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The Alabama Crimson Tide currently have the No. 2 ranked basketball team in the country and boast at 23-4 record.
But that’s not what anybody is talking about these days with the Tide.
Instead, the focus is on coach Nate Oats, star player Brandon Miller, and the dismissed Darius Miles.
Miller, a national player of the year candidate, is under fire for his alleged involvement in the shooting death of 23-year-old Jamea Harris.
Harris was killed by Michael Davis, on Sunday morning with a gun that Miller allegedly delivered to Darius Miles. Davis is not affiliated with the program.
Oats, meanwhile, chalked up the incident to Miller being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
“We knew about that,” he said. “Can’t control everything everybody does outside of practice. Nobody knew that was going to happen. College kids are out, Brandon hasn’t been in any type of trouble nor is he in any type of trouble in this case. Wrong spot at the wrong time.”
Oats later rescinded his statement. But that explanation didn’t sit well with Harris’ mother DeCarla Cotton or step-father Delvin Heard.
“The retraction meant nothing to us because over this five-week period, he has made a habit of making reckless statements. When I say reckless, I mean statements not considering the victim in this whole thing, which is Jamea Harris,” Heard told USA Today.
Cotton also wonders why Miller has faced no consequences from the Alabama program.
“When somebody says bring a gun to them, what do you think they’re going to do with it?’’ Cotton said. “And if there was no gun, she would not be dead.’’
Police have said that they have no charged Miller with a crime because there is nothing he can be charged with. The Alabama star played just days after news of his involvement came out and hit the game-winning shot in a victory over South Carolina.