Dennis Gates, Mizzou Brace for Potential Charles Bediako Matchup Amid Eligibility Controversy
As Missouri prepares to face Alabama on Tuesday night, the biggest question looming over the matchup has nothing to do with a scouting report or game plan-it’s whether Alabama center Charles Bediako will even be allowed to suit up. And for Mizzou head coach Dennis Gates, the uncertainty is being treated much like an injury situation: wait and see.
Bediako’s eligibility status is at the heart of one of the most talked-about stories in college basketball right now. The 7-footer returned to the court for Alabama on Saturday against Tennessee after nearly three years away from the college game, a stretch during which he signed multiple professional contracts-including a two-way deal with the San Antonio Spurs and several Exhibit 10 contracts.
Under the NCAA’s long-standing rules, that kind of professional activity should have disqualified him from returning to college hoops. But this case is challenging those very rules.
On Tuesday morning, just hours before tipoff in Tuscaloosa, a judge is set to hear arguments on a preliminary injunction that could determine whether Bediako remains eligible to play. If granted, he’ll be cleared for action against Missouri and potentially for the rest of the season. If denied, his brief return against Tennessee could be his only appearance in a college uniform this year.
For Gates and the Tigers, the uncertainty is just part of the job.
“We’re treating it like an injury, a game-time decision,” Gates said. “If we get the information earlier, great, but he’s on the scouting report.”
That’s a pragmatic approach, but Gates didn’t stop there. In a time when many coaches are pushing back against what they see as a dangerous precedent, Gates offered a more nuanced-and frankly, more supportive-stance.
“I support all student-athletes,” he said. “And I’ve said before in a press conference, I support Bediako.”
That perspective sets Gates apart from several of his coaching peers. Florida’s Todd Golden called the situation a “slippery slope,” while Kentucky’s Mark Pope suggested the NCAA needs to reassert its authority by controlling who makes the NCAA Tournament field. Gates, on the other hand, is looking at the bigger picture of where college athletics is headed-and how it needs to evolve.
He referenced a range of scenarios where athletes have left college, pursued other opportunities-whether in the military, the Olympics, or other professional leagues-and then returned to school. And he questioned why the motivations of today’s athletes are being judged so differently.
“What has changed is not the behavior of these student-athletes, but how we judge the motivation behind it,” Gates said. “Now, representing the country is celebrated and patriotic, but they're now pursuing an economic opportunity, and that’s being framed as greedy or unfair.”
It’s a pointed observation, and one that gets at the heart of the broader debate. The NCAA is in the middle of a sea change. Between NIL, the transfer portal, and now cases like Bediako’s, the old guard of college sports is being forced to reckon with a new era-one where the line between amateur and professional is blurrier than ever.
Gates isn’t pretending it’s all simple. He acknowledges the confusion and the complexity, but he also believes the structure of college athletics is still holding up-at least for now.
“We’ve just got to understand that we’re in a changing time in college athletics, and in that changing time we’ve got to be patient, understanding,” he said. “But we also have to understand that the framework of college athletics is largely intact. It is intact.”
He pointed out that the real pressure points are concentrated at the Power Four level, where the money and talent are most prominent. That’s where the current system is being tested the most, and that’s where reform-if it comes-is likely to be focused.
As for Bediako, his case could be a turning point. He’s not the first player to challenge the NCAA’s eligibility rules after a stint in the pros, but he may be the first to do so while still under contract with an NBA team. That’s uncharted territory, and the outcome could reshape how eligibility is defined going forward.
Missouri, meanwhile, is just trying to prepare for a basketball game. Whether Bediako is on the floor or not, the Tigers will be ready. But make no mistake-the implications of Tuesday night’s matchup go far beyond the scoreboard.