In the famous words of Taylor Twellman: "What are we doing?"
If you haven’t heard the latest news that has college basketball spinning, Charles Bediako is coming back. The former Alabama center, who last played in college in 2023, declared for the draft, played in the G-League, signed NBA contracts, and was a professional athlete for three years.
But thanks to a judge and a temporary restraining order (TRO), he is back in college basketball. According to Jeff Goodman, Alabama plans on playing him this Saturday against Tennessee.
Mark Pope, usually focused strictly on his own team, stopped his post-game press conference near the end to speak his mind on where the NCAA is going and where it currently is.
'Regain some tiny ounce of sanity'
Pope didn't blame the coaches for taking these players; he knows the industry. But he begged the NCAA to use the one leverage point they still have: The Tournament.
"I'm going to take a minute to talk about this. You guys know, just so you get our word here on what's happening in the NCAA right now with eligibility... we're all shaking our hands being like this is so incredibly creative. I'll give you my two cents just so you have it. At some point, I don't have hard feelings towards anybody making any decision because every single college program and college coach are the most competitive people in the world. They're going to try and find any avenue they can to find an advantage. It's just what we're paid to do. It's what we do. The one stopgap that is kind of spreading right now that maybe has some legs, is kind of a last stand, is the NCAA does get to decide who gets to go to the NCAA tournament. Like, they get to decide that they have that power."
A coach stopping a press conference after a 4th straight win to discuss something he sees that is breaking the game. Guys, we should probably listen.
"And so at some point, when they've been very clear about the rules that they're going to try and enforce, they might lose in court, but they still get to decide what games count towards the NCAA tournament. And I'm not saying that to penalize any team. I'm just saying that because at some point, it is important that we take a stand and regain some tiny ounce of sanity. Until someone tells me different, I still believe the NCAA has full power over who gets in the NCAA tournament and what games they count towards your NCAA tournament bid. And at the end of the day, that is what drives all of us. So, hopefully, we'll take a stand there and clean this up for everybody. Because right now everybody is chasing their tails, and I think it's a place we can take a stand. I hope we will. This game matters too much. The NCAA tournament is too extraordinary a deal. These high school players and these young players and all these players matter too much. College basketball matters too much. It's just time to take a stand. Bring a little bit of sanity to this deal."
Can you imagine the NCAA saying we select the teams, we control who gets in, and leaving certain teams out because they played former NBA players? I know where it would go; you would have teams break away from the NCAA and develop their own leagues. And then it would be what nearly everyone has feared, just an NBA farm system. Is that really where we want to go?
Enough is enough
A little bit of sanity indeed.
There is ZERO reason a player who went pro three years ago should be back playing on a college basketball court. What incentive is there for a coach to really go out and get high school kids anymore? Why develop an 18-year-old when you can just go to the G-League wire and pick up a 24-year-old professional who will help you win immediately? And this isn't about Bediako or Alabama. I can't blame them for trying to push the envelope for wins.
But whe we are watching grown men with professional experience play against teenagers, is it really college basketball anymore?
If we want to save college basketball, and I know we all do, there has to be a stand of some sort.
Possible solutions the NIL mess
How do we fix it?
1. The "true" one-and-done rule:
If you sign a professional contract of any kind, you are forgoing your eligibility to go play college basketball. Period. This might hinder the international market, but it draws a clear line in the sand. You are either a pro, or you are a student-athlete. You cannot be both. Want to make money playing college basketball, don't go pro.
2. Abolish the Collectives:
Another way is to get rid of the third-party collectives altogether. Force schools to handle all NIL in-house. Make it all public. No backdoor deals, no random boosters reaching out to lure people to campus. That is just a first step, but it helps fix what the current NIL world has broken.
Whatever the solution is, the NCAA has to figure it out fast. Because right now, the sport we love is losing the plot.