SLAM DUNKS: Alabama situation clouding a great season
When we started Slam Dunks about four months ago we wanted to promote the game of college basketball and have fun with it. Unfortunately this week we have to write about something that we never want to touch but when it involves one of the best players in the country on one of the best teams there really is no choice.
News came out this week that University of Alabama freshman star Brandon Miller brought a gun to now former teammate Darius Miles in January that was used in a murder on the Alabama campus. Miller was exonerated by the Alabama District Attorney’s office and no charges were filed against Miller.
No formal punishment was given to Miller in the case which poses the question. Was this a case of a star player getting preferential treatment because of who he was?
Whether it is or not, the perception to the public is looking exactly like preferential treatment. It is not my right to judge but that is definitely what it is looking like in this case.
So before we go any further I want to say that anyone who knows me knows I am not perfect. I have had my fair share of issues in my life and there is no way I want to pass judgment on an individual.
In my personal Bible study I have been studying John and I recently stumbled on the verses about Jesus talking about he who has no sin cast the first stone. I cannot throw that stone,
I have also seen especially from Auburn and Tennessee fans critical comments about the Miller situation and my response to them is if it was your player, would you go on the defense like the Alabama fans have.
Back to Bama, I will say that I do believe that if this was a regular Joe in the street this would have been handled differently.
There are some legalities in this case. We will keep the name hush-hush because of his professional title, but I was talking to a criminal justice teacher from a local high school this week and he said that the issue in this case is trying to prove intent. He says it is very hard to actually do that and convict.
The biggest issue I see with all of this is how Alabama head coach Nate Oats has handled this. First off Oats is one of the best coaches in the country and has proven you can win at a football school. He also somehow and I didn’t think it was possible that he could replace Nick Saban as the most hated coach at Alabama.
The comments in the press conference were very disrespectful to the victim’s family and were totally out of line and out of place. I think disciplinary action for him should take place as well.
Now the question is did Miller do anything legally wrong. To the Alabama District Attorney’s he didn’t. I also know of a case in Northeast Tennessee in 2007 where someone got falsely accused of a DUI when the person had never had a drink of alcohol in his life and was punished more harshly than Miller was for bringing a gun in connection with a murder. It just doesn’t seem right.
If you go by what the D.A. said there is no wrong doing and nothing can be done. By the same token I don’t know if having a person on your team connected with a murder is really a good look for your program.
One thing is for sure, Miller and Alabama are going to be targets of SEC fans the rest of the way this year.
In Albabama’s underwhelming 78–76 overtime win over SEC basement dweller South Carolina, Miller was greeted with a chorus of boos including the political chant we have heard the last few years :”Lock him up.”
As far as Miller’s performance it was his greatest as a member of the Crimson Tide program. He scored 41 points and took over the game at the end of regulation and overtime. The most disturbing part for Alabama is pretty much nobody else showed up. It tells me this issue has bothered his teammates more than him.
This is honestly a team that Bama should have thrashed. Tennessee with all its offensive struggles beat the Gamecocks by 40. I don’t really know for sure, but I could see this whole ordeal blowing up in Bama’s face.
Then there is the issue of the NBA Draft coming up this summer which Miller almost definitely will put in for. I expect teams to pass him over because of character issues and the uncertainty involving the situation. Read Fran Fraschilla’s tweet on this from Wednesday night.
This was the most touchy subject I have had to write about probably since the one I did on the death of a local athlete in my area about 10 years ago that probably wouldn’t have made the paper under that paper’s current management. These are not fun to write at all, but sometimes they have to be done.
As a Christian, it is my responsibility to pray for Brandon Miller. He totally needs our prayers and support right now. On the flip side, actions have consequences and I am not sure the right action has been taken by the Alabama District Attorney’s office.
It will be really interesting to see what happens to the Alabama basketball team and this case in the next few weeks. Stay tuned.
MARQUETTE CONTINUES TO QUIETLY RACE ITS WAY UP THE NCAA SEEDING
When college basketball is discussed at a national level, it seems like the Big East finds itself to be a little bit under the radar, but there is one team that continues to show itself as one of the best in the country.
On Tuesday night Marquette squeezed out a 73–71 win over a red hot Creighton team in Omaha and has solidified itself as a legit top 10 team.
I think the biggest problem the Big East has is accessibility. While most major conferences have a contract with ESPN, the Big East ended theirs about a decade ago and went with Fox and mainly FS1. While the contract is great for getting all your games on TV, most fans of the sport are going to tune on ESPN first for college basketball.
