Todd Golden on the return of Bediako: "We'll beat them anyways"
“Morons. I’ve got morons on my team.” – Strother Martin as Percy Garris in the 1969 film “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid”
You realize that Percy Garris could have been talking about today’s NCAA, which, in its infinite wisdom, has a mess on its hands that could have and should have been avoided. Oh, if only this organization which is supposedly headed up by smart people who are backed up by supposedly smarter people – college and university presidents – had a lick of common sense. College and university presidents typically have one thing in common, which is a PhD. It’s supposed to mean they’re very smart, but in reality it only means they went to school longer than 99.9 percent of the people on the planet.
As they say on the street, PhD means “piled higher and deeper.”
Here we have an organization that gives waivers to athletes who are now in their sixth or seventh year playing a sport yet in 2023 denied wide receiver Tez Walker’s appeal to transfer closer to home due to mental health issues. Trinidad Chambliss, who came within a whisker of leading Ole Miss to the national championship game in football, was denied another year yet in almost the same week, the NCAA granted another year of eligibility to Michigan’s Rod Moore.
Should we have any hope that the NCAA is going to win in an Alabama court Tuesday when there is a hearing that will determine the eligibility of Charles Bediako, who has spent two years playing in the G-League after leaving early for the NBA Draft in 2023? The hearing is in Tuscaloosa in front of a judge who just happens to be an Alabama booster.
We’ve got a transfer portal for football totally out of control – some 3,370 were in it as of the latest count by On3 – and who knows how many basketball players are going to hit the portal in April? Thousands for sure. And here we have an organization that is supposed to lead and set the example presiding over chaos that is without a clue how to bring order back to the situation.
Here is where the problem began. The NCAA has rules which have been selectively enforced for decades. You want to tell me the NCAA didn’t have a bulls-eye on Charley Pell’s back while at the same time turning a blind eye to what Vince Dooley was doing up at Georgia? A lot of people who keep track of such things will swear to this day that Vince and Georgia paid Herschel Walker more money than all the combined worth of all 109 violations against Pell and Florida.
And now, because of selective enforcement that spans decades and in just about every sport played collegiately the NCAA keeps finding itself in court where it consistently gets an ass-whooping. Why? Because all these smart people never figured out that if you have rules, you don’t bend them for one and come down like a ton of bricks on someone else for the same violations.
So what does the NCAA want to do? Go, hat in hand, to Congress to beg for a law that will prevent local yokel booster judges to grant a waiver to some player who wants to come back.
Al Horford will be 40 years old on June 3. He’s still a very good NBA player and such a vital force in the locker room that he makes millions. Al also has a year of eligibility remaining. If the judge says Bediako can play, it will open the door for someone like Al to come back for another year. Don’t think for a nano-second that Florida boosters wouldn’t pony up the money for Big Al to come back for another year. Do you think Todd Golden would love to have him next year when, in all likelihood, Rueben Chinyelu, Tommy Haugh, Alex Condon and Micah Handlogten leave for the NBA?
Now, Golden, to his credit, isn’t fazed by Bediako’s return. The Gators play Alabama at the O-Dome on February 1. On Gator Talk Thursday night, Golden addressed the idea that the Gators could be facing Bediako.
“The reality is I don’t agree with it and I don’t think he should be playing,” Golden said. “… They were able to finagle the situation where they got a judge in Alabama that is actually a donor at Alabama to write a temporary restraining order to allow this guy to play games at Alabama … This guy had a great opportunity. He was at Alabama for two years and was there during the NIL era. He was aware of what he was giving up by declaring to go into the draft. He stayed in past the date. It’s always been that if you stay in and you sign a contract you are done.”
It seems doubtful the judge will lift the restraining order on Tuesday. By the time this makes it through the courts, the college basketball season could be over. Meanwhile, the Gators and Alabama will be playing on February 1.
Is Golden concerned?
“We are going to beat them anyway,” Golden said. “If he plays, we’ll beat them anyways.”
WHAT THEY’RE SAYING ABOUT CHARLES BEDIAKO RETURNING
Matt Norlander of CBSSports.com: “We're going to have a burst of coverage and reaction surrounding that Alabama game on Saturday night, regardless of whether or not Bediako takes the floor. But the day to circle is next Tuesday, when a longer hearing is scheduled that will arbitrate the case in full and determine whether or not Bediako will be allowed to suit up for the remainder of the season. Playing him before that hearing only inflames the situation. Alabama coach Nate Oats should reconsider, because if Bediako plays once and then is yanked off the team, this sideshow will look even more ludicrous … The plot thickens by the hour as a user on College Basketball Reddit discovered Thursday morning that the judge in the case, James H. Roberts, is an active, six-figure donor to Alabama athletics. No conflict of interest there, right?”
