BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Brandon Miller will have better days. Alabama basketball will need him to if it is going to make a deep run in this month’s NCAA Tournament.

Thursday, though, the top-seeded Crimson Tide looked just fine as its star forward struggled to muster up any offense inside Legacy Arena on Thursday.

For the first time in his 35-game college career, Miller was held scoreless. However, his teammates picked up the slack as No. 1 seed Alabama opened the tournament with a 96-75 victory over No. 16 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.

As far as Miller’s concerned, that’s all that mattered

“With me, it doesn’t really matter how many points I score,” Miller said after the game. “I think our whole team is just winners, so it doesn’t matter who scores the most points here. The final score at the end of the game, that’s what we care about.”

Monday, Alabama head coach Nate Oats revealed Miller injured his groin during last weekend’s SEC Tournament. Thursday, Miller played a season-low 19 minutes, spending the game’s final 14:34 on the bench. He finished with five rebounds and three assists while shooting 0-for-5 from the floor and 0-for-3 from beyond the arc.

“We were trying to play him limited minutes,” Oats said following the game. “We were able to keep him under 20. Hopefully, he can get a lot of rehab today and tomorrow and look a lot more like himself on Saturday.”

When asked about his injury in the locker room Thursday, Miller said it was “getting better by the day.” He said he has not had to limit reps and practice and expects to be ready for Alabama’s second-round matchup against No. 8 seed Maryland on Saturday.

Miller’s scoreless performance Thursday ended a streak of 25 straight games with him scoring in double figures. The only other time he has been held under 10 points was on the road against then-No.1 Houston on Dec 10 when he recorded 8 points and five rebounds during a 71-65 victory over the Cougars.

Miller came into the day leading Alabama averaging 19.6 points and 8.3 rebounds while shooting 45.1% from the floor and 40.1% from 3.

He earned the SEC’s Player of the Year and Freshmen of the Year awards and was named the conference tournament’s MVP after averaging 20.3 points, 11 rebounds and 4.3 assists during the Crimson Tide’s three wins in Nashville over the weekend.

Miller will have the opportunity to bounce back in roughly 48 hours as Alabama takes on Maryland on Saturday inside Legacy Arena for a trip to the Sweet 16. The time for the game has yet to be announced.

“He’s been a true professional all year long,” Alabama guard Jahvon Quinerly said of Miller. “Basically, I went up and said to him, ‘Don’t worry about it. We need what you’ve been bringing us all year next game. He responded the right way as he had all year. I’m 100 percent confident he’ll be back next game.”

I’m sorry.

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I think some of you should be sayin you are sorry!!!!!

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Only .065% of brackets left perfect on the March madness site.

Here are three takeaways from Alabama's first-round win at the NCAA Tournament.

We all know how teams will be looked back upon in later years, but basketball actually consist of 3 seasons.

Regular season--we won the SEC Championship. Love it.
Tournament Conference--we won it.
NCAA Tournament--Yet to be determined

This has been a great season, however it turns out and l appreciate what Coach Oates and this team has brought to us. Now lets go ahead and sho nuff make it great.

ROLL TIDE and can't wait till Thursday.

to win the National Championship!!! He loves Coach Saban and I guess that he loves BAMA! Controversial sportscaster but always sides with Coach Saban!
ROLL TIDE ROLL!

Brandon Miller spoke about why he was accompanied by an armed security guard at the NCAA Tournament on Wednesday.

How about a scouting report on Texas A&M CC.

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All indications point to a Louisville commitment.
I don't have any inside info, I just read a lot. For the life of me, I really don't know why he is going there, other than a big NIL deal, IF that is a determining factor.
Anyone else know why he is strongly leaning to them?

Here is the link for the board’s bracket challenge. I’ve had people ask about yahoo or espn, but I just prefer ESPN’s bc their app is easier to navigate.

Have a hard time having five straight nights of good shooting and struggle. This team is different because it can completely change the way it plays and still compete at a high level. Great job by Oats of putting the team together.

After tearing his ACL in the first round last year, Jahvon Quinerly is looking to lead Alabama on run this March.

"I told all of our guys, 'You don’t want to have any regrets.' ... That’s just something I try to bring to the table, not to have any regrets."

About Rece Davis‘ pick. It actually said we were playing Texas a&m community college. It’s Texas a&m -Corpus Christi! good grief! Do people check anything anymore?

BAMA to win the National Championship!!! I know alot of us don’t really like Dicky V but we ALL hope he is correct on this prediction!
ROLL TIDE ROLL!

Brandon Miller picked up some postseason All-American honors on Wednesday. He was named a second-team All-American by the USBWA and the NABC.

Read about both awards here:

USBWA — https://www.sportswriters.net/usbwa/news/2023/03/15/usbwa-unveils-2022-23-mens-all-america-team

NABC —https://nabc.com/nabc_releases/2023/nabc-division-i-all-america-teams-announced/

Wish he would break out those gold shoes for the tournament.

If you didn't think you would live to see the day Sir Charles would pick Alabama to win the BASKETBALL National Championship with a big Roll Tide...here's the link!

Sir Charles Natty Pick

Right here: