Warning: The following story contains graphic language.
The Brandon Miller situation at Alabama has exposed some ugly aspects of college sports culture, and they came through loud and clear in the SEC men’s basketball tournament.
With Miller still playing despite giving up the gun used in a fatal shooting earlier this year, the Crimson Tide advanced to the finals with a 72-61 win over Missouri on Saturday. In attendance was a man wearing an Alabama-themed shirt reading “GOATS” on the front and ‘Killin’ Our Way Through the SEC’ in ’23’ on the back.
When asked about the shirt by AL.com’s John Talley, the man responded with profanity, claimed to be an Alabama fan and said he would be back for the Tide championship game against Texas A&M on Sunday.
an SEC spokesperson later told AL.com That fans will not be allowed into Sunday’s final if they wear such a shirt and will be asked to leave if they wear it at any other time:
SEC spokesman Herb Vincent told AL.com that fans will not be allowed inside Bridgestone Arena with the shirts on Sunday and that if fans keep them inside the arena at any time, they will be asked to leave. The SEC fan ticket policy states that tickets are voidable if “the user is disruptive, endangers others or uses obscene, threatening or abusive language.”
The shirt is an apparent reference to Miller’s legal saga, in which the star freshman gave former teammate Darius Miles a gun that was later used to kill 23-year-old mother Jamia Harris on Jan. 15. Miles and Michael Davis, the man who allegedly fired the gun, both face capital murder charges, while Miller has not been charged with a crime, as prosecutors indicated there was no evidence that He knew the gun would be used for the crime when he delivered it to Miles late at a nightclub.
The matter raised its head even before the game, as a couple hecklers wearing Vanderbilt shirts shouted “Brandon killer,” “You’re a killer and you know it,” and “God will judge you,” during warm-ups.
Miller, who called the situation “heartbreaking” earlier this week after seeing no result from Alabama, continued to play, a decision condemned by Harris’ parents. However, he received some backlash for the pre-game introduction, in which a teammate pretended to pat him, and was constantly booed in the street.