Alabama coach Nate Oats responds to Charles Bediako’s NCAA expulsion decision

Alabama will play the remainder of the 2025-2026 season without big man Charles Bediako after a judge denied his request for a preliminary injunction against NCAA eligibility rules. Bediako, who returned to Alabama after signing a N.B.A contract and playing in the G League, appearing in five games for the Crimson Tide.

Alabama coach Nate Oats spoke for the first time since Monday’s ruling and weighed in on the decision.

‘Very disappointed in the verdict for Charles’ Oats said Tuesday. “Regardless of the verdict, we will continue to support him here no matter what. We have to move forward with the team. We played 18 games before he came here. Some real quality wins without him. … A sad situation for him, but we have to move forward and continue to help him where we can.”

Bediako, who played two seasons for the Crimson Tide before opting out of the 2023 season NBA draftaverage 10.0 points. 4.6 rebounds and 2.0 blocks in his second stint with the team. Before joining the Crimson Tide, he was a fixture in the G League, playing for the Austin Spurs (San Antonio’s G League affiliate), Grand Rapids Gold and, most recently, the Motor City Cruise.

With Bediako in the rotation, Alabama went 3-2 with wins over Auburn, Texas A&M and Missouri. Oats defended and doubled down on the decision when asked if it was worth bringing him back to Alabama despite playing in just five games.

“There was an opportunity to help one of our former players,” Oats said. “He was within his five-year term. He’s trying to get his degree. That’s the point. My job as a head coach is to try to do the right thing by our guys. Charles is one of our guys. That was the right thing to do by one of our guys. … We’re going to continue to help his basketball development. We’re going to continue to help his development as a student, as a student-athlete. It was 100% worth it. I would do the same. 100 times out of 100 for all of our guys.”

With Bediako out, Alabama can rely on Bucknell’s transfer of Noah Williamson for even more minutes at the center position. Williamson has played in 21 games this season and is averaging just under nine minutes per game. Oats also mentioned the possibility of going with smaller lineups, with Taylor Bol Bowen at center.

“He’s going to have to start playing hard again and give us a lot of effort,” Oats said of Williamson. “You look back at what he was able to do in the game against Kentucky when he was big Aidan [Sherrell] went out with the injury. He will have to give us those kinds of minutes in the future. We can also go small.”

Alabama will play its first game without Bediako since Wednesday’s ruling against Ole Miss. The Crimson Tide is ranked No. 4 in CBS Sports’ latest Bracketology projections.