After hearing Alabama head coach Nate Oats speak with the media, there seems to be some uncertainty about whether Brandon Miller will play in the Crimson Tide’s Round of 32 game against Maryland. Miller suffered a groin injury in the SEC Tournament and has been dealing with it since then.
The Tide are set to face the Maryland Terrapins in the Round of 32 with the winner advancing to the Sweet 16.
Miller played in Alabama’s tournament opener against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. He scored zero points in 19 minutes of action.
On Friday, Oats spoke with the media and seemed like a decision had not yet been made regarding Miller’s availability.
“I think he’s smart enough to know if he can go or not and help us. If he can’t, the good thing about our team is we’ve got a lot of depth. … we’ve got different options. Pray we don’t have to go to all those,” Oats said.
If Miller is unable to play, Oats could look for players like Noah Gurley, Dom Welch, and Rylan Griffen to step up. The three are key players off of the bench but could be called upon.
Oats also mentioned how the Tide could elect to go the ‘small-ball’ route.
“We do have long, athletic wings, not as long as Brandon. We can also go a little smaller [without Miller]. When we beat Auburn at our place, we’re down 17 with 9:30 to go in that game. We went with Jahvon Quinerly, Mark Sears, and Jaden Bradley lineup. Kind of spread them all out, went with all three guards, and rode with it through that in overtime,” Oats said.
Whatever the case may be, Alabama has enough depth to win without Miller. However, it would make things much easier if the team’s leading-scorer and rebounder were on the floor. Not to mention, he is a future lottery pick as well. The more options, the better off the Tide will be.
Roll Tide Wire will continue to monitor Miller’s injury situation as well as Alabama basketball news.
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