How the March Madness selection committee will treat Alabama's Charles Bediako situation

The Alabama Crimson Tide have to feel like they're a contender in a quickly approaching NCAA men's basketball tournament.

Nate Oats has built a strong program capable of making a run. 

March Madness is full of variables, though. One of those variables is seeding.

If you're a top seed, that's really not a problem. Alabama is 19-7, though, so they're amongst the handful of programs jockying for better positioning over these last few weeks of regular-season college basketball.

The Tide are a little bit of a unique situation, though. For five games earlier this season, they featured a player, Charles Bediako, who is no longer considered eligible.

To be fair to the Tide, he was eligible while he played, thanks to a temporary restraining order in his eligibility lawsuit. The NCAA also legally can't punish Alabama for playing him during that time.

Will NCAA committee dock Alabama's seeding?

The NCAA tournament selection committee could technically dock Alabama's seeding based on those five games, though. That's not illegal because it is subjective. It's a selection committee, after all.

Committee chair Keith Gill explained on Thursday that Alabama will not hold anything against 'Bama for those five games, though. The committee is going to treat the Tide based on the merits of their wins and losses on the schedule, no matter who was playing in the games.

"Those games do count. You have to decide how you’re going to count them. The committee will apply our normal player availability process," Gill said, per Jeff Borzello of ESPN.