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If Alabama had hoped to return to some semblance of basketball normalcy after a week of headlines about freshman star Brandon Miller and his closeness to a fatal shooting last month, it ended on Saturday with the introduction of the Crimson Tide starting lineup ahead of theirs 86-83 victory over Arkansas.
When Miller’s name was announced, he slapped his teammates on the hands as he ran onto the pitch, then was patted down with his arms outstretched by another player. It wasn’t the first time Miller had attended that introduction to ESPN.
Miller, a sure lottery pick in this year’s NBA draft, has guided Alabama to a 25-4 record, a #2 national ranking and a likely #1 in next month’s NCAA tournament. But he and the school were thrust into another national spotlight last week when more details about the January 15 death of 23-year-old Jamea Jonae Harris came to light.
Coach Nate Oats and the university have come under fire for their reaction to details about Miller’s role in a major murder case involving former Crimson Tide player Darius Miles and Michael “Buzz” Davis. Neither Miller nor his colleague Jaden Bradley, who was at the scene, are a suspect in the murder, but after Saturday’s win, in which Miller scored 24 points, Oats apologized and added that he didn’t know what was ahead during player introductions went.
“Before I start the game, I was made aware after the game of our pre-game performance,” Oats said after his post-game press conference was delayed. “I think it’s been like this all year. I don’t know it. I don’t really watch our performance. I have nothing to do with them. During this time I design plays. Regardless, it is not appropriate. It has been raised and I can assure you it will definitely not happen again for the rest of this year.”
Criticism was swift, fueled in part by what became a viral video on Birmingham television network WVTM, and Alabama’s reaction — rather than action — on the matter.
“Can anyone at this university see that maybe – maybe – this is extremely bad looks for a player who allegedly transported the murder weapon to the scene in his car and was present during the murder?” Sports Illustrated wrote. “This former Alabama player Darius Miles is charged with a capital homicide committed while he was on the team? That co-starter Jaden Bradley was also allegedly at the scene of the shooting?
“Can anyone in Alabama show some class and responsibility?”
USA Today wondered why Miller continued to play, a question that will only get worse during March Madness. “It’s our job to make sure that the Alabama season, while it’s on, can’t be divorced from the reality that the school administration has been acting like there’s nothing to see this whole time and their best player has done nothing wrong had.”
Miller delivered a gun to Miles, who then passed it on to Davis, a court hearing revealed last week. When asked why Miller, 20, was not charged, Tuscaloosa’s chief assistant district attorney, Paula Whitley, said, “That’s not a question I can answer. We can’t fault him for anything.”
There’s not a good way to talk about Alabama basketball right now
Jay Bilas, the former Duke player and ESPN analyst who is also an attorney, has defended Alabama’s handling of the situation.
“I think Alabama handled this as best they could, except for Nate Oats in his press conference where he should’ve just said, ‘This is a pending case. Alabama and Brandon Miller have cooperated fully with authorities and will continue to do so, but we will have no further comment beyond that. said Bilas last week on “Pardon the Interruption”. “He should have said that and that should be the answer to all those questions.
“Brandon Miller has rights. Authorities have told Alabama he is a witness, not a suspect. There is no indication that he broke any laws. They know him better than we do and if they didn’t do anything about five weeks ago when this terrible tragedy happened, I see no reason to do it now. If something else comes out now, I understand it, but if he were eliminated from the competition now, Alabama would say, “Our reputation as a university and what people say about us is more important than our player.” I think they balanced the player and the university and those interests pretty well overall.”
Miller didn’t miss a game and posted a career-best 41 points on Wednesday, the day after he was linked with the shooting. On Saturday, Alabama’s sports information director tried to narrow the questions down to the game. according to ESPN. However, a reporter asked if Oats had reached out to Harris’ family, whose parents criticized him for allowing Miller to continue playing and that he said last week that Miller “was not in any trouble, nor any Difficulty hides trouble in this case. In the wrong place at the wrong time.”
“Listen to address it a little bit,” Oats said Saturday. “I apologize for my previous comments this week. We understand the gravity of this, but I’m following the administration’s lead on everything here, so we’re going to talk about the game, which they’d like to talk to me about.
Alabama hasn’t released Miller or any other player to the media, leaving Oats to speak about his star’s mood.
“He’s one of the toughest mentally, if not the toughest, guy I’ve ever trained in my life and I’ve been training for a while,” Oats said. “While he fully understands the tragedy of the situation and takes it very seriously and has been cooperating all along, he’s also done a great job of being able to focus on the training, the games and just that laser focus of where he dialed in where his feet are with.”