How is Miller still playing?

Basketball Insider Board
#1

The post below was part of an earlier thread. If therefore this gets pulled, that’s fine. I’m just so furious that I want to make sure this gets read. Because as a very recently retired college professor of music—which also puts kids into the public eye and gives them career opportunities, albeit less lucrative ones (though I do know many opera colleagues who make well over 7 figures a year singing)—I am beyond furious. This feels personal.

This is a double standard at the highest possible level.

Here was my post:

The most damning piece of evidence is the text saying “bring me my joint, this —— is fakin.”

So long as Miller read that text (and that is easily discovered, and I assume he did or Bama would be shouting from the mountaintops he did not), neither Miller, his attorney, or Bama can argue he was not aware that he was taking a loaded gun to his friend at a bar at 1:30am…and that there was some sort of confrontation going on.

That is damning evidence that Miller at the very least showed severe lack of judgement. The result being a deadly weapon was made available to someone who then used it to murder a young mother.

That is almost incontestable. Remove the almost in fact.

Whether Miller is accessory to murder based on Alabama law is, to me, irrelevant when it comes to his status as a student athlete.

I CANNOT believe Miller has not at least been hauled in front of the campus-wide disciplinary board at Alabama. And we know he hasn’t because a Bama professor called into Finebaum yesterday and said he hasn’t. Alabama, regardless of its sports program, is a freaking Research I institution of higher education. (As are all the SEC schools save Vandy). All sorts of state and federal money and support comes with that. The institution has a responsibility to carry itself in a manner that reflects what they are. There are campus wide checks in place. Ways to maintain student decorum and due process.

If this was one of my students in my 25 years at CofC I can PROMISE YOU that would have happened. Male students get brought before the disciplinary board for making lewd remarks to girls on campus (and they should), which I think we can all agree is not as serious an offence as bringing a loaded gun to someone who then commits murder.

How Oates and the AD could hide facts and just play him like nothing happened is beyond me.

Wait. Clay said it best. WIN AT ALL COST. We are looking at a university and a sports program where winning is everything. Period. End of story. It’s SICK. This is a cover-up.

Not that is matters, but Alabama just became my most hated sports program. Not that they care. But I bet if millions of us around the country feel this way they will care. Move over Texas. Move over Ohio State, Texas A&M and anyone else.

I hope Oats and this program and the entire athletic department just get HAMMERED. One of my singers in my professional choir is a voice faculty member at Bama. He’s a great singer and great person. And a huge sports fan (an LSU fan as that was his undergrad). He is sickened. And ashamed.

As someone that spent a life in higher education, I am too.

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#2

Well said @hogmaestro. The lesson learned by everyone in this situation is that winning is everything. Yes sir.

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#3

And let’s make it clear for the literal-minded who might be new to this board: Winning should NOT be everything. Sports is about testing the mind and the body. Harnessing your emotions. Becoming a better person. Its about striving. Its about working within a team. Its about, dare I say it, BEAUTY. Sports to me is beautiful. Being an athlete and an artist never seemed contradictory to me.

This is the very opposite of beautiful. Its gross. Shameful.

Please let us smash them Saturday. And may they fail at their stated goal of winning no matter the cost at every turn.

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#4

Most of us feel exactly like you, however I’m afraid their (Miller et al, U of Alabama) judgement day is coming later rather than sooner. I’m sure Miller will score another 40 on Saturday and laugh at us while doing it. This is another example of a country that has discarded it’s moral compass

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#5

100% agree. People who talk about presumption of innocence need to remember that is a standard to protect someone charged in a criminal case. The standard here is or should be about what kind of behavior we expect from a student, particularly one representing a school in a high profile manner.

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#6

Exactly. I am not saying we toss Miller’s due process or presumption of innocence in a criminal sense.
Let the court system handle that.

I am saying that Miller not having even had to answer to a campus-wide hearing is beyond my comprehension. Any non-elite-athlete would ABSOLUTELY have been in a disciplinary hearing at the institution of higher education. I am not for a rush to judgment. I AM for Mr. Miller being treated like any other student would be.

Bayouhog, I have to disagree with your sweeping comment about a nation’s moral compass. I am actually pleased with the reaction of most of the nation. This isn’t being swept under the run nationally.
I am happy with that.

Its the win-at-all-costs attitude at ALABAMA that has me infuriated.

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#7

It just happened. I don’t think he would’ve had to face a disciplinary hearing at school for several more weeks necessarily, and it’s not likely to be a “campus wide” hearing at any university in familiar with. I’m sure his attorney is advising him as well as many other parties involved. They very well may be able to make this go away quietly. Keeping him eligible to play in the national attention of March madness has a chance to back fire on that plan though. Oates and the Alabama program might just feel like they don’t have a choice but to pretend they don’t think anyone else broke the law due to the number of players implicated in this. Their whole damn team should be facing a campus wide disciplinary hearing. But that’s not how it works for athletes at powerhouse sports schools

#8

defenders of Oates and Miller on this board that Oates is paid to win basketball games, and Miller, in the most technical sense has committed no crimes and most likely not be charged. To them, case closed. Time to move on. Well, that’s just nonsense. Oates is not just paid to win basketball games, but to mold young men into productive citizens and future leaders of this Country. Brandon Miller, representing his team and the University, is to set high standards of conduct for himself, teammates and the young boys of Alabama who look up to him as a role model. Both have failed miserably. Oates should be summoned before the Board to answer tough questions like what he knew and when did he know it. How could he be In Control of his team while this horrific crime occurred. Miller needs to be disciplined by the University for poor judgement. And also breaking the student code of conduct. Alabama is no longer an institution of higher learning. It’s just another Degree Factory milking students, alumni, donors, and the taxpayers of billions of dollars.