Sam Vecenie of The Athletic: “Bediako made a poor choice in 2023, whether that was of his own volition or based on bad advice. But because he’s still within his five-year eligibility clock window — one area that the NCAA has consistently won in court — he technically still has a semester of eligibility remaining … Bediako is now crawling back to campus because his professional career hasn’t gone the way he’d hoped, as he averaged five points per game in the G League this season. His attempt to return threatens to tear apart the fabric of the tenuous detente between the NBA and college basketball, which have long allowed the two groups to exist as separate, but mutually beneficial entities.”
Dan Wetzel of ESPN: “No offense to Bediako, but almost no one wants this, let alone 27-year-old quarterbacks or ninth-year point guards, or whatever comes next … Seemingly every league -- from T-ball to the NFL -- has rules, calendars and procedures that determine how rosters are built. The NCAA should as well … A simple, skinny federal eligibility bill that protects from this constant barrage of court cases is what the NCAA should be pushing Congress to adopt. Nothing more and nothing less. That's a popular and bipartisan issue … Unless you were hoping to see LeBron James in March Madness.”
Saturday’s SEC games
Auburn (12-7, 3-3 SEC) at No. 16 FLORIDA (14-5, 5-1 SEC)
No. 15 Vanderbilt (16-3, 3-3 SEC) at Mississippi State (10-9, 2-4 SEC)
Tennessee (12-6, 2-3 SEC) at No. 17 Alabama (13-5, 3-2 SEC)
LSU (13-6, 1-5 SEC) at No. 20 Arkansas (14-5, 4-2 SEC)
No. 21 Georgia (16-3, 4-2 SEC) at Texas (11-8, 2-4 SEC)
South Carolina (11-8, 2-4 SEC) at Texas A&M (15-4, 5-1 SEC)
Ole Miss (11-8, 3-3 SEC) at Kentucky (13-6, 4-2 SEC)
Oklahoma (11-8, 1-5 SEC) at Missouri (13-6, 3-3 SEC)
SEC teams in kenpom.com national rankings: 10. FLORIDA 14-5; 15. Vanderbilt 16-3; 18. Alabama 13-5; 21. Arkansas 14-5; 23. Tennessee 13-6; 25. Kentucky 13-6; 26. Georgia 16-3; 30. Auburn 12-7; 37. Texas A&M 15-4; 41. Texas 11-8; 42. LSU 13-6; 55. Missouri 13-6; 62. Oklahoma 11-8; 69. Ole Miss 11-8; 72. South Carolina 11-8; 85. Mississippi State 10-9
SEC teams in barttorvik.com national rankings: 8. FLORIDA 14-5; 13. Vanderbilt 16-3; 17. Alabama 14-5; 19. Tennessee 13-6; 30. Texas A&M 15-4; 21. Arkansas 14-5; 29. Georgia 16-3; 33. Auburn 12-7; 39. Kentucky 13-6; 42. Texas 11-9; 48. LSU 13-6; 64. Missouri 13-6; 72. South Carolina 11-8; 83. Oklahoma 11-8; 87. Ole Miss 11-8; 93. Mississippi State 10-9
Barttorvik top 10 conference rankings: 1. SEC; 2. Big 10; 3. Big 12; 4. ACC; 5. Big East; 6. Mountain West; 7. West Coast; 8. Atlantic 10; 9. Missouri Valley; 10. American
SEC teams in Joe Lunardi bracketology (as of January 23)
West (1. Arizona): 5. Alabama; 7. Tennessee
Midwest (1. Michigan): 4. Vanderbilt; 9. Auburn
East (1. Duke): 5. Arkansas; 7. Kentucky; 9. Texas A&M
South (1. UConn): 4. FLORIDA; 7. Georgia
SEC teams in CBS bracketology (as of January 23)
Midwest (1. Michigan): 8. Tennessee
South (1. Purdue): 5. Arkansas; 6. Georgia; 8. Auburn
East (1. Duke): 4. FLORIDA; 6. Kentucky; 9. Texas A&M
West (1. Arizona): 3. Vanderbilt; 5. Alabama; 11. Missouri (play-in)
Ole Miss’ loss wasn’t so much by a “whisker” as it was a non-called defensive pass interference call….