Share this @internewscast.com
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Alabama basketball coach Nate Oats, on the eve of his top-seeded team’s Sweet 16 game against San Diego State, insisted there’s no rift between him and legendary Crimson Tide football coach Nick Saban.
Just days removed from what appeared to be Saban throwing shade at the school’s basketball program, Saban visited the Crimson Tide hoops practice on Wednesday in advance of their NCAA Tournament game Friday at the KFC Yum! Center.
When Saban announced on Monday that freshman defensive back Tony Mitchell has been indefinitely suspended from all team activities after being arrested in Florida for driving 141 mph and possession of marijuana, $7,000 in cash and a loaded firearm, he told reporters, “Everybody’s got an opportunity to make choices and decisions. There’s no such thing as being in the wrong place at the wrong time.’’
Saban’s use of that phrase “wrong place at the wrong time” is the same phrase Oats used when defending the decision not to suspend his star freshman Brandon Miller after he reportedly transported a gun to teammate Darius Miles that was allegedly used in a murder on Jan. 15 in Tuscaloosa, Ala.
Miller, who’s cooperating with a police investigation, hasn’t been charged with a crime, but the way Oats handled the situation publicly drew heavy criticism.
“Can’t control everything anybody does outside of practice,” Oats said at the time. “Nobody knew that was going to happen. College kids are out, Brandon hasn’t been in any type of trouble nor is he in any type of trouble in this case. Wrong spot at the wrong time.”
That’s what made Saban’s use of the same phrase curious, raising eyebrows.
“[Saban] and I talked that night,’’ Oats said Thursday. “I didn’t take it that way [as a slight] at all. I got a ton of respect for ‘Coach.’ He has been tremendously supportive of our program since he has got here. He has been at multiple games this year. He came [Wednesday] to speak to the team. Players loved it.
“He and I have got a great relationship, and I’m really thankful for the support that he has given us and continues to give us with the basketball program at Alabama.’’
Miller, whose alleged involvement in that shooting incident cast a cloud over the Alabama program even though it continues to win, called the visit from Saban “a great experience.’’
“I always grew up being an Alabama football fan, so Coach Saban has always been a great role model for me,’’ Miller said. “It was great just seeing him an arm’s length away from me. I feel like it kind of motivates us guys. I feel like we have a winning school.’’
After the shooting, which killed 23-year-old Jamea Jonae Harris, the winning took a backseat to turmoil around the program as Oats was ripped for allowing Miller to continue playing. Many outside the program view Alabama as the villains of this NCAA Tournament.
As the outside criticism mounted, Oats gathered his players together and urged them to look inward and rely on each other as a way to quiet the outside noise.
“After the whole [Miller] situation, Coach [Oats] came in and told us this is a time for us to focus on who we are as people and who we are as a group,’’ Alabama guard Jaden Quinerly, a Hackensack, N.J., native, told The Post Thursday. “It was a time to self-reflection. We really leaned on each other, making sure we all stayed in the gym. We incorporated so many more activities doing things together, whether it was just eating together or playing video games.’’
Alabama 7-foot center Charles Bediako told The Post, “We really just all relied on one another, staying close together.’’
Miller, Alabama’s best player with a team-best 19.1 points and 8.2 rebounds per game, echoed: “I feel like we just lean on each other.’’
