Alabama’s Nate Oats, Brandon Miller’s just did not understand

Alabama men’s basketball coach Nate Oats has called the pregame introduction routine of freshman forward Brandon Miller “not appropriate” after his team’s win over Arkansas. Miller’s routine involves being patted down by a walk-on before heading to midcourt. Oats said in his postgame news conference, “It’s been addressed, and I can assure you it definitely will not happen again for the remainder of this year.”

Miller has been doing the same pat-down pregame introduction for games this season, even after Tuscaloosa Detective Branden Culpepper testified on Tuesday that Miller brought now ex-teammate Darius Miles’ gun to him the night of the fatal shooting of 23-year-old Jamea Jonae Harris, after Miles texted and asked him to do so.

Miller has not been charged with a crime, and Tuscaloosa Chief Deputy District Attorney Paula Whitley told AL.com on Tuesday there’s “nothing we could charge [Miller] with.” Both Oats and investigators said Miller has cooperated with police.

Oats responded to the one nongame question that was asked of him – whether or not he has reached out to the family of Harris at any point. “Listen, to address it a little bit,” Oats said. “I apologize for my previous comments this week. We understand the severity of it all, but I’m following the administration’s lead on everything here, so we’re going to talk about the game is what they would like for me to talk about.”

Regarding Miller’s performance on Saturday, he scored a team-high 24 points with six rebounds and was largely cheered whenever he did something for the Crimson Tide. Oats praised Miller’s mental toughness in dealing with the situation, saying “he’s also done a great job being able to focus on practices, games and just getting this laser focus where he’s dialed in to where his feet are at.”