Big story just dropped in Tuscaloosa

This one aunts a grim picture of what type of people play for Bama on the hardwood.

Maybe criminal accomplice liability? Conspiracy? Jeez. Bad actors these guys.

2 Likes

Nate Oates saying “he hasn’t done anything wrong and was just in the wrong place a the wrong time.” is not going to age well.

6 Likes

Completely agree. That whole quote by Oats is completely tone deaf at best.

1 Like

I would need to know more what was said to Miller and what Miles told him on why he needed the gun.

But it’s definitely not a good look for sure. Mommas won’t approve.

4 Likes

Since the two guys who got charged are claiming self-defense, you have to wonder if Miller is really in the clear with the DA. If that defense fails or those two plead to a lesser charge, the DA still might charge Miller with aiding and abetting a felony.

A lot may depend on what Miller was told or what he said to others about the situation and any previous interaction between the deceased/her people and the two current defendants. It might be tough to convict Miller (reasonable doubt, criminal intent) if there was some evidence that he was told by Miles that he needed the gun for self-defense.

None of which means that this is not an extremely bad thing for the Alabama basketball program, and maybe for Miller’s NBA career.

Oates went way overboard in defending his player-changing the conversation from “he has not been charged with a crime” to “he didn’t do anything wrong”.

That statement not only invited current comment/ridicule about Miller’s presence/role in the events, but it probably will become the subject of additional news cycles in months or years. Even if Miller never gets charged with a crime, the deceased woman’s family is really likely to sue him for wrongful death, which in Alabama oddly enough is referred to as the homicide statute. A carefully worded press release, including a statement that Oates and Bama would have no further comment until the criminal matter is resolved, would have been a lot smarter way to go.

3 Likes

I’d speculate that the lady who died family may be filing a lawsuit including Miller going after his NIL money or prob by then NBA cash. Oates response ani’t gonna fly.

8 Likes

“He was at the wrong place at the wrong time…” I think Billy the Kid used that a few times.

3 Likes

Oats said they have always known about this piece of information, if true, why in the world did he not have the PR team draft a better line than “wrong place at the wrong time.” Doesn’t really fly when you showed up at said place to deliver a gun.

1 Like

Reminds me of the time Michael Dyer (while at ASU) got caught with a gun at a traffic stop.

The media found out 6 months later and asked Gus (ASU’s coach at the time) about it. He laughed and said yeah, we knew about it but decided to keep it quiet.

Of course our media didn’t press Gus on it.

Oates knew about Miller’s involvement and let him keep playing for weeks now? This exceeds Calipari and Pearl level of sleaze :roll_eyes:

Oates is taking lots of heat right now and deservedly so…

I do not know any details and believe in innocence until proven guilty, but in a general sense and possibly not relevant in this case but as it relates the to the Alabama basketball program, a cover-up may be more damaging to the the team than the awful murder. Obviously the first priority is justice being served for the victim and his family and if other wrong doing or cover-ups happened they are properly dealt with as well.

I’m kinda reminded of the mess at Baylor when one of their players killed another one of their players and Dave Bliss tried to make it look like the dead player was a drug dealer to cover the fact that Bliss was paying his tuition because he was out of scholarships. .

2 Likes

This story has yet to show up on ESPN.com or The Athletic. I’m sure it will.

Ole Dave was a mess. As my mom and grandmother would say. Bless his heart…. :wink:

Yeah Dave spent five years at Mobilehoma, and eight years at Smoo (including the Pony Express period). He had a front row seat in the Cheating 101 seminar.

Although, come to think of it, SMU might have been PhD-level cheating.

1 Like

Dan Wolken of USA Today just tweeted that he’s got a column coming out shortly that will rip Bama basketball a few new openings. The Tuscaloosa paper is affiliated with USA Today so he probably got a little heads up on this one.

1 Like

Back 3 weeks or so ago, the saturday that Bama got smoked by Oklahoma, I ran into my counterpart at Dallas Market who owns two men’s clothing stores in Tuscaloosa. I asked what the hell had happened and he goes man im afraid theres a lot more to this murder story than just the one player. I suppose he was right.

And The Athletic

And the Wolken column