Selection Committee Vice Chairman comments on evaluation process for Alabama amid Charles Bediako ruling
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Selection Committee Vice Chairman Martin Newton has a job to do, and it can often get dicey come March.
That’s when Selection Sunday rolls around, and the man who helps lead the way in picking the NCAA Tournament field has to wade through a lot of factors concerning a lot of teams. One of those teams that will be up for debate next month is Alabama, which isn’t ranked right now but has been all over the college basketball spectrum this winter.
The Crimson Tide have been ranked, of course, and they’re a solid 6-4 in the SEC, with another game to play on Wednesday night at Ole Miss. That matchup will be watched closely because of who won’t be playing for Alabama. The Tide will be without center Charles Bediako, who was ruled to be ineligible by a judge on Monday night and is now not part of the equation for Nate Oats’ team.
But what about those games the past few weeks when Bediako was a part of the team? Bediako made his much-anticipated return to the Crimson Tide on Jan. 24, and he played through last Saturday against Auburn, so that’s 2 weeks right in the middle of the SEC season when Bediako was part of the rotation.
Now, he won’t be, and Newton was asked on Tuesday on the 3 Man Front show on WJOX 94.5 FM in Alabama about how the Tide will be evaluated come March when it’s time to pick the NCAA Tournament field.
“We’re in uncharted waters, right?” Newton admitted. “Everybody is trying to figure it out and do the best they can. This is something that is new, that we’ll address. Our job is to evaluate the team as it’s constructed. It’s not our job to consider why, we just have to evaluate the teams as they’re constructed.”
Newton was also asked what would happen if Alabama is penalized for the victories that Bediako helped the Tide get during this short stretch.
“From a compliance standpoint, nobody has said anything,” Newton said. “The judge made this ruling (Monday). Whether you agree with it or not, as it stands right now, all we’re worried about is the ability based on that team. We don’t consider why they were ineligible. We just focus on the availability of that team.”
Here is the full audio of Newton’s comments on Bediako as it pertains to Alabama’s NCAA Tournament status:
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.
