The quote will be 10 days old by the time No. 19 Florida (15-6, 6-2) and No. 23 Alabama (14-6, 4-3) throw it up and throw down in their mega-clash Sunday at Exactech Arena/O'Connell Center. A lot has happened since the Florida coach uttered the words that echoed across the Southeastern Conference. Both teams have played a pair of games since, with the Gators splitting their two and the new-look Crimson Tide doing the same.
It's that "new-look" thing that prompted Golden's remark, got the SEC all abuzz and makes this game – with its special stand-alone Sunday time slot – the center of the college basketball universe on a NFL-free weekend seven days before the Super Bowl.
[Read senior writer Chris Harry's "Pregame Stuff" setup here]
Golden made the comment during his "Gator Talk" radio show on Jan. 23 when asked his thoughts on Alabama's 7-foot-, 225-pound Charles Bediako – three years into his professional career since leaving Alabama and three days removed from playing in a G League game – receiving a temporary restraining (from an Alabama judge and Crimson Tide booster, no less) to become the first player in NCAA history to leave college, play professionally and be allowed to return to school to resume his athletic clock.
NEW: Florida HC Todd Golden speaks on Charles Bediako's return to Alabama🍿
"They were able to finagle it where they got a judge in Alabama that's actually a donor in Alabama to write a temporary restraining order…
Bediako made his 2025-26 debut two nights later in a home loss to Tennessee. He made his first start Tuesday night in a rout of Missouri, also at home. Sunday will mark Bediako's first road game since returning – the Rowdy Reptiles surely have taken note – but his 60th collegiate game overall, with 37 G League games from 2023-26 in between.
Charles Bediako and Bama coach Nate Oats.
Golden was asked if he provided the Crimson Tide with extra motivation. He did not walk back his words.
"It would be a really strange and unconfident place to be in if a team adds one guy and you're like, 'Holy crap, we can't beat these guys!' " Golden said Friday. "I don't think Alabama needs bulletin board material. They're a good program. They're used to winning in this league, and I'm confident in our team and our players. So, I think it's one of those things that has taken on some steam."
Oats, the winningest coach in the SEC since joining the league in 2019, took the remarks in stride, signing off on Golden's assertion that both coaches will want to kick the other's backside,.
"I'm with him. I mean, shoot, they're the defending national champs. They should be planning on beating us. That's how it's supposed to look," Oats said Friday. "Since I've got here, we've got more SEC championships than anyone in the SEC, and since he got there they've got more national championships. He's done a great job. We were one of the better programs when he walked in. We don't have that national championship and they do. I would expect nothing else. He should be trying to kick our butt whether we have Charles or not."
Then came this.
"I think Charles helps us in the game," Oats added.
Alabama center Charles Bediako (14), in his last appearance against the Gators, squared up against UF counterpart Colin Castleton (12) back in 2023. Both Bediako and Castleton are three-year G League veterans.
Yes, he does. Especially against the best rebounding team in the country.
Bediako has averaged 13.5 points on 82% shooting from the floor and 4.5 rebounds in his two games, which is a lot better than his G League stats. He is an elite rim-runner on offense and rim-protector on defense. Adding a player of his caliber to a team that already was one of the most talented in the country – and is just now rounding into health – is not unlike when UF 7-1 center Micah Handlogten opted out of his medical redshirt season in February last year, but with nefarious, end-run-around-the-rules tactics, of course. The Tide basically had a starting SEC "big" drop out of the sky, like the Gators last year.
On Sunday, he'll trade elbows with Florida's 6-10½, 265-pound center Rueben Chinyelu, who leads the conference in rebounding at 11.0 per game and is having a SEC Defensive Player of the Year type season.
"Just go out there and play basketball and have fun," Chinyelu said of the match-up. "Another game, another player."
Once the ball is tossed, that's true. But not with regard to the run-up.
"I think it's been kind of good for media [and] for the build-up to the game," Golden said when again lobbed a question of his prediction. "I'm not sure how much that's going to really impact the result."
Made for some juicy pregame fodder, though. It'll come up in the post-game too, regardless of the result.
