While Alabama's top-seeded men's basketball team marches onward to the Sweet 16 in March Madness, iconic Crimson Tide football coach Nick Saban -- he of the unparalleled, impeccable resumè -- sent a Capstone-wide message of his own Monday.
As the Crimson Tide football team, entering spring camp with a full-on quarterback competition and in the unfamiliar position of having not been a participant in last season's College Football Playoff, Saban announced disciplinary action for ballyhooed 2023 Alabama five-star signee Tony Mitchell.
Arrested last week in Florida on marijuana charges that included allegations of intent to "sell or deliver" per multiple reports, Mitchell was suspended indefinitely from the Alabama football program, Saban announced.
"Tony Mitchell has been suspended from the team and all team activities until we gather more information about the situation and what his legal circumstance is," Saban told reporters as the Tide's 2023 spring camp got started.
It was Saban's ensuing comments that seemed to send a clear message to his own players -- and perhaps delivered a shot across the campus bow to Nate Oats' Alabama basketball team, which is a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament and already advanced to the Sweet 16.
Pending various reports, Oats' Alabama roster had perhaps as many as four players at the scene of a Tuscaloosa, Alabama, murder in mid-January. Former Tide basketball forward Darius Miles has been charged with the murder of Jamea Harris. Tide All-America honoree and SEC Player of the Year Brandon Miller allegedly brought the gun that was used in the murder to Miles, though Miller has been called a cooperative witness.
Still, Oats and Alabama -- not to mention a still-silent SEC headquarters -- have been panned for their handling of the tragedy. Oats, particularly, had tried to label the situation as having players in the "wrong place at a the wrong time."
On Monday, Saban absolutely was having nothing to do with that notion.
"y=You know, i mean, everybody's got an opportunity to make choices and decisions," Saban said. "There's no such thing as being at the wrong place at the wrong time.
"You've got to be responsible for who you're with, who you're around and what you do and who you associate yourself with and the situations that you put yourself in. So, it is what it is. But there is cause and effect when you make choices and decisions that put you in bad situations."
“There’s no such thing as being at the wrong place at the wrong time.” — Nick Saban while discussing the suspension of freshman Tony Mitchell, who was arrested last week and charged with possession of marijuana. pic.twitter.com/3vs3Po5wnL
— Alabama Crimson Tide | AL.com (@aldotcomTide) March 21, 2023