Miller pat-down during introduction

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With Brandon Miller pat-down during introduction, Alabama stumbles once again | Goodbread

Chase Goodbread, The Tuscaloosa News

5–6 minutes

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The plan was a basketball column. It really was.

Alabama eked out an 86-83 win over Arkansas on Saturday in exciting fashion, overcoming a nine-point halftime deficit with a second-half comeback that maintained its undefeated home record (14-0) and pushed the Crimson Tide a step closer to a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. There was plenty to write about from the action on the floor at Coleman Coliseum, but it was instead a pregame introduction that ended up being the hot topic.

You might've heard this before: The university has found a way to stumble in its handling of the Brandon Miller situation.

Again.

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During pregame introductions, Miller emerged from a pair of smoke machines and stretched his arms out to the side, when teammate Adam Cottrell put his hands on Miller's sides and lightly slapped him a few times, working downward toward his hips, resembling a pat-down.

Was it the way Miller has been introduced all season? Yes.

Was it really a pat-down simulation, or something else? Leave that to Twitter, which raged with debate on the topic while Miller was on his way to a 24-point night.

What's not in debate is this: Nate Oats didn't give it a pass.

"It's not appropriate. It's been addressed, and I can assure you it definitely will not happen again for the remainder of this year," Oats, Alabama's coach, said to begin his postgame news conference.

Here's what also isn't debatable:

From a public image standpoint, the way the university has dealt with its best basketball player's name being tied to the shooting death of Jamea Harris has been amateur hour. And at this point, that's a charitable description.

To recap: Miller was identified at a Tuesday courtroom hearing as having driven former teammate Darius Miles' handgun to the scene of a 23-year-old mother's shooting death in the wee morning hours of Sunday, Jan. 15. Miles and a friend, Michael Davis, have been charged with capital murder, and bond for them was denied following the hearing. Miller, according to a statement from his attorney, was on his way to pick Miles up when he received a text message from Miles asking him to bring the gun, which Miles had left in Miller's vehicle.

Miller has not been charged with a crime and is considered a cooperating witness by law enforcement, but the school's decision to keep him eligible to play has been roundly and fairly criticized.

But let's set the Miller eligibility question to the side for a moment. That issue will be talked about for weeks to come. From a perception standpoint, the school has found multiple ways to make a bad situation worse.

Let's start with Oats' news conference Tuesday, which was a regularly-scheduled meeting with reporters ahead of Alabama's road trip to South Carolina. The news of Miller's connection to the shooting broke more than an hour before Oats walked into the room, and his remarks on Miller were a well-chronicled disaster. He owns what he said, despite following up with a prepared statement, but he also apparently walked into the room with no idea what the hearing had revealed. And that's not just Oats' failing. Somebody should've pulled him to the side ahead of time and told him. Or even postponed the news conference if needed.

Who should have made sure Oats was prepared isn't for me to say, but somebody (if not more than one somebody) should've been on top of that. It's not as if the school didn't know the hearing was happening, and it's not as if the school didn't already know Miller was considered a witness by police.

From a perception standpoint, that was a costly failing.

And speaking of Miller's status as a witness, along with freshman point guard Jaden Bradley, the public relations nightmare might've been a bit easier this week if it had been known from the beginning that Miller was at least at the scene. Whether UA chose not disclose that, or was advised not to do so, or couldn't for some legal reason, the backlash was all the worse for it.

Then came Saturday, when a video clip of Cottrell patting Miller's sides went viral.

Again, whether that's been Miller's pregame intro all season or not doesn’t matter. Whether it's actually a simulation of something else doesn't matter much either, because when it comes to perception and public image, how something looks is how something is.

Somebody, somewhere on the Alabama campus − and not necessarily just Miller and Cottrell − probably should've thought wiser of that at some point this week.

Then again, it hasn't been a week for wise.

Reach Chase Goodbread at cgoodbread@gannett.com. Follow on Twitter @chasegoodbread.