Brandon Miller and No. 1 overall seed Alabama ended their NCAA tournament run with a whimper.
San Diego State dominated the Crimson Tide in what can only be described as a defensive master class. Miller — Alabama’s best player — was absolutely locked down by SDSU.
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That wasn’t outside of the ordinary for him for this NCAA tournament — he hadn’t shot the ball well throughout March. You wouldn’t know it, though, because the overall story about Miller and Alabama has nothing to do with basketball.
Miller’s involvement in a fatal January shooting in Alabama that killed 23-year-old Jamea Harris has been hanging over all of this. Rightfully so.
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Miller’s involvement in the shooting is still not very clear. We know that he was at the location. We also know that the car he drove to the location was the one that also carried the gun. But what Miller knew about the situation seems murky.
Ultimately, he hasn’t been charged with anything. He seems to be in the clear and video evidence viewed and reported by Patch Alabama paints a possible picture of self-defense from the shooter in the situation. But, still, it’s hard to completely absolve him of any responsibility here either with so little information out about the case.
But, in the meantime, everything revolving around Miller and Alabama just slowly, but surely, corroded.
Miller, himself, had to walk around with armed security guards because of death threats being sent his way. Even before the tournament, fans were lobbing “lock him up” chants at the Crimson Tide forward as he continued to play on throughout the season.
Head coach Nate Oats spoke to reporters about how bad the situation had devolved for it to reach this point.
“If you guys saw some of what I’ve seen sent his way, I think you would understand why that’s the case…I don’t want to get into all that. The entire situation, as you know, is just a heartbreaking situation on all accounts.”
But Miller has also added fuel to the fire himself, participating in this completely abhorrent pat-down celebration. Oats said Miller felt “awful” about the celebration and took responsibility for it, but that doesn’t change the fact that it happened and that he was so willfully obtuse about it in the first place. There’s simply no excuse for that.
This has just been an absolute nightmare of a run for Alabama. It might be the most joyless run to the Sweet 16 we’ve ever seen. There was no talk about how Alabama had suddenly found success and how they could’ve made history by making it to an actual Final Four. Ultimately, they didn’t get close. But the storylines were there.
We just couldn’t talk about them because — let’s be honest — it didn’t feel right.
All you could think about with Alabama was, first, how someone died. And Miller seems to actually have something to do with that. Just seeing him out there playing ball felt weird. March Madness is supposed to feel good and this just didn’t.
Second, think about the position Miller is in. Granted, we don’t know what he knew. But imagine receiving death threats about you and your loved ones. Or having to walk around with armed security. And then you completely crap the bed in the biggest job interview of your life — that’s essentially what the NCAA tournament is for him. All of this at 19 years old.
Look, I have no idea what Miller did here or what he knew about the situation when he was in it. Jamea Harris lost her life. That’s the most important thing here.
But, to be frank, I’m glad Alabama’s season is over. I think we all should be. And, yes, that includes Brandon Miller, too.
