Georgia's Mike White makes Anthony Edwards joke amid CBB eligibility drama

The lines of eligibility have been blurred in college sports. 

We've seen players get sixth or even seventh seasons in college football, but college basketball can get just as complex thanks to professional leagues abroad or even the G-League here in the States.

We may be at a boiling point in the case of Alabama's Charles Bediako, though.

Bediako has played NBA ball, albeit in the Summer League and in the G-League, but he just suited up the other night for the Crimson Tide in a 79-73 loss to the Tennessee Volunteers. Keep in mind, he declared for the NBA Draft in 2023 and actually signed a two-way contract with the San Antonio Spurs, but he sued the NCAA and was granted a temporary restraining order that allowed him to join Alabama's basketball team while this is sorted out.

It's a wild situation, but Bediako is arguing that three former G-League players were recently granted eligibility, and he's still within his eligibility window. 

Bediako's situation came up on Monday with Georgia Bulldogs men’s basketball coach Mike White. Speaking with Paul Finebaum, White joked that the Volunteers and head coach Rick Barnes, who are next on UGA's schedule, may have to face Anthony Edwards on Wednesday evening.

“Rick doesn’t know he’s going to suit out (Wednesday) for us," White said of Edwards (h/t On3).

Edwards played at Georgia for one season (2019-2020) before going No. 1 overall to the Minnesota Timberwolves in the 2020 NBA Draft. 

Edwards is in his sixth NBA season at just 24 years old. Notably, Bediako will turn 24 in March.

Georgia's Mike White is taking college basketball eligibility in stride 

White took the moment to joke, but he is also looking at situations like this one pragmatically. 

“All of us are going to make individual decisions,” White said. “I know Coach Oats at Alabama just got a big back in Bediako, who’s a tremendous talent who won a lot of games, and I’m sure he’ll be a great addition. I thought he played really well the other night. And you just don’t know all of the factors that went into that decision."

Some of the biggest names in college basketball, like Tom Izzo and John Calipari, have been against these eligibility decisions.

For his part, tough, White can see why Alabama head coach Nate Oats welcomed Bediako back with open arms.

“It’s easy for all of us to say, ‘Well, I wouldn’t do that to the other bigs on our team.’ … It’d be hard for me if someone said, ‘Hey, you’ve got a really, really good player that wants to come right now and play.’ It’d be hard for me to turn that situation down," White explained.