This is an opinion column.

Sadly, this story has little to do with basketball. This story has more to do with the best basketball player on Birmingham’s biggest basketball stage in a decade and a half.

This has already been said in this space, more than once in different ways, but it bears repeating today as that player takes this stage – as he should – and the games begin with the whole college basketball world watching.

Jamea Harris didn’t deserve to die. Brandon Miller doesn’t deserve to be buried alive. Rather, Miller himself is lucky he didn’t breathe his last. Welcome to an NCAA Tournament unlike any of the 10 that have come here before. There is no shame in reveling in this special event. This city has earned it. Everything that’s good about it shows what can happen when we all come together as a team.

But first, let’s get some more important things straight.

A senseless tragedy has been unfairly framed as a conflict between the Harris family and Alabama basketball in general, Miller in particular. A grieving family can be forgiven its emotional, imprecise search for justice and closure. Journalists seeking the truth own a greater responsibility.