by NBA prospect Brandon Miller won this year’s SEC Player of the Year award just a year after starting his college basketball career in Alabama, despite his recent connection to a murder case.
The 20-year-old came out on top of this year’s postseason awards on Monday, which are decided by 14 head coaches. The little striker led the SEC standings this season with 19.6 points per game.
He also led Alabama to a No. 1 spot and already won the conference’s Freshman of the Year award, just weeks after being named in the murder of former teammate Darius Miles.
In February, Tuscaloosa police testified that Miller was the person who brought Miles the gun that was used to kill 23-year-old Jamae Harris, although Miles’ friend Michael Davis is believed to have been the alleged shooter.
The mother of one of them was fatally injured on January 15.
Alabama’s small forward Brandon Miller, 19, won the SEC’s Player of the Year award on Monday
Miller allegedly supplied the gun used to kill Jamae Harris to Darius Miles (above)
Miller, who is from Tennessee, was playing against South Carolina at the time and was taunted by chanting “block him” during the game. That didn’t stop him – he scored a career-high 41 points as his team won 78-76.
A game later against Arkansas, Miller was jokingly tapped by a teammate before speaking.
Both Miles and Davis face murder charges, although Miller has been cleared of any wrongdoing by the authorities and his school.
The victim’s parents are also believed to be angry with NCAA officials, more specifically Alabama, for allowing Miller to keep playing despite his ties to the allegations.
“He took a short pause and it wasn’t over. It’s like, OK, slap your wrist and go play football,” Harris’ mother, DeCarla Cotton, told USA Today.
“They’re worried about his career, but what about this 5-year-old boy (Harris’ son, Kaine). He is the real victim in all of this. He will no longer have a mother to influence him growing up and who he will become.
Miller is the first player to win both the Player and Rookie of the Year awards since 2012, when Lakers’ Anthony Davis received the honors.
Davis only played for Kentucky for one year (2011-2012).
Miller is the first player to be named Player and Rookie of the Year since Anthony Davis in 2012
Harris, the mother of a five-year-old son, was visiting her cousin and boyfriend in Tuscaloosa when she was shot dead last month.
“He has a 5-year-old son who is still waiting for his mother to come home,” DeCarla Heard, Harris’ mother, told reporters. “I want justice for my grandson.”
Tuscaloosa and University of Alabama police were dispatched to the Walk of Champions at Bryant Denny Stadium, the school’s football field, at 1:45 a.m. on January 15, when the shooting was reported.
It was there that police met Harris’ boyfriend, Cedric Johnson, who said he had driven away from the scene of the shooting after their vehicle was hit by gunfire. Johnson told police he returned fire in self-defense and may have hit one of the suspects, possibly Davis.
Investigators later determined that the shooting took place on the 400 block of Grace Street near University Boulevard, near many bars and restaurants.
Harris’s mother, Heard, previously told AL.com that the suspects tried to talk to her daughter, who told them she had a boyfriend and was not interested in their advances.
Court records obtained by AL.com show that Davis fired the fatal shots, while Miles pleaded guilty to supplying Davis with the gun.
Miles was originally dropped off at the scene by Miller, who didn’t stay because the line at local club Twelve25 was too long, according to testimony at Tuesday’s hearing.
Jamea Harris, 23, from the Birmingham area, was shot to death on January 15
Miles was originally dropped off at the scene by Miller, who didn’t stay because the line at local club Twelve25 was too long, according to testimony during Tuesday’s hearing
The first meeting took place after Harris, Johnson and Harris’ cousin Asia Humphrey left the club for a snack at a nearby barbecue, where they ran into Davis, according to police.
Davis tried to talk to Harris, but Johnson told him she was not interested in him, Culpepper said, adding that “it’s gone a bit high”.
Miles then allegedly texted Miller saying “I need my joint”, which police say is slang for guns.
According to police, upon Miller’s return, Miles and Davis went to his car before approaching the victims.
Davis then said, “I told you I’d get you,” according to Tuesday’s confession, and fired at least eight shots at the victim’s Jeep.
Harris was punched in the face.
Miller’s car was hit by two bullets during the ensuing firefight.
Michael Lynn Davis allegedly recovered the gun from Miller’s vehicle
The victims escaped in a jeep to the Walk of Champions where they were met by the police. Harris was pronounced dead shortly thereafter.
Police say they received a 911 call from Miles, who said his friend Davis had been shot.
Miles told police he didn’t know how or where it happened.
In subsequent police interviews, Miles said that he and his girlfriend picked up Davis after the shooting.
Police later told Miles that the incident had been caught on a nearby surveillance camera, prompting Miles to admit that he was at the scene of the shooting.
Miles admitted to contacting Miller to retrieve his gun, but said that according to police, Davis was the one who took it from Miller’s vehicle.
Davis claimed he was drunk and was trying to remember how the shooting happened.
Defense attorneys suggested that Miles and Davis may have feared for their lives after initially seeing the guns in the victims’ vehicle.
