Oh, University of Alabama.
It hasn’t been a great month for you, has it?
First, the football team gets dogwalked by Indiana in the Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day, a beatdown so severe that it set Crimson Tide history in several ways — all ugly.
Then, the Alabama basketball team tried to make a slick addition. Yes, Nate Oats and company saw a gap in the rules and received a temporary restraining order — from a judge who’s been an Alabama booster in the past, for what it’s worth — and brought back Charles Bediako, even though he’d been playing in the G League and signed a two-way NBA contract.
Wow.
Such a ruthless move was sure to create shockwaves in college basketball and catapult Alabama up the SEC standings.
Right?
Right?!?!
Not so much. There certainly have been shockwaves in the sport and the media, mostly from coaches, writers, and pundits piling on Alabama. Even Bruce Pearl, former Auburn coach and hardly a bastion of ethics in the coaching profession, came out this past weekend and called on the NCAA to suspend Alabama from the NCAA Tournament over the Bediako deal.
What a mess.
But at least Alabama is winning games with Bediako in the fold, right?
Right?!?
Oh, wait! Alabama is actually 1-2 with Bediako re-activated. That includes a 100-77 rout at the hands of reigning national champion Florida on Sunday that had Gainesville fans chanting “G League Drop Out” (it works because, like any effective college basketball chant, it has the required four syllables) at Bediako and Oats and Florida coach Todd Golden trading barbs in their post games pressers — this, after Golden guaranteed victory over Bama prior to the game.
Alabama also dropped a decision in Tuscaloosa to Tennessee. Sandwiched in between was a blowout of Missouri, which is a middle of the pack team in the SEC to be sure but, somehow, ahead of the Tide in the league standings. The Tigers are 5-4, while Bama is 4-4.
So here’s to you, Alabama. You severely bent the rules to bring in a former pro as reinforcements and his 11.0 points and 5.3 rebounds per game have propelled you to lose more games than you won. In the meantime, Alabama is probably the arch villain of college basketball this season, and there could be legal rulings and major rule changes from the NCAA stemming from the Bediako experiment.
That makes the Tide an easy recipient of this week’s L.
Then again, taking Ls has become pretty common for Alabama football and basketball in 2026.
‘L’ Of The Week Archive
Oct. 20-26: Mississippi State football
Oct. 27-Nov. 2: Carson Beck
Nov. 10-16: That Texas state trooper from the A&M-South Carolina game
Nov. 24-30: The University of Arkansas
Dec. 1-7: Virginia football
Dec. 8-15: Joel Klatt
Dec. 16-21: Tennessee Titans
Dec. 22-28: Detroit Lions
Dec. 29-Jan. 4: Alabama football
Jan. 5-11: Green Bay Packers
Jan. 19-25: Pittsburgh Steeelers