When I told a sportswriter in my region about Marquette the other night he said “I know nothing about that league.” Not criticizing him but I don’t think the Big East does enough to market their product. It is actually in my opinion a top 3 league in the country.
No this conference is not the league of Patrick Ewing, Pearl Wahsington and Chris Mullin, but it is also thank goodness not the hodgepodge of the 90s and 2000s when it invited all comers and ruined the product.
The new Big East as it is called is actually a mix of the traditional Big East schools in the Northeast and basketball playing schools in the Midwest and the schools that play their primary focus is basketball. UCONN is the only public school in the league. It has been really a match made in heaven and has restored the conference back to the perch of elite conferences.
While DePaul has struggled to remain relevant and Butler has struggled since joining the Big East, the three other midwest schools have thrived with Xavier, Creighton and Marquette this year being major title contenders.
Of those three, Marquette is the school that had fallen off the map until this year when the Golden Eagles started winning and it has continued.
When Shaka Smart took the Marquette job and left Texas, a lot of experts questioned why he would leave Texas to take a job at a school albeit still in the Power 6 but didn’t have the exposure nationally that the Longhorns received. Simply put, he wanted to be at a basketball school and he wanted to recruit players that fit his system, something he really couldn’t do at Texas.
Smart was probably on the verge of being fired at Texas probably had one more year, but coming to Marquette he started over and also is able to coach in an NBA arena that is filled with Marquette fans every night. Not only is Milwaukee passionate about the Bucks, they are just as passionate about Marquette, similar to Memphis with the Grizzlies and the TIgers.
Fast forward to Monday night and Creighton being ahead 12 points in the first half looking like it was over, but the Eagles kept fighting and then took the lead and hung on from there.
After the game Smart went into a huge celebration where he jumped up and down like a little kid. This really meant a lot to him, He loves being at Marquette and loves the fact he is at a school that basketball is king
Marquette beat a very solid Creighton team Tuesday night, a team that I feel legitimately has a shot at making the Final Four. Who is to say after this that Marquette doesn’t have a shot either. They seem to have very few weaknesses.
I think the Big East has four teams that can make the second week of the NCAA Tournament. Providence is probably knocking at the door. For a league that seems to go unnoticed in the national conversation the basketball played is solid.
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DREW AND TANG STILL BROTHERS
When Jerome Tang and Scott Drew were coaching together at Baylor, they had a longstanding tradition that when Baylor played at Kansas State, they would go to Varsity Doughnuts in Manhattan, Kansas and have doughnuts and coffee.
That tradition continues even though Tang is now a Wildcat.
When Tang took the job at Kansas State earlier this year he did not want to forget the man who helped him getting to that spot so when Baylor played at Kansas State on Tuesday, Monday afternoon they made the trip to Varsity and had doughnuts together.
Kansas State won the game 75–65, but the bond between these two coaches remains.
Tang was on Drew’s staff for 19 years at Baylor and Tang was an integral part of all the success Baylor had including the 2021 national championship that the Bears won.
Kansas State players when the selection process went on for a new coach told the administration that they wanted Tang and that they had watched him during games. It was a smart move.
Kansas State 21–7 overall and Tang is in the conversation for national coach of the year, ironically his biggest challenger being Bill Self of Kansas.
While both jobs have been tremendous, Tang has had to start over and to have the success he has had in Manhattan is truly remarkable.
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Drew being the class act he is still is friends with Tang and appreciated the job he has done in Manhattan in arguably the greatest year for a single conference in college basketball history.
Tang has to be commended for being loyal to Drew and then waiting for the right opportunity. It is similar to Tommy Lloyd at Arizona when he was on Mark Few’s bench all those years.
They both are two great men with teams that have potential to go to the Final Four.
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TEXAS TECH PLAYING ITS WAY TO THE NCAA TOURNAMENT CONVERSATION
The Big 12 is from top to bottom possibly one of the greatest conferences in college basketball history this year and that includes a team like Texas Tech that after looking dead in the water suddenly after winning six of its last eight games and four in a row seems to be on track to play its way into the NCAA Tournament.
What looked unthinkable three weeks ago now looks like a reality as Texas Tech is 16–12 overall and 5–10 in the Big 12 and looks to be in prime position to reach the big dance.
I honestly never thought Texas Tech was a bad team of any sorts. I thought they played in the toughest league in America that was having an historic year.
Proof was in the Big 12-SEC challenge when TTU came in winless in Big 12 play and knocked off LSU in Baton Rouge 76–68 that started an amazing run.
