Greg Sankey signs affidavit supporting NCAA in case against Charles Bediako
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Greg Sankey signed an affidavit on Thursday asking the judge in the Charles Bediako case to deny the Alabama center additional eligibility.
The SEC commissioner sided with the NCAA on the day before a court hearing on Friday when judge Daniel Pruet will decide whether the NCAA can enforce its eligibility guidelines against Bediako. The former Crimson Tide big man has bene allowed to return to the program he once played for, but he’s far from in the clear in being able to play for the rest of the season, and now Sankey has made it clear which side he’s on.
Friday’s hearing will make history one way or another no matter what Pruet rules, and now the man who runs the SEC is, in effect, asking a judge to deny eligibility to a player who wants to play for one of his member schools.
“I respectfully ask the Court to uphold the NCAA eligibility rules challenged in this case, which are essential to the integrity of college sports, to the educational mission they serve, and to the opportunities they provide for current and future student-athletes,” Sankey wrote in the affidavit.
The Bediako saga has caused a firestorm of controversy within the SEC and college basketball as a whole, and Sankey clearly wants that saga to end with what he believes should happen.
“Inconsistent application of the NCAA eligibility rules challenged in this case — through court rulings or otherwise — fuels disruption in college sports,” Sankey wrote.
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.
