Brandon Miller not named SEC Freshman of the Week: Fans, media react
Brandon Miller was in the headlines all of last week, for wildly different reasons.
First, the Alabama star freshman was mentioned in court as having allegedly delivered a gun to former Alabama player Darius Miles, who then gave the gun to Michael Davis, who allegedly murdered Jamea Harris in a shooting in Tuscaloosa on Jan. 15.
Then, Miller went out and dropped 41 points in an overtime win at South Carolina.
On Saturday, Miller again led Alabama to a win, this time over Arkansas, but he was roundly criticized for his pregame celebration which featured a Crimson Tide teammate patting him down.
All in all, Miller scored 65 points and grabbed 14 rebounds in 2 wins last week. Yet, when the SEC announced weekly awards on Monday, Miller didn’t win either the SEC Player of the Week or the SEC Freshman of the Week awards. Instead, those went to Kentucky big man Oscar Tshiebwe and Arkansas freshman Nick Smith Jr., respectively.
Fans and media members took to Twitter to react to Miller not being honored for his big performances on the court:
Arkansas guard Nick Smith Jr. earned SEC Freshman of the Week over Brandon Miller.
— Smith averaged 25.0 points and 3.5 rebounds against Georgia and Alabama.
— Miller averaged 32.5 points and 7.0 rebounds against South Carolina and Arkansas.
— Tony Tsoukalas (@Tony_Tsoukalas) February 27, 2023
Wow they didn't even give Brandon Miller Freshman of the Week.
SEC wildin https://t.co/AcIEsF8gTV
— T.J. Walker (@TJWalkerRadio) February 27, 2023
Already planting the seed for Brandon Miller not to win POTY. https://t.co/jROLsbg7jo
— Dave Shumate (@Mach10Sports) February 27, 2023
Brandon Miller was not among the SEC Player of the Week honorees after averaging 32.5 points and 7.0 rebounds per game this past week.
SEC Player of the Week: Oscar Tshiebwe, Kentucky (23.5 ppg, 10.5 rpg)
SEC Freshman of the Week: Nick Smith Jr., Arkansas (25.0 ppg, 3.5 rpg)
— Charlie Potter (@Charlie_Potter) February 27, 2023
Hard to view Brandon Miller not winning SEC Freshman of the Week after scoring 65 with 14 rebounds over two games (winner produced 50-7 and lost to Alabama) as anything other than the league distancing itself.
— Chase Goodbread (@ChaseGoodbread) February 27, 2023
Brandon Miller won’t win another award all year. Alabamas PR team working overtime again to make sure he’s not in the media https://t.co/NDDc6FRuEm
— David Marts (@DavidMarts13) February 27, 2023
Brandon Miller is the player of the week regardless what you think.
Brandon Miller is player of the year regardless what you think.
Brandon Miller is an All-American regardless what you think.
He has earned those titles.
— Nate Oats Burner (@nate_oatsb) February 27, 2023
Clearly, theories are flying on social media after this perceived snub.
What this means moving forward
Alabama is 1 win away (or 1 Texas A&M loss away) from locking up the No. 1 seed in the SEC tournament. Miller has been a big part of that.
His on-the-court performance has been impeccable. The situation he finds himself in off the court, though, has not been a good look in any regard.
There’s no specific “character” or “morality” clause in how the SEC selects its weekly awards. In fact, the league has plenty of latitude to make whatever decision it sees fit.
The SEC may have indeed decided that Miller’s off-the-court headlines outweighed his dominant performances on the floor. That’s the league’s right.
Alabama is still trending toward a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. The Tide will be tough to beat in the SEC basketball tournament or in March Madness. Just don’t expect Miller to rack up many more awards from the SEC this year.
Re-evaluate yourself if you think this guy should be the defacto spokesperson for your university. idgaf how many points he scored, a girl died cause of what he did giving that gun.
It is amazing to me how differently a story can change based on a few words. If you knew what you were talking about instead of being mad because the media told you to be mad, you would see it the way it was.
Take the word “murder” out of the situation and I think people are not as hostile. I understand people being highly upset after a innocent young woman loses her life bc of ignorant knuckleheads having a shoot out. 3 Alabama players at the scene, 1 charged.
Miller wasn’t even there when the shooting took place was he?
Dead on JayHawks….taking Miami’s name of Thug U. Been covering up stuff for their players for years.
