{"id":1183875,"date":"2026-01-21T13:47:21","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T19:47:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wnsp.com\/wordpress\/?p=1183875"},"modified":"2026-01-21T13:47:21","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T19:47:21","slug":"former-alabama-star-charles-bediako-granted-ability-to-return-to-school-nearly-3-years-later","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wnsp.com\/wordpress\/former-alabama-star-charles-bediako-granted-ability-to-return-to-school-nearly-3-years-later\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Alabama Star Charles Bediako Granted Ability to Return to School Nearly 3 Years Later"},"content":{"rendered":"

Every day that goes by in this era of college athletics, things seem to get more and more insane by the day.<\/p>\n

But the latest development with the Alabama Crimson Tide men\u2019s basketball team may just be the most wild one yet.<\/p>\n

Former Alabama center Charles Bediako, who left the program for the NBA Draft almost three years ago following his sophomore year after the 2022-23 season, was attempting a return to college basketball after two full season\u2019s in the NBA\u2019s developmental G League.<\/p>\n

News broke on Tuesday evening that the seven-foot-tall Bediako was already enrolling in classes at Alabama while the legal proceeding took shape \u2014 and now there is a solution.<\/p>\n

As reported Wednesday morning by various outlets, Bediako was granted a temporary restraining order, which allows him immediate eligibility to participate in all Alabama men\u2019s basketball activities and games.<\/p>\n

The order \u2014 which was\u00a0revealed by ALdotcom<\/a>\u00a0to have been signed by Tuscaloosa County Circuit Court judge James H. Roberts \u2014 is only in effect for 10 days, or until a hearing can be held, which is currently set for January 27, according to the preliminary injunction.<\/p>\n

If the injunction is denied, Bediako would only be eligible to play in one game, which is this Saturday against the Tennessee Volunteers.<\/p>\n

Clearly though, the NCAA\u2019s power and ability to enforce its own eligibility requirements continues to diminish, and it seems Bediako is going to have a great shot at being eligible for the rest of the season.<\/p>\n

His decision to enter the draft in March of 2023 controversial at the time, and critics ended up cashing in on that when he went undrafted.<\/p>\n

\u201cHad Mr. Bediako had more foresight to see the paradigm-shifting changes coming to compensation for NCAA athletes, he likely would still be on campus playing for the University of Alabama right now,\u201d the complaint from his representation reads.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the NCAA recently began to reinstate players with G League experience, and even players who had entered and been selected in the NBA Draft, Mr. Bediako saw this as a chance to right a wrong decision that he had regretted over the past three years.\u201d<\/p>\n

A standout defender for two seasons in Tuscaloosa, Bediako was among the best interior rim protectors in the nation and a key piece of the SEC title winning 2022-23 Crimson Tide squad.<\/p>\n

Since his departure, the program has\u00a0struggled immensely\u00a0with trying\u00a0to replace him.<\/p>\n

His return \u2014 though controversial \u2014 certainly makes\u00a0Nate Oats\u2018 team this year much better if it does in fact stick.<\/p>\n

Bediako\u2019s initial request to return to Alabama was denied by the NCAA, which was why the injunction was filed and ultimately undermined the decision of the organization.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s just the latest example of their being no enforcement arm whatsoever in college athletics today, and could potentially open the floodgates for other athletes to return to school from the professional ranks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Every day that goes by in this era of college athletics, things seem to get more and more insane by the day. But the latest […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":4874,"featured_media":1183876,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,91,147],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1183875","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-crimson-tide-bama-tide","8":"category-alabama","9":"category-featured-news"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/wnsp.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/eco230222033_usc_ala_.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wnsp.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1183875","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wnsp.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wnsp.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wnsp.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4874"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wnsp.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1183875"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wnsp.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1183875\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1183877,"href":"https:\/\/wnsp.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1183875\/revisions\/1183877"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wnsp.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1183876"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wnsp.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1183875"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wnsp.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1183875"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wnsp.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1183875"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}