Alabama tried to pull a fast one past the NCAA by having a judge in Tuscaloosa County grant a temporary restraining order that allowed Charles Bediako to suit up for the Crimson Tide this past Saturday.
The only problem? The judge, James Roberts, is a donor to the University of Alabama athletic department, and has been for some time. Talk about a conflict of interest.
On Monday, the NCAA submitted a motion to have the judge step down from the case, which makes sense to likely everyone but Nate Oats and his fans. The situation got even more complex on Monday as lawyers for the NCAA were not able to make it to Tuscaloosa in time for a hearing due to bad weather, which gave Roberts a chance to extend the temporary restraining order by 10 days after finding “good cause.”
Yes, you can also be quite certain that Alabama will find “good cause” to upgrade his tickets every now and then.
Charles Bediako, Nate Oats cross the line
It’s all part of a ploy by Oats to rig the collegiate system by bringing back Bediako, who left the program in 2023 after entering the NBA draft, also known as giving up your college eligibility. But as we have seen with Baylor and James Nnaji, sometimes a player doesn’t live up to his potential in the pros, as was the case with Bediako, who went undrafted and found himself stuck in the G-League. Instead of working on his game to improve, Bediako found a way to get back to his glory days of being worshipped by Tide fans and somehow earn more money now that NIL is in play for college athletes.
The situation, as Auburn head coach Steven Pearl calls it, is a slippery slope by allowing professional athletes to come back to the collegiate game, but as we have learned about Oats and Alabama, nothing will get in their way of winning an extra game or two, no matter how many judges they have to find that yell “Roll Tide” in the stands.