Todd Golden blasts Alabama for a roster decision the SEC is now buzzing about

Florida is in the clear driver’s seat to win the regular-season title in the SEC. The Gators are 5-1 in SEC play, and that’s with clearing some of the tougher opponents within the league. 

But the buzz of the SEC right now isn’t about Florida; it is about Alabama, and even then, it isn’t about anything happening on the court. Florida coach Todd Golden weighed in on the controversy surrounding the Crimson Tide and didn’t hold back on his Thursday radio show.

Todd Golden weighs in on Charles Bediako

The controversy surrounding Alabama is their attempt to add Charles Bediako to the roster mid-season. Bediako played for Alabama for two seasons and faced Florida and Golden in 2023. He then went undrafted and has since been on a two-way contract in the NBA G-League, jumping around a couple of different teams.

But Bediako has decided he wants to come back and play college basketball, and he is suing the NCAA in order to regain his eligibility. A judge in Tuscaloosa has issued a temporary restraining order that paves the way for Bediako to play until an official hearing takes plae later this month.

Golden touched on the issue during his weekly radio show, Gator Talk:

“They were able to finagle the situation where they got a judge in Alabama who is actually a donor at Alabama to write a temporary restraining order to allow this guy to play games at Alabama. I think there’s a lot of people who aren’t necessarily happy about it and don’t necessarily agree with it. 

But with all this intervention from judges, there’s only so much the league can do, there’s only so much other member schools in the league can do. We just need some people to stand up and start taking a stand.”

Golden would later go on to say:

“We’re going to beat them anyway. If he plays, we’ll beat them anyway.”

New Era

The attempts to grab G-League guys and plug them into college basketball rosters have become a hot-button issue, and frankly, it carries implications that go beyond basketball. If Bediako is allowed to come back and legitimately play the rest of the season for Alabama, what is to stop a college football team from grabbing a guy off an NFL practice squad who might still have eligibility?

We have gone from an era where you were banned if someone dared to buy you a meal at McDonald's to an era where one can go play professional basketball elsewhere, then try to airdrop onto a roster in the middle of the season.

This is not an argument against players getting paid, because, as we here at Hail Florida Hail have taken the stance, there is far too much money being generated to pretend that the players can’t have their share of the money.

What it is an argument against is randomly plucking players midseason who clearly gave up their intention to finish out college athletics, only to beg and plead to return when the professional route didn’t work out.

Florida plays Alabama on February 1.