Charles Bediako’s return to college basketball caused a storm. As people debated the legality and his performances on the court, Jay Bilas raised a point that offered a completely new perspective, revealing a silver lining many fans overlooked.

After the 2023 season, the Alabama center left, signed an NBA contract, played in the G League, and then got a court order to come back in January 2026. Alabama lost 79-73 to Tennessee in Bediako’s first game on January 24, but he still scored 13 points, made four dunks, stole the ball twice, and blocked it twice in 25 minutes.

Jay Bilas made an interesting observation about the controversy on The Rich Eisen Show. He noted that Charles Bediako isn’t the real problem; it’s something much bigger about college basketball today. “While college basketball fans were clutching their pearls and complaining about Charles coming from the G-League to play for Alabama, their freshmen had over 40 that day that he played his first game,” Jay Bilas stated. “I’m like, why are you worried about some G-League guys scoring 10 points? You’ve got guys scoring 40 out here. It’s fantastic.”

His opinion highlighted Tennessee’s Nate Ament, who scored 29 points as a freshman in that same game against Bediako. He is only the sixth SEC freshman to do this in 20 years. Anthony Edwards and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s performances further drive Bilas’ point home. Bediako, despite his plus-10 rating, is being outperformed by the best players of his generation.

Bediako’s eligibility situation has made things more complicated legally than just basketball merit. His lawyers asked the Alabama Supreme Court for “interim injunctive relief” so that he could keep playing while his appeal was going on. Attorney David Holt said, “The request is to put an injunction in place while the Alabama Supreme Court considers the substance of our argument as to why we believe the Circuit Court’s order was incorrect.” The NCAA has said he can’t play because it would set a bad example for recruiting former NBA players.

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The Alabama Supreme Court has yet to pass a ruling on Bediako’s future, but his real impact on the basketball court tells the real story. Alabama won three of the five games it played with Bediako. He averaged 10 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 1.4 blocks, which are good numbers but not great.

Bilas says that the whole argument is wrong. People are arguing about whether a 23-year-old with professional experience should play. But freshmen are already taking over college basketball by scoring a lot. Bediako isn’t going to change anything.

Alabama prepares for March while legal drama takes a backseat

Bediako’s legal case is still going on, but Alabama has moved on. The Crimson Tide has won six games in a row and is only thinking about one thing: being at its best when the NCAA Tournament starts. Coach Nate Oats isn’t worried about the fights on the court or the players who are coming back. He is thinking about March. With just four games remaining over the final 11 days of the regular season, Alabama is focused on its final preparations.

Oats made it very clear what was important to him. “We’ve got a lot yet to play for,” Oats said Tuesday. “The biggest thing is, we’ve got to be hitting our peak come postseason play. We’ve got to make sure we take advantage of all four games and every day, every practice day possible to be hitting our peak come postseason.”

Alabama will play Mississippi State and then Tennessee on the road. Josh Hubbard of Mississippi State scored 23 points in their first meeting, which will cause problems, but Alabama has the upper hand in the matchup. The coach reiterates that the focus is still on basketball and execution, and not on outside noise that could derail the team.