You've probably seen plenty of bitter rival fans, and a surprising few people who cover college basketball for a living, question whether or not the NCAA will punish Alabama for playing a player they deemed ineligible after Charles Bediako's injunction request against the NCAA was officially denied by a Tuscaloosa County judge on Monday.
These are not serious people.
It has been discussed ad nauseam that the NCAA isn't in a position to punish Alabama because the Crimson Tide simply abided by the initial court decision that granted Bediako a temporary restraining order and made him eligible to play. That restraining order contained language that prevented any retroactive punishment and would open the NCAA up to litigation if they went against it.
Bediako won't play for Alabama anymore. That's the extent of what the court ruling did.
And the latest NCAA Tournament bracketology projections back that up.
Joe Lunardi's latest Bracketology has the Crimson Tide as the No. 5 seed in the West Region, facing a first-round matchup against former Nate Oats assistant Bryan Hodgson in the first-round. A date with Gonzaga would likely await in the second round, with Arizona waiting in the Sweet 16. Alabama's path to a third straight Elite Eight would run through three opponents it faced in the regular season, barring a significant upset.
Lunardi's seed listing shows Alabama as the No. 2 5-seed behind Vanderbilt:
— Joe Lunardi (@ESPNLunardi) February 10, 2026
Alabama is a consensus 5-seed in NCAA Tournament projections
Lunardi's projection matches the consensus on the Crimson Tide. Bracket Matrix's data shows Alabama as the top 5-seed in the tournament. Several brackets they track have the Crimson Tide already working up to a 4-seed after an impressive week that included a home win over SEC-leading Texas A&M (at the time), and a road win over rival Auburn.
So the Bediako ruling has had zero impact on where experts see Alabama in the NCAA Tournament field. And the Crimson Tide has a great opportunity ahead of it to keep moving up.
Alabama has played the No. 1 schedule in college basketball - again - this year. And the remaining eight regular-season games are far from easy, but the schedule lightens up over the final month.
Alabama has two winnable games this week on the road against Ole Miss on Wednesday and at home against South Carolina on Saturday.
Four of the Tide's final eight regular-season opponents rank 50th or worse in KenPom. Only two - Arkansas and Tennessee - rank inside the KenPom Top 25.
A 6-2 or 7-1 finish in conference play isn't out of the realm of possibility for Oats and his team, which could see Alabama surge into the 3-seed conversation by the start of the SEC Tournament.