Within the age of social media, we see folks misbehaving and exhibiting an egregious lack of self-awareness daily. Alabama males’s basketball standout Brandon Miller is the newest athlete to point out the world simply how tone-deaf one individual may be. Throughout Saturday’s pregame introduction towards Arkansas, Miller selected to go ahead with a “pat-down” entrance as he was introduced to the gang.

For many who aren’t conscious, Miller is at the moment beneath investigation for his half within the Jan. 15 homicide of Jamea Harris on the Crimson Tide campus. Former teammate Darius Miles and pal Michael Davis are dealing with capital homicide fees from the alleged capturing. Miller was discovered to have offered the gun, which belonged to Miles, and was left within the former’s automotive after receiving a textual content message about an incident on campus grounds. Miller and a teammate have been performing this introductory “patdown” all season, however persevering with on with the ritual now — as his identify is so intently related to a deadly confrontation — is horrible optics.

So with this data now publicly recognized, watching Miller’s apparently blatant disrespect for the state of affairs leads one to consider he doesn’t care concerning the sufferer or the seriousness of the authorized proceedings. The truth that he’s accomplished this intro all through the season is not any excuse for his failure to learn the room. Contemplating all that’s taking place round him, the truth that Miller is allowed to play is kind of stunning.

You’d assume a younger man beneath a lot scrutiny together with the College would need to name much less consideration to himself and his present authorized state of affairs. That is a type of instances when a younger man ought to simply play basketball and depart all these theatrics alone. Of all of the introductions accessible, Miller selected to carry out this one whereas beneath investigation for supplying a firearm allegedly used to kill a younger lady.

Following Bama’s 86-83 win over Arkansas, head coach Nate Oates claimed ignorance to his data of Miller’s intro however mentioned it gained’t proceed. This complete case has been mishandled by Alabama and the NCAA from the beginning. Earlier than NIL, every time a student-athlete was even imagined to have taken cash or items from anybody, the NCAA was throughout it, particularly in basketball and soccer. However they need to wash their arms of a state of affairs when one thing critical occurs.

Gamers have been punished for accepting a free meal, as Dez Bryant was in 2009 at Oklahoma State after dinner with Deion Sanders. Former Utah Utes males’s basketball coach Rick Majerus was reprimanded for the same violation as a result of he purchased pizza for his gamers after practices and movie periods and paid for it himself. That is the kind of trivial matter the NCAA likes to interject themselves into, but it sits again as a deadly capturing lurks within the background, one which has already seen a member of the workforce, Darius Miles, dismissed and indicted on capital homicide fees.