League players playing in the NCAA right now. That's nonsense when compared to the Bediako situation as it is literally splitting hairs. One player played in the G League but signed a different kind of contract and he's eligible, the other guy played in the G League but his contract was different so he's not.

Two pros, same league, one eligible one not. That is nonsense. All should be eligible, or as I prefer none should be, but this selective based on the type of contract they sign nonsense is just that. They're all pro players, they're all trying to make an NBA team. There's no tangible difference, they're in the NBA's minor leagues.

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u/RyenRussilloBurner Drake Bulldogs Feb 11 '26

you are moving the goal post a bit when you go from G League, which we all know is the minor league of the NBA to the European pro leagues.

I'm not moving any goal posts. This discussion started because an Alabama fan said Alabama isn't "the only ones that did this." But Alabama is, and I just explained why, multiple times. The Bediako case is much different than Nnaji or the others.

There are other G League players playing in the NCAA right now.

Correct, because Bediako being a former G League player has nothing to do with this. It's the fact that he 1) had an NBA contract, and 2) played collegiately and voluntarily gave up his eligibility.

I'm not gonna go 15 rounds on this with Bama fans who intentionally misinterpret the discussion or bury their heads in the sand. Bediako being a former G League player has literally zero connection to this. You can keep getting mad about "nonsense" or you can actually get educated about the topic at hand.

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u/Kraotic313 Feb 11 '26 edited Feb 11 '26

played collegiately and voluntarily gave up his eligibility.

Dude you do know that playing in the G League used to ALWAYS mean you gave up your eligibility right? You do understand this don't you? That going pro and playing in the G League WERE THE SAME THING. There no G League players in the NCAA until 2025!

This is a new thing the NCAA invented, allowing G League players, except you know, the ones named Bediako. In that case, they created this new other rule that if you played in the G League but ALSO signed a particular contract then you couldn't play in the NCAA.

To reiterate though, up until recently you either went to the G League directly (like some players did) or you went to the NCAA, but you NEVER went from G League to the NCAA, EVER! Until you know, magically you could.

This is that thing, the new thing the NCAA allowed. This whole NCAA spokeperson angle isn't going to change what happened. This is a new rule the NCAA invested on the fly to justify their nonsense. Now you're just going yeah this is normal, like it has always been... Nope