It’s impossible to justify how any basketball player present in the shooting death of Jamea Harris remains on the team representing the University of Alabama.

That includes star basketball player Brandon Miller, unfortunately, no matter if he’s going to be charged by the Tuscaloosa district attorney or not. Initial testimonies in the capital murder trial for former Alabama basketball player Darius Miles and his friend Michael Davis began on Tuesday in Tuscaloosa. Davis allegedly shot and killed Harris with Miles’ gun. According to testimony by law enforcement, it was Miller who retrieved the gun used in the alleged shooting, and it was Miller who transported the gun in his car.

There were bullet holes in the windshield of Miller’s Dodge Charger, say the cops.

RELATED: Darius Miles asked Brandon Miller to bring gun, police testify

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Testimony also placed another Alabama basketball player, Jaden Bradley, at the scene, but driving his own car, a Dodge Challenger.

These are shocking details to a high-profile case that will remain with Alabama basketball for the rest of this season and beyond. Alabama has the best basketball team in the country, and Miller is a player with the talent level of an NBA lottery pick. Those things do not matter one bit when weighed against the life of Harris, but they are relevant right now in every other way possible for the University of Alabama and Alabama coach Nate Oats.

Based on the testimony of law enforcement, Miller and Bradley of course can’t play for Alabama anymore. It all reeks of shame and disgrace. At some point, playing basketball for Alabama is no longer a privilege for those who make poor choices in life. The proximity of Miller and Bradley to the shooting death of Harris is well beyond that point.

And if Alabama’s Oats and athletics director Greg Byrne knew about these new details of the shooting, and allowed Miller and Bradley to remain on the team anyway, then perhaps more scrutiny should be applied to them, too.

A national spotlight of the worst kind is about to focus itself upon Oats, the University of Alabama and the Tuscaloosa district attorney’s office. The words that Oats used on Tuesday to explain Miller’s proximity to the shooting are just not going to cut it, and maybe no one should speak anymore for the rest of the season if this is how Alabama is positioning itself for the NCAA Tournament.

“We’ve known the situation since [it happened],” Oats said in a news conference to beat reporters on Tuesday. “We’ve been fully cooperating with law enforcement the entire time. The whole situation is sad. The team closed practice with a prayer for the situation today, knowing that we had this trial today. We think of Jamea and her family, Kaine. Really think about her son, Kaine, that was left behind. So it’s sad.

“We knew about that. Can’t control everything anybody does outside of practice. Nobody knew that was going to happen. College kids are out, Brandon hasn’t been in any type of trouble nor is he in any type of trouble in this case. Wrong spot at the wrong time.”

So they knew?

Those are words that Oats never should have spoken.

Oats is a good coach. Understandably, he’s not trained to speak about capital murder trials. From now on, maybe he shouldn’t because saying things like “we’ve known the situation” and “wrong spot at wrong time” when compared to the testimony about Miller make it seem an awful lot like Oats and Alabama, uhh, you know … knew about the situation.

A lot happened in the early morning hours of Sunday, Jan. 15. Earlier that Saturday night, Alabama defeated LSU 106-66. According to testimony, Miller later dropped Miles off at a club but didn’t stay. The line was apparently too long to get in. After separating, Miles later texted Miller to bring the gun belonging to Miles to their location. Miles also told police he was drunk.

Why did Miller bring a gun to a friend who was under the influence of alcohol? Why did Miller even go back out that night at all?

According to police, Davis retrieved what was believed to be the gun from Miller’s car and started shooting into the Jeep of Harris’ boyfriend. She was shot in the face. The dash cam of Miller’s car recorded some of the shooting. So did a nearby surveillance camera, according to police.

Police also testified that the vehicles of Miller and Bradley were allegedly blocking the road where the Jeep was parked. So many questions remain. The status of Miller and Bradley as members of Alabama’s basketball team should be the easiest one of them all to answer.

Joseph Goodman is the lead sports columnist for the Alabama Media Group, and author of “We Want Bama: A season of hope and the making of Nick Saban’s ‘ultimate team’”. You can find him on Twitter @JoeGoodmanJr.