GAINESVILLE, Fla. \u2013 Florida coach Todd Golden insists he wasn\u2019t being disrespectful when he said \u201cwe\u2019re gonna beat \u2019em anyways\u201d while responding to Alabama center Charles Bediako\u2019s return to college basketball.<\/p>\n
It was how he felt at the time \u2014 and it remains his approach with Bediako and the 23rd-ranked<\/a> Crimson Tide visiting Gainesville on Sunday.<\/p>\n \u201cIn a sense, I think it\u2019s been kind of good for media or for kind of a buildup to the game,\u201d Golden said Friday. \u201cI\u2019m not sure how much that\u2019s going to really impact the result.\u201d<\/p>\n Golden\u2019s quip, which came during the school\u2019s weekly radio show that was broadcast in front of a live audience last week, surely will be as much of a storyline as Bediako\u2019s ongoing court case when No. 19 Florida (15-6, 6-2 Southeastern Conference) hosts Alabama (14-6, 4-3) inside a sold-out O\u2019Connell Center.<\/p>\n Golden said he has since questioned whether his viral comment, which Alabama players considered a callout, was \u201ca good thing to say or a bad thing to say.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo. 1, I think it would be a really strange and unconfident place to be in if a team adds one guy and you\u2019re like, \u2018Holy crap, we can\u2019t beat these guys,\u2019\u201d Golden said. \u201cAnd No. 2, \u2026 if you call them and you\u2019re like: \u2018Hey dude, do you think you\u2019re going to beat Florida on Sunday? Yeah, we\u2019re going to go beat those guys.\u2019<\/p>\n \u201c… It\u2019s one of those things that has taken on some steam. But when you peel back on it, it\u2019s like, \u2018Oh, the coach thinks that they\u2019re going to win in that game.\u2019 Like, it\u2019s really not that crazy of a comment. But we\u2019ll see.\u201d<\/p>\n Golden and the defending national champions haven’t altered their stance on Bediako, a 7-footer who is suing the NCAA in an attempt to regain college eligibility<\/a> despite leaving school and entering the NBA draft.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s definitely not right,\u201d Florida star forward Thomas Haugh said. \u201cThis dude literally was at college, left and then came back. \u2026 We\u2019ll play them with or without him. It doesn\u2019t matter.\u201d<\/p>\n Bediako went undrafted before signing a two-way NBA contract and playing the past three seasons in the G League.<\/p>\n A Tuscaloosa judge, who has since recused himself from the case<\/a>, granted a temporary restraining order<\/a> last week that allows Bediako to play<\/a> for the Crimson Tide \u2014 at least until an injunction hearing is held.<\/p>\n Bediako is averaging 13.5 points and 4.5 rebounds in two games, providing an inside presence Alabama had been missing most of the season. He has two blocks, three steals and several dunks.<\/p>\n He gives the Tide the frontcourt size to match up with Florida, the best rebounding team in the country. And with Aden Holloway, Latrell Wrightsell Jr. and Amari Allen returning from injuries, the Tide are a team to watch in the coming weeks and months \u2014 beginning with a national TV broadcast Sunday.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s going to be a track meet,\u201d Haugh said. \u201cWe need to emphasize not letting them get out and get hot. They are one of those teams that once they get going, it\u2019s hard to stop, so we have to not let them get going at all.\u201d<\/p>\n The Gators have won four in a row in the series, averaging 102.5 points a game. But they are 0-2 against Bediako, although no current Florida players were around for those meetings in 2022 and 2023.<\/p>\n Bediako\u2019s case has been a contentious topic among college coaches, with many of them wanting the NCAA and Congress to take action. Golden had been one of the most outspoken, even with Alabama on his schedule.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t agree with it,\u201d he said last week. \u201cI don\u2019t think you should be playing, but I also don\u2019t necessarily fault (Alabama coach) Nate Oats because this is a very competitive space, and it\u2019s our jobs to win games and do everything we can to be the best program in our specific league. And they were able to finagle the situation where they got a judge in Alabama that is actually a donor at Alabama to write a temporary restraining order to allow this guy to play games in Alabama.\u201d<\/p>\n Golden called it a \u201cslippery slope\u201d and later added \u201cwe\u2019re gonna beat \u2019em anyways.\u201d<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here<\/a> and here<\/a> (AP News mobile app). AP college basketball: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll<\/a> and https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/college-basketball<\/a><\/p>\n Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"GAINESVILLE, Fla. \u2013 Florida coach Todd Golden insists he wasn\u2019t being disrespectful when he said \u201cwe\u2019re gonna beat…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":138976,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[67719,67717,28,30,29,67718,110,3115,3116],"class_list":{"0":"post-138975","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-florida","8":"tag-amari-allen","9":"tag-charles-bediako","10":"tag-florida","11":"tag-florida-headlines","12":"tag-florida-news","13":"tag-nate-oats","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-thomas-haugh","16":"tag-todd-golden"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138975","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=138975"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138975\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/138976"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=138975"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=138975"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=138975"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}