Ahead of Alabama's matchup in Gainesville on Sunday against Florida, Gators players and head coach Todd Golden can't stop whining and crying about the Crimson Tide's addition of Charles Bediako.
Golden has made his objections loud and clear, something that has clearly resonated in the Alabama locker room and provided extra motivation before the highly anticipated matchup.
Now Florida players are joining the chorous, most notably junior Thomas Haugh, the Gators' leading scorer.
“It’s definitely not right,” Haugh said about Bediako playing for Alabama. “This dude literally was at college, left, and then came back.”
Thomas Haugh thinks it's not right that Charles Bediako has returned to Alabama
Everybody keeps worrying about the symptoms and not the disease. The disease is the fact that the NCAA ended amateurism the first moment they allowed professional basketball players to play in college.
And a news flash for Haugh, Golden, and everyone else out there crying about it: Bediako is not the first pro to play in college. He's not the first G-League player to play in college, either. The NCAA opened this door, and now everyone is mad that it's Alabama taking advantage of it. The same as it ever was.
He's the first to leave college to enter the NBA Draft, sign a professional contract, and return. But that's an arbitrary line in the sand.
Bediako's eligibility remains hotly debated. He was granted back-to-back temporary restraining orders against the NCAA, allowing him eligibility to play for the Crimson Tide in their last two games. He'll be able to play on Sunday against Florida, and again on Wednesday against Texas A&M. His ability to continue playing for Nate Oats will be determined on Friday, February 7th.
That will be the rescheduled preliminary injunction hearing with a new judge after James Roberts, an Alabama donor, recused himself from the case at the NCAA's request.
Any lawyer will tell you that Bediako has a strong case to play, regardless of what random internet users and opposing fans might want to believe. That will be determined in a Tuscaloosa County courthouse next week.
The Alabama-Florida game will be decided on a basketball court in Gainesville, and Golden and Haugh will have to deal with Bediako. Crying to the media isn't going to change that.