Alabama
Alabama’s Aden Holloway arrested after authorities allegedly found over a pound of marijuana at residence, expected to miss NCAA tournament
With the NCAA tournament just days away, Alabama will likely be without one of its most important players.
Junior guard Aden Holloway was arrested Monday after authorities allegedly found over a pound of marijuana during a narcotics search at a Tuscaloosa residence, according to multiple sources.
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Holloway, 21, was charged with first-degree possession of marijuana and failure to affix a tax stamp. Authorities also found drug paraphernalia and cash during the search.
Holloway was bonded out of Tuscaloosa County jail at 10:45 a.m. central time, according to ESPN’s Pete Thamel, with bond set at $5,000.
In a statement shared with multiple reporters, Alabama wrote that Holloway has been removed from campus.
“The University is aware of the allegations and is working to gather more information. The student has been removed from campus pending further investigation by the UA Office of Student Conduct,” said the statement.
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Alabama coach Nate Oats addressed Holloway’s arrest on his weekly radio show on Monday night.
“We’ve got standards in our program,” Oats said, via AL.com. “We’ve got ways we’ve held our guys accountable. We try to keep everything in-house. Obviously, some of the situations you can’t, this is one of those. Situation is a little different. When I found out this morning, when we found out what was going on this morning. I found out this morning. I guess it all went down this morning.
“We had to suspend him pending the investigation by the UA office of student conduct. We’re disappointed in his behavior. With that said, