NCAA Learns The Legal Consequences Of Making Shit Up As You Go Along

The NCAA at this point is an organization whose sole purpose is to lose in court. Wednesday brought another defeat, when an Alabama state judge granted temporary eligibility to Charles Bediako, a 23-year-old center who is seeking to rejoin the Alabama men's basketball team despite the NCAA declaring him ineligible to play.

Bediako played for Alabama for two seasons in 2021 and 2022 before declaring for the NBA draft. He was not selected, and went on to play three seasons in the G-League after briefly signing a two-way deal—a contract that allows a player to split time between an NBA team and its G-League affiliate—with the San Antonio Spurs. The NCAA tried to bar Bediako from returning to Alabama on the basis that any player who has previously signed an NBA contract, even a two-way deal, is ineligible to play college basketball.

Just like every arbitrary rule that the NCAA has attempted to apply over its long history, this one didn't stand up to much scrutiny. Bediako's lawyers successfully argued that the NCAA has, for many years, granted eligibility to players who had previously played professional basketball in Europe. Back in December, the NCAA allowed Baylor to sign James Nnaji, a 21-year-old big man who played five seasons at Barcelona before being selected 31st overall in the 2023 NBA draft.