Bucky McMillan offers perspective on Charles Bediako situation: ‘How do they make it right for us?’
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Bucky McMillan just wants what’s fair for his Texas A&M team that will likely be trying to squeeze its way into the NCAA Tournament next month.
The Aggies head coach spoke on Tuesday in the aftermath of Monday night’s ruling on Charles Bediako, the Alabama center who is no longer a part of the equation for the Crimson Tide because he was ruled to be ineligible by a judge. The frustrating and somewhat chaotic part for McMillan is that Bediako was eligible and playing last Wednesday night when Alabama took down Texas A&M, 100-97, in Tuscaloosa.
While Bediako only had 5 points, 4 rebounds and 1 assist in 19 minutes off the bench in that showdown, he was still out there and contributed to a Tide win. More importantly for McMillan, he contributed to an Aggies loss, and after falling at home to Florida over the weekend his team has suddenly lost 2 in a row as it hosts Mizzou on Wednesday night.
Texas A&M is sitting at 17-6 overall and 7-3 in the SEC, and McMillan knows that every game matters so much at this time of year with an eye toward March. And that’s why the Bediako case matters so much, even as he’s now out of the picture for the Tide.
Will the NCAA Tournament selection committee factor in that Bediako was allowed to play against the Aggies when it picks the field next month?
“We’re trying to compete and get the best seed for the SEC Tournament. I’m not talking about Alabama. I don’t care about Alabama. How do they make it right for us?” McMillan asked. “They’re not going to play with their full roster against other teams, when we had to play against their full roster. We got to look at the NCAA Tournament. You certainly know that playing those guys at full strength, and they’re not playing other teams at full strength. That’s a disadvantage to us, and we know that.”
It’ll all get sorted out come Selection Sunday, of course, but you can’t blame McMillan for doing a little politicking well ahead of time as the Bediako fallout continues.
He knows that result in Tuscaloosa last week might have been different had Bediako not been out there. But he was, the Aggies lost, and that loss could prove costly down the road.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
