News and Notes: The coverage of the Alabama situation highlights stark differences in how well some national outlets tackle a tough story, while others shy away from it
1. If you’re here, you’ve certainly read about the Brandon Miller situation at Alabama by now. The Tide are well on their way to a number one seed in the NCAA Tournament, led by a lottery pick talent in Miller who is putting up nearly 20 points and eight rebounds per game. News broke this week that Miller drove a gun to teammate Darius Miles Jr. who is now being charged with capital murder over the death of 23-year-old Jamea Harris, a woman who was killed on Jan. 15. Alabama chose to play Miller this week, and he has scored over 60 points in two victories since.
According to AL.com, “Court records released today state Harris died early Sunday morning after she was shot in a Jeep by Michael Lynn Davis, 20, of Maryland, using a gun provided to him by Darius Miles, 21.”
AL.com has had all angles of this story covered, including why Miller has not been charged with anything, and the tone-deaf comments of head coach Nate Oats and athletic director Greg Byrne in the wake of the news of Miller’s involvement breaking.
From a national perspective, the best coverage I read or heard came from CBS Sports’ Gary Parrish and Matt Norlander. This 25 minute clip is more than worth your time if you have interest in this story.
In an era in which so many college basketball pundits hesitate to take a candid look at a troubling situation in fear of losing access, Parrish and Norlander were terrific in covering this story.
Parrish closed with an interesting note: “The other thing you find out in times like these in our profession is who is equipped to talk about this honestly, and who is ill-equipped to talk about this honestly. It is interesting to watch people have real strong opinions about who should be the National Coach of the Year, and who should be the Big 10 Coach of the Year, or the Big Ten Player of the Year, but when it comes to something serious they can’t quite bring themselves to talk about it intelligently – or with any sort of passion.”
“I’ve seen so many people who talk about this sport every day just completely shut up. Won’t say a word about it. Don’t know how to talk about it.”