#9

Here is the bottom line. Even if Miller did nothing that can be considered illegal…here is a fact: kids get kicked off teams, out of choirs, band, or productions, and all sorts of things for MUCH LESS. You can be habitually late. Smoke weed. Say something inappropriate. Miss curfew. Any number of things. If you break an organization’s rules, you are subject to discipline.

Alabama is basically saying that driving around after 1am with a loaded gun in your car, receiving a text to bring said gun to someone having an altercation, and then to do so BREAKS NO TEAM RULES.

Clearly, you can do what you want if you play for Oates and Bama if you are a gifted player. There are no rules that apply to you.

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#10

It’s disgusting that he’s still playing. We are going to beat them anyway Saturday. And they won’t have the excuse that he didn’t play.

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#11

I am not sure how much that I have heard is fact and how much is just “social media baseless gossip”, but didn’t Miller also tell his buddy that the gun was loaded with one in the chamber, and did he or did he not park his car in a way to prevent the escape of the young lady who was killed. If the former is true, I just love the statement from his lawyer that he did not know there was a gun, and. if true, the latter would be accessory to the murder. Therefore until told otherwise, I will assume that both of these are not based on fact.

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#12

The officer’s report stated how Miller responded to Davis–that the heat was in the hat and --something to the effect of – there’s a bullet in the chamber. Not sure about the car, but the attorney says Miller parked his car, kinda, out of the way and someone else moved their car against Miller’s in a way to block the path. You’d have to see that the street is narrow and parking for the condo units kinda encroaches on the road; so to park at the edge of the road blocks some of the road’s passageway.

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#13

Does anyone feel like Brandon Miller might drop a number of spots in the upcoming NBA draft? He’s looking a lot more like a risky liability, than an asset, at this point. If I’m an NBA owner and I see Anthony Black, Nick Smith, and Brandon Miller all available; I definitely know which one of the three I’m not drafting.

#14

This whole situation is just crazy.

The Crimson Tide better win it all. That’s what they seem to be betting on at the expense of the university’s reputation.

First New Mexico State shuts down its entire program over a gun incident. And now this.

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#15

Just a few words can explain this.
“Win at all cost.” Nothing can justify this ordeal.
The young ladies stepfather had a statement on Saturday down south today. Read it.

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#16

Well said, you are using logic and fairness that shoud be applied equally to all students. Not at Alabama. Win at any cost is front and center.

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#17

Worth the read!

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#18

How do you know he hasn’t? Student conduct hearings are protected under FERPA.

#19

Because I know faculty at Bama that say he hasn’t. Now, I suppose they could be wrong. But that is the info I have.

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#20

To recap:

  1. A young lady was murdered. Horrific and tragic.

  2. We’ve only seen reported versions of the evidence — bits and pieces, some of it filtered through lawyers. Questionable reliability and completeness.

  3. We think Miller did something criminally wrong, but since we have not actually seen all of the evidence, we can’t with any certainty say what he did criminally wrong.

  4. Even if the evidence points toward criminal conduct, we can’t 100% rely on the Tuscaloosa DA to charge Miller criminally since he’s elected and doesn’t want to PO Bama nation.

  5. Still, there’s a decent chance the DA is the one guy that has reviewed all the credible evidence thus far and who has the best grasp of it and the law. He has not criminally charged Miller.

  6. We Hog fans are all jealous of Bama nation due to its unrivaled football success. Bama is win at all costs in football, we say. With this Miller/Oates situation, that’s now crept into basketball.

  7. But basketball is the one thing we do better than Bama. How dare Bama surpass Arkansas on the hardwood? But that has happened this year. We are now jealous of and resentful toward Bama basketball.

  8. This Miller thing presents a great potential weakness in the Bama basketball machine. If we can get Miller suspended, kicked off the team or thrown in jail — especially before Saturday — that helps Razorback basketball and puts Bama basketball back in its rightful place.

  9. We thus are willing to cut corners on Miller’s legal rights and even sacrifice his future career because, we say: A) a young lady was murdered, and that trumps everything — the DA’s review, Miller’s due process, and Bama AD/Oates’s evaluation. All of it be damned; or B) To accomplish #8.

  10. If we are honest with ourselves and one another, there is a lot of 9 B) going on, which is wrong.

  11. 9 A) is also mostly wrong, but there is a chance Miller has been cut undue slack due to Bama’s win at all costs culture. The case still seems fluid — new info. could come out. Things one day may justify prosecuting Miller.

  12. But Bama won’t do anything with Miller now — unless any new evidence is really bad and leaks out — because time is on its side. In 45 days it’ll know whether Miller helped it win a basketball title. Miller then to the NBA and on to football.

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