The watershed win in this run was when Texas Tech defeated Texas 74–67 in Lubbock on Feb. 13. It signaled that the Red Raiders had turned the corner.
This team started the year in the top 25 so the potential was there all along but now it is all coming together for the Red Raiders.
Joe Lunardi with ESPN Bracketology has the Red Raiders in the first four out.. It is a symbol of how far this team has come.
I think if the Red Raiders go 7–11 in the conference and then win the play in game of the Big 12 Conference Tournament, I think they have a great chance of being in barring upsets in other conference tournaments,
Mark Adams is a great coach and I have a feeling this is not a team people want to see in the dance. This squad can play despite the horrid conference start.
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RODNEY TERRY MAKING HIMSELF A LEGITIMATE CANDIDATE FOR TEXAS VACANCY
After Chris Beard was removed for his duties at Texas because of domestic violence allegations, many experts expected Texas to fall to pieces. Enter Rodney Terry to save the day.
The former UTEP coach was named the interim last month and has honestly done a tremendous job and after Texas defeated Iowa State 72–54 to improve its record to 22–6 overall, the Longhorns are still in the hunt for a No, 1 seed in the upcoming NCAA Tournament.
The main thing though, Terry has put himself in the running to keep his job and take the interim out.
Yes these were Beard’s players, but this team could have totally fallen apart and they didn’t thanks to Terry’s leadership. The way this team is playing is a tribute to him and stepping up in a tough situation.
There is a good possibility that Texas may try to get a John Cailpari or another big name, but you have to remember something. As good as Texas is in basketball, it is a football school in football country,
Calipari picking fights with the football coach is not going to go over in Austin. Terry is going to know his role. He is going to do it well.
I think Terry’s chances will depend on how well Texas does in the NCAA Tournament. If the Longhorns make a deep run, I think he has it.
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STREAMING VS CABLE HOW IS IT GOING TO AFFECT HOW WE WATCH COLLEGE BASKETBALL
The entertainment industry is in a crossroads between whether to cater to the 40 and over crowd or look to reach Generation Y or Z and at the center of it is sports contracts and streaming.
All of this has come to a head this week as reportedly the Pac 12 is considering signing a contract with Apple TV Plus to put games on its stream service starting next year. The contract with Fox and ESPN is finished after this year and it sounds like they are not going to renew with them.
This is what people have to realize. While reaching out to a new audience that does not want cable may sound like a good idea, many young twenty-somethings are not into sports like my generation was. There are not many Matt Hill’s roaming around our schools anymore that were totally crazy about watching sports all day.
You have an older audience that is not going to switch to stream no matter what. That is just how it is.
I did have Tennis Channel Plus, Paramount Plus and briefly Peacock during Roland Garros, but I have had to get rid of those because of a job change that was unexpected. I do have ESPN Plus from my dad’s account that I watch frequently.
To me the Pac 12 can go. Probably my least favorite Power 6 conference and if I am going to watch West Coast Basketball, I usually watch the WCC or Mountain West.
I am not going to judge if this is a bad decision or not because I don’t know enough about how many people are streaming, All I know is when I have streamed I have had very poor connection issues and I live in a town of 70,000 people. I can’t imagine what it is like quite honestly 30 minutes up the road when you get into the mountains.
It is the way of the world these days, but I have a feeling this is something that down the road could cause me to quit watching college basketball and sports in general. We will see how it goes.
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CHAMP WEEK STARTS MONDAY AND SLAM DUNKS HAS YOU COVERED
Slam Dunks is going to be very busy the next couple of weeks.
Starting Monday Champ Week will begin which actually goes for two weeks. It starts on Monday with the Atlantic Sun Tournament and continues through Selection Sunday.
Slam Dunks will actually begin prepping for it this weekend with remote coverage of Samford-Furman which will be for the SoCon Title and also live coverage of ETSU-UNCG
For the next 10–12 days we will be primarily focusing on the mid-majors. We will then switch to the Power conferences.
Here are the tentative dates for release of future Slam Dunk columns
Feb.. 27 Champ Week mid major preview
March 6 Champ Week Power conferences preview
March 8 Champ Week Mid Major recap
March 13 Champ Week Power Conference recap
March 14 Champ Week NCAA Tournament Preview (Will try to have this out before the First Four games on Tuesday)
Let the madness begin.
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Matt Hill covers college basketball (Slam Dunks) and tennis (Love-40) for medium.com.
