The legal team for former and current Alabama basketball player Charles Bediako just amped up their challenge against the NCAA. The lawyers have requested the current temporary restraining order allowing Bediako to play be extended until Feb. 16-18.
The justification for the TRO extension is that Bediako's lawyers have submitted a long list of questions they want the NCAA to answer before the next hearing. Nothing has been reported about a response from the Judge hearing the case, but that should be known soon.
The questions demand considerable detail about professional players now playing college basketball. those who have done so in the last three years, the NCAA's eligibility decisions in certain cases, and the total compensation earned from professional play by each player having been granted college basketball eligibility. A long list of specific players is included in the discovery request.
How quickly the NCAA can respond is not known. Neither is it known whether the Judge will approve or deny the total discovery request, or pare it down to a shorter list.
From a non-legal perspective, the request might be a volley to slow down the legal process for weeks. The legal conflict would become moot if it continues past the end of Alabama's current basketball season.
There could also be some advantage to the NCAA if a delay makes the suit moot. NCAA President Charlie Baker recently said the NCAA would not sanction Alabama by prohibiting the Crimson Tide from playing in the NCAA Tournament, "For a lot of really good reasons, people who lose in court can’t turn around and punish the people who won."
One of the loudest proponents of denying Alabama Basketball to compete in the NCAA Tournament has been, unsurprisingly, former Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl. Having been a serial NCAA rules-breaker, Pearl has amazing gall to say anything. If the extension is granted, it would extend Bediako's eligibility until after Alabama travels to Auburn on Feb. 7. Currently, he is only eligible through the Texas A&M game.
This story will be updated as new details become known.