If that’s the case then your daddy is responsible for anything bad that you do in your life, because he didn’t pull out! He gave her what she asked him for and now here you are and it’s his phucking fault because he knew exactly what you were gonna do when he gave her the k ock. Stfu re re.
Another scumbag, trumpy t-shirt fan… We ALL blame your dad for not pulling out.
Oats comments, the dad’s reaction, and then the pat down nonsense was too much. Of course, Miller getting overlooked for awards he should have won will keep the issue in the press.
Miller should definitely be the face of the Tide’s basketball program after the situation he put himself in. If there were no gun delivered=
no one would have died.
So far Oats, Bama, and Miller with his pat down intro haven’t needed the SECs help to keep this up front in sports media.
Tr*shy University leaders
Tr*shy coaches
Tr*shy players
The pat down and the fact “Oats Bloats” the pathetic Coach acts like he’s never seen it was just icing on the cake.
Absolutely pathetic
Even if he had never seen it the fact that no assistant coach or trainer or anyone spoke up and said enough it’s time to show some decency and class just shows how embarrassing this school is.
Agreed. I’m a graduate and it’s absolutely disgusting.
this has become such a mess. It certainly does not appear he is guilty of anything other than stupidity but several things played out that are hurting him, Oats and the school, as far as the general public goes. He should have come out, privately first to the family of the deceased, then publicly to state his role in what transpired and shown some genuine remorse… Then he should have ended that stupid pat down immediately and he probably should have missed a game or two or whatever it took, on his own, to gather his thoughts and reflect on what transpired. Oats and the school should have gotten in front of it very early on, not wait until things come out in police testimony and having lawyers speak for you. But none of that happened. I cant help but wonder if what happened really even bothered him or Oats at all… It will be a circus as long as he plays in college and will likely start easing off once that ends and he is actually on an NBA team. Until then im afraid you reap what you sew.
I’ve yet to read an article that definitively says whether or not he knew he was brining a gun to the bar. At first, that’s what it sounded like, but still hearing conflicting accounts of that. If the kid truly didn’t know that it was a gun in the backseat under the clothes, then I don’t know how much blame he should be getting. But if he did know he was bringing a gun to a nightclub, then he 100% made a horrible decision even if he didn’t know what it was for. Truly a sad set of circumstances for all involved. What is truly unsettling is how Oats continues to respond to the situation. He’s the lone true grownup in all of this and isn’t doing Bama any favors from a perception standpoint.
Will be very hard to prove whether he knew the gun was there or not. What isn’t hard to prove is that the gun that Miller brought to the scene killed a young woman and he has continued to do the “pat-down” intro. At best it shows a lack of common sense, at worst it shows a man who was complicit in a murder showing zero remorse for the killing.
The text messages from Miles to Miller that were presented in court were pretty clear (and time stamped) Miles texted Miller he needs his piece. If Miller is claiming he had no idea Miles was talking about his gun then he’s just playing dumb, which is dumb.
Thank you for the additional detail.
Who has actually seen those text messages? Where can they be found?
Sounds like you need to join the prosecution team…. Its not like the police have already cleared him
Yall just hoping and praying for the downfall of this young player.
As we’ve seen it hasnt effected his play because he knows he is good in eyes of God and the law… Keep hatin’ the tides rollin
Another P O S t-shirt fan with zero ethics.
Don’t white people carry guns to bars or nightclubs, to restaurants, schools, city hall, Capitol Hill…hell don’t white guys carry guns everywhere they go?…cause they’re all afraid for their lives?
He’s human debris and shouldn’t not only be playing, but shouldn’t even be a student on that campus.
human debris? Do you know all the details of the case? Can you make that assertion with 100 % clarity?
Nobody can they just assume he’s guilty by something they’ve read on their phone or seen on tv it’s a tragic situation but no matter how thin you slice it there’s always two sides
Go smoke one on your porch of your doublewide. you dgaf about that girl.
True statement
I’m awaiting moderation double down
The majority of the problem solvers shows how it’s done everyday…except they use guns that can kill many at once, every single day thousands of whts kill each other…they’ve killed hundreds of thousands in the last year alone, and y’all don’t gaf…how many do you think will die in Ukraine today, you know, those wht on wht killing sprees?…but you probably don’t want to talk about that, and we know why!…blowing up residential homes, shelling hospitals, attacking schools, etc. etc…18 yr old black kids aren’t doing those sorts or things, but 18 yr old wkite kids are…every day!
The SEC better be careful… this kid know how to “take care” of problems.
We all know why.
No gun brought to the scene=nobody dead.
Bingo.