Dan Hurley Makes College Basketball Retirement Admission

The changing landscape of college athletics can lead to some interesting situations, the latest of which involves Charles Bediako, who many college basketball fans will remember from his play during the Alabama Crimson Tide's run to the Sweet 16 in the 2023 NCAA Tournament.

Bediako is expected to be in uniform Saturday for Alabama's game against the Tennessee Volunteers after a Tuscaloosa Circuit Court judge issued a temporary restraining order earlier this week.

Bediako declared for the NBA Draft in 2023 after spending two seasons at Alabama, but he went undrafted. Then he spent a couple of years in the NBA G-League.

Now he has been granted permission to play for Alabama again pending an injunction hearing on Tuesday. It is a rare but growing trend for players who declare for the draft and play some pro ball to seek a return to college basketball, and some prominent coaches are voicing their opposition.

Michigan State Spartans head coach Tom Izzo disapproved of the decision and termed it “ridiculous.” UConn Huskies head coach Dan Hurley has also weighed in on Bediako’s return to Alabama.

Dan Hurley Draws a Red Line

Hurley agreed with Tom Izzo on the issue. Hurley said it is unimaginable to see a player return to college football after spending three years in the NFL or CFL.

Hurley also established that the UConn program will not change its recruitment methods and that if the NCAA normalizes the recall of such players, rendering the current UConn system ineffective, he is likely to quit coaching college basketball.

“We are just gonna do things that we do here at UConn, the way that we do 'em," Hurley said. "The way we wanna build the program. We wanna recruit high school players, develop 'em, keep 'em. And we are gonna go into portal and do what we do there. We are just gonna keep doing what we are doing, and if at some point, the sport has changed so much then that you can’t be effective doing it that way, either I will get out of college, or I don’t know."