Alabama doing ‘right thing’ with Miller, Oats says

TUSCALOOSA, Ala.– Alabama males’s basketball coach Nate Oats preserves that he believes the university and his program have done the best thing in continuing to allow star freshman forward Brandon Miller to play after his name appeared in connection with a January shooting.

“We have actually been taking it extremely seriously from Day 1. The very first minute that I got the info, I called [ADVERTISEMENT] Greg [Byrne] and we spoke about it and the severity of it,” Oats stated at a press conference. “Greg, I thought, did a fantastic job attending to those talk about Wednesday, and I actually don’t have much to add to it.Editor’s Picks

2 Associated “We feel like we’ve done the ideal thing in this case. So I’m going to leave it at that with Greg’s comments.” Miller’s name was mentioned in testimony Tuesday by detective Branden Culpepper as having actually driven the vehicle including the gun utilized in the shooting to his then-teammate, Darius Miles, who had asked Miller to bring him the weapon.Miles, who has actually considering that been removed from the Crimson Tide’s program, and Michael Lynn Davis face capital murder charges in the death of 23-year-old Jamea Jonae Harris, who was shot near school in the morning hours of Jan. 15. Miles confessed to supplying the gun used in the shooting, according to detectives, however said Davis fired the weapon.Miller has not been charged with a crime, and Tuscaloosa Chief Deputy District Attorney Paula Whitley told AL.com on Tuesday that “there’s nothing we might

charge [Miller] with. “Byrne informed ESPN in an interview on the”College GameDay”podcast Wednesday that some of the”brand-new details “that emerged– such as Miles’text asking Miller to bring the weapon to the scene– impacted the school’s decision to allow Miller to play Wednesday versus South Carolina.Miller went on to score a career-high 41 points in the 78-76 overtime win over the Gamecocks. It was the most points by a freshman in a Division I game this season and the most by

an Alabama freshman in program history. Alabama coach Nate Oats, right, believes the school has correctly handled star freshman Brandon Miller considering that he was called as driving the weapon to a January shooting, adding,”We have actually been taking it extremely seriously from Day 1.”Marvin Gentry/USA Today Sports Jim Standridge, among the lawyers representing Miller, also launched a declaration Wednesday saying Miller never ever saw Miles’handgun and that it was” concealed under some clothing in the rear seats” of Miller’s car. Standridge added that Miller never touched the gun nor was associated with its exchange to Davis, the supposed shooter.Miller, whose windshield was hit by shooting, left the scene when the shooting started.Oats stated he thought his players understood the gravity of the matter and that he thinks the headspace of his team is “respectable”going into Saturday’s home game versus Arkansas.When Oats was asked Friday if there had been changes to the oversight of his players following the shooting, he said he has spoken to them about the incident several times.”Life’s fluid. Different scenarios bring up different areas to discuss. There’s different locations you require to inform

your players on,”Oats stated.” The world changes. As we have actually discovered different circumstances, it’s hard to anticipate everything that everybody is going to get into. We have actually taken the opportunities as a basketball program and as an athletic department and as a university as a whole to attend to scenarios that have actually come up and taking that opportunity to inform our guys on various things like this.” So the response is yes, we’re using this as an opportunity to inform our players on things that ideally will assist them for the rest of their lives.”Info from ESPN’s Jeff Borzello was utilized in this report.