Alabama men’s basketball coach Nate Oats drew plenty of criticism last month with the way he explained a serious off-court incident involving Crimson Tide star Brandon Miller.
Oats described Miller’s connection to a shooting death — Miller allegedly delivered a handgun to a former teammate, the gun later being used in the killing of a 23-year-old — was a case of “wrong spot at the wrong time.” Miller has not been charged with any crime. But Oats’ description of the incident prompted well-deserved backlash, one of the many times the head coach put his foot in his mouth with comments relating to the incident.
Those comments now are being revisited as many question whether recent remarks from Alabama football coach Nick Saban were a slight at Oats.
“… There’s no such thing as being at the wrong place at the wrong time,” Saban told reporters Monday as he revealed 5-star recruit Tony Mitchell was suspended from the Crimson Tide football program because of his recent arrest. “You got to be responsible with who you with, who you’re around, what you do and who you associate yourself with and the situations you put yourself in.”
Multiple media members have since been told Saban’s comments were not in reference to Oats and that Saban’s remarks were coincidental.
Oats and the top-seeded Crimson Tide basketball program will face San Diego State in a South region Sweet 16 matchup on Friday night. Alabama was a 7.5-point favorite on FanDuel Sportsbook as of Tuesday afternoon.
