The SEC announced the men’s basketball player of the week as usual on Monday.
Interestingly, no award went to the NBA’s top-drafted prospect who collected 65 points and 14 rebounds in two wins.
Kentucky forward Oscar Tshiebwe received SEC Player of the Week after averaging 23.5 points and 10.5 rebounds in big wins over Florida and Auburn. Arkansas guard Nick Smith Jr. earned SEC rookie of the week after 25 points and 3.5 points in a win over Georgia and a loss at Alabama, his third and fourth games back from a knee injury.
Snubbed faced Alabama freshman Brandon Miller, despite scoring more than Tshiebwe or Smith. It apparently didn’t matter whether Miller allowed a go-ahead touchdown in the second overtime win over South Carolina on Wednesday or whether he scored more than Smith in Alabama’s win over Arkansas three days later.
Why didn’t Miller win any awards? Another possibility is that the SEC just wants to spread the love. Miller has captured the league’s rookie of the week six times this season. Just one week ago, the league gave its rookie of the week honor to Kentucky’s Chris Livingston, even though Miller put up a solid statistical performance.
The other possibility is that the SEC doesn’t want to celebrate Miller after a week that has been a national outcry. Many have questioned why Alabama is still allowing Miller to play after it was revealed that he was more involved in last month’s shooting of a woman in Tuscaloosa than the university initially realized. .
Police testimony at Tuesday’s court hearing revealed that teammate Darius Miles texted Miller from the Tuscaloosa tube asking him to bring Miles his handgun just after midnight on Jan. 15. Jamea Jonae Harris is a year old.
Miller has not been charged with a crime, and police appear to be treating him as a witness, not a subject, in the investigation. An attorney representing Miller said in a statement last week that he “never touched the gun, was not involved in the exchange with Mr. Davis in any way and was never aware of any illegal activity involving the gun.” it won’t happen.”
Alabama coaches and administrators carried on as if there was nothing to see here and as if the school’s best player had done nothing wrong in passing a gun to his friend who had been celebrating until the end of the night. Coach Nate Oats has started Miller every game since the Jan. 15 shooting and said last week that Miller “isn’t in any trouble.”
Just when the story finally died down, Miller reignited it on Saturday. The television cameras caught him participating in the pregame presentation process of going through the weapons inspection, a practice he does most of the time.
Even Oats are called regular “not suitable” under the circumstances. He told reporters after Saturday’s game: “I assure you, it will definitely not happen again this year.”
As for the SEC, it did not step in to punish Miller, and did not comment on his behavior. Instead the league stayed quiet and allowed Alabama to handle the situation as it saw fit.
Everything was business as usual until the SEC passed on Miller for the weekly awards, a decision that reconsidered the line to avoid negative publicity.
If Alabama and the SEC are going to adopt a position that Miller can play in, then give him credit for his performance on the court. Heck, give him more credit for thriving despite the “tragedies” of “lock him up” taunts and calls from opposing fans.
There will be no lineups next week, when the SEC awards the all-time awards. In terms of performance on the court, the freshman is Miller. He could be the hero of the year, too.
Either you realize it or you live with it. The SEC can’t have it both ways.
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