Former Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl said Alabama bench boss Nate Oats was "selfish" to play Charles Bediako for five games in the SEC before Bediako was ruled ineligible.
“Nate said he'd play him a hundred times again. What it tells me is Nate doesn't really care about the SEC, he doesn't care about the NCAA," Pearl, now an analyst with TNT Sports, said on the broadcast Tuesday. "And it's fine - you're going to care about your student-athletes. That's fine.
"But you're a member of this conference, and you're a member of the NCAA. What about the rest of the teams? What about the rest of the players? Why should those five teams have had to play against an ineligible player? And I think it was selfish, and I think it was wrong."
Bediako spent three seasons in the G League but never appeared in an NBA game. The NCAA initially deemed him ineligible when he joined Alabama midseason. However, a Tuscaloosa Circuit Court judge granted him a temporary restraining order that immediately allowed him to play for the Crimson Tide.
On Tuesday, a county judge denied Bediako's motion for a preliminary injunction on the grounds that the player "failed to demonstrate that he is entitled to the injunctive relief he seeks." The decision revoked his temporary eligibility and ended his attempted return to college basketball.
Bediako's attorney Darren Heitner said he was "working through all of our options" when asked if his client would file an appeal to the Supreme Court of Alabama, according to ESPN's Myron Medcalf.
Bediako started in two of his five appearances for the Crimson Tide and played 21.6 minutes per contest. The 7-footer averaged 10 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 1.4 blocks per game while shooting a combined 17-of-22 (77.3%) from the floor. He scored 12 points and went 5-for-5 on Saturday in his final matchup: a 96-92 win over Auburn, now coached by Pearl's son Steven.
