Opposing fans will continue banging the drum that Charles Bediako losing his preliminary injunction against the NCAA means that Alabama will have to forfeit the three games it won with Bediako on the court.
That remains nothing more than wishcasting.
It has been stated repeatedly that Alabama won't face consequences for playing Bediako. Why? Because they didn't do anything wrong.
Bediako was not an ineligible player when he played for the Crimson Tide. He was eligible due to a temporary restraining order against the NCAA. That doesn't change just because he lost the injunction hearing, no matter how bad so many want it to.
If you needed more indication of that being true, The Field of 68's Jeff Goodman provided it following a conversation with an anonymous member of the NCAA Tournament selection committee:
"Our job is to evaluate the team as they are constructed. It's not to question or consider why. There's no difference in how I'll evaluate the Bediako situation and an injured player," the committee member told Goodman.
"The only way that'll change is if the SEC or the NCAA comes out and says the wins will be vacated."
Which NCAA president, Charlie Baker, has already said won't happen, even before the NCAA's win in court. The temporary restraining order had language that explicitly prevented it, and the NCAA isn't going to open itself up to further litigation. They are going to take their rare win in court and go on home.
Alabama's NCAA Tournament standing is unaffected following Charles Bediako ruling
Alabama is a projected 5-seed in the eyes of most March Madness experts, including ESPN's Joe Lunardi. His latest update had the Crimson Tide as the No. 2 5-seed behind Vanderbilt, with plenty of opportunities to improve that standing over the final eight games of the regular season.
Lunardi took to social media on Tuesday night to back up a post made by Seth Davis that stated Alabama won't be impacted in the eyes of the committee for having played Bediako:
— Joe Lunardi (@ESPNLunardi) February 11, 2026
So that's the world's foremost NCAA Tournament expert explicitly stating it. If you don't want to believe it, that's on you.
Feel free to keep on wishing. You can do that in one hand and something else in the other and see which fills up first.