2: 23 PM ET
Michael Rothstein ESPN Staff Writer
- Previously covered University of Michigan for ESPN.com and AnnArbor.com
- Also covered Notre Dame for Fort Wayne Journal Gazette
TUSCALOOSA, Ala.– Alabama males’s basketball coach Nate Oats preserves that he thinks the university and his program have actually done the best thing in continuing to permit star freshman forward Brandon Miller to play after his name appeared in connection with a January shooting.
” We’ve been taking it really seriously from Day 1. The very first minute that I got the info, I called [ADVERTISEMENT] Greg [Byrne] and we discussed it and the seriousness of it,” Oats stated at a Friday press conference. “Greg, I believed, did an excellent task attending to those discuss Wednesday, and I actually do not have much to contribute to it.
” We seem like we’ve done the best thing in this case. I’m going to leave it at that with Greg’s remarks.”
Miller’s name was pointed out in testament Tuesday by private investigator Branden Culpepper as having actually driven the automobile including the weapon utilized in the shooting to his then-teammate, Darius Miles, who had actually asked Miller to bring him the weapon.
Miles, who has actually considering that been gotten rid of 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 offering the weapon utilized in the shooting, according to detectives, however stated Davis fired the weapon.
Miller has actually not been charged with a criminal offense, and Tuscaloosa Chief Deputy District Attorney Paula Whitley informed AL.com on Tuesday that “there’s absolutely nothing we might charge [Miller] with.”
Byrne informed ESPN in an interview on the “College GameDay” podcast Wednesday that a few of the “brand-new details” that emerged– such as Miles’ text asking Miller to bring the weapon to the scene– impacted the school’s choice to permit 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 video game this season and the most by an Alabama freshman in program history.
Jim Standridge, among the lawyers representing Miller, likewise launched a declaration Wednesday stating Miller never ever saw Miles’ pistol which it was “hidden under some clothes in the rear seats” of Miller’s vehicle. Standridge included that Miller never ever touched the weapon nor was associated with its exchange to Davis, the supposed shooter.
Miller, whose windscreen was struck by shooting, left the scene when the shooting began.
Oats stated he thought his gamers comprehended the gravity of the matter which he thinks the headspace of his group is “respectable” getting in Saturday’s house video game versus Arkansas
When Oats was asked Friday if there had actually been modifications to the oversight of his gamers following the shooting, he stated he has actually talked with them about the event several times.
” Life’s fluid. Various scenarios raise various locations to discuss. There’s various locations you require to inform your gamers on,” Oats stated. “The world modifications. As we’ve discovered various scenarios, it’s difficult to forecast whatever that everyone is going to get into. We’ve seized the day as a basketball program and as an athletic department and as a university as an entire to resolve scenarios that have actually shown up and taking that chance to inform our people on various things like this.
” So the response is yes, we’re utilizing this as a chance to inform our gamers on things that ideally will assist them for the rest of their lives.”
Information from ESPN’s Jeff Borzello was utilized in this report.