sport news Brandon Miller wins SEC Player of the Year Award after being linked to a murder ... trends now
NBA prospect Brandon Miller has won this year's SEC Player of the Year Award, just a year into his college basketball career with 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 small forward led the SEC's scoring charts this season with 19.6 points per game.
He also guided Alabama to a first-seed finish and has already won the conference's Freshman of the Year award, just weeks after being named in ex-teammate Darius Miles' murder case.
In February, Tuscaloosa police testified that Miller was the individual who brought Miles the gun that was used to kill Jamae Harris, 23, though Miles' friend, Michael Davis, is thought to be the alleged shooter.
The mother of one was fatally wounded on January 15.
Alabama's small forward Brandon Miller, 19, won the SEC's Player of the Year award on Monday
Miller allegedly provided the gun that was used to kill Jamae Harris, to Darius Miles (above)
Miller, who's from Tennessee, then played against South Carolina and was taunted with chants of 'lock him up' during the game. It didn't hold him back - he scored a career-high 41 points and his team won 78-76.
A game later against Arkansas, Miller was jokingly patted down by a teammate before taking the floor.
Both Miles and Davis are facing capital murder charges though Miller's been cleared of any wrongdoing by authorities and his school.
The victim's parents are also believed to be upset with NCAA officials, and more particularly, Alabama, for allowing Miller to play on despite his ties to allegations.
'He took a brief pause and it didn't stop. It's like, OK, slap on the wrist and go play ball,' 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's the true victim in all this. He won't have a mother anymore to influence his growing up and who he's going to be.'
Miller is the first player to have won both Player and Rookie of the Year Awards since 2012, the year when the Lakers' Anthony Davis received the honors.
Davis only played for Kentucky for one year (2011-2012).
Miller's the first player to have won Player & Rookie of the Year since Anthony Davis in 2012
Harris, a mother to a five-year-old son, was visiting her cousin and boyfriend in Tuscaloosa when she was shot and killed in the early hours of January 15.
'She has a 5-year-old son that is still waiting for his mother to come home,' DeCarla Heard,
