In the moments after his Alabama men’s basketball team’s dreams of a Final Four were dashed, coach Nate Oats shifted his attention to the subject that, for better or worse, defined the Crimson Tide’s 2025-26 season.
After falling to No. 1 seed Michigan 90-77 in the Sweet 16 on Friday, March 27 in Chicago, Oats addressed Alabama’s lack of rebounding against Michigan by mentioning a player who didn’t — and couldn’t — suit up for the Tide.
Former G-League player Charles Bediako’s painfully prolonged fight for additional eligibility captured the attention of much of the college basketball world for nearly a month as the former Alabama center tried to return to the program he left in 2023 when he declared for the NBA Draft.
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Thanks to a temporary restraining order granted to him by an Alabama judge, Bediako was able to play five games for the Tide, averaging 10 points and 4.6 rebounds during a stretch in which his team went 3-2.
It was a short-lived reunion, though, with the temporary restraining order expiring and another Tuscaloosa, Alabama circuit court judge denying Bediako’s motion for a preliminary injunction, effectively ending his season and his college career.
Though the Bediako drama was resolved more than a month ago, Oats couldn’t help but think of the impact the seven-foot center would have had for a team that had an underwhelming frontcourt for much of the season.
“We know we’ve got to get bigger,” Oats said. “Some of it was injuries and stuff that happened. When we saw the opportunity to bring some size on after all the adversity we went through and after (James) Nnaji was declared eligible and most people, including ourselves, thought if they were going to declare Nnaji eligible that Bediako would be eligible. We had one judge who thought so. He would’ve definitely helped the situation with the rebounding…We would not have gotten out-rebounded by 13 tonight had we been able to continue to play him.”
“It wasn’t meant to be,” Oats added later. “God had something different in store for us.”
Though he never played in an NBA game, Bediako was in the G-League for three seasons and played a game for the Motor City Cruise only a few days before he was granted the temporary restraining order to return to Alabama.
In the loss to Michigan, the Tide were outrebounded 46-32 and gave up 13 offensive boards.
The Sweet 16 appearance was Alabama’s fifth in the past six years. Prior to that run, the Tide hadn’t made it to the second week of the tournament since 2004.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Nate Oats says Charles Bediako would have helped Alabama in Sweet 16 loss to Michigan
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