Oats on Miller’s ‘pat-down’: ‘Not appropriate’
TUSCALOOSA, Ala.– Alabama guys’s basketball coach Nate Oats called freshman forward Brandon Miller’s pregame intro regimen of being patted down by a walk-on before heading to midcourt “not appropriate” after his group beat Arkansas 86-83 on Saturday.
“I don’t enjoy our introductions, I’m not included with them, I’m preparing plays during that time,” Oats said in his postgame news conference. “Regardless, it’s not proper. It’s been resolved and I can ensure you it definitely will not take place again for the rest of this year.”
Miller, who has actually done the exact same pat-down pregame introduction for games this season, continued the regular after Tuscaloosa Investigator Branden Culpepper testified Tuesday that Miller brought now ex-teammate Darius Miles’ weapon to him the night of the deadly shooting of 23-year-old Jamea Jonae Harris, after Miles texted and asked him to do so.Editor’s Picks
2 Associated Culpepper’s statement came during an initial hearing for Miles and Michael Lynn Davis, who deal with capital murder charges for the death of Harris. Investigators said that Miles, who has actually since been gotten rid of from the Crimson Tide program, admitted to offering the gun used in the deadly shooting, but Davis fired the weapon.Miller has actually not been charged with a criminal offense, and Tuscaloosa Chief
Deputy District Attorney Paula Whitley told AL.com on Tuesday there’s “nothing we could charge [Miller] with.”Both Oats and investigators stated Miller has actually cooperated with police.Oats, after Alabama’s sports information director advised media to ask concerns about only the Alabama-Arkansas game, did react to the one nongame concern that was asked of him– whether he has connected to the household of Harris at any point.” Listen, to address it a bit,”Oats said.”I excuse my previous remarks today. We understand the seriousness of it all, but I’m following the administration’s lead on everything here, so we’re going to talk about the game is what they would like for me to speak about.”Miller scored a team-high 24 points with 6 rebounds on Saturday and was largely cheered whenever he did something for the Crimson Tide. It’s a contrast from Wednesday night, when Miller was jeered on the roadway at South Carolina.Later in Oats’ postgame news conference, in a question about the game, he was asked about Miller’s week.
“He’s one of the most mentally, if not the most psychologically hard kid I’ve ever coached in
my life and I’ve been coaching for a while,”Oats said.” While he totally understands the situation’s terrible and he takes it extremely seriously and he’s been cooperating the whole time, he’s also done a fantastic task having the ability to focus on practices, games and just getting this laser focus where he’s dialed in to where his feet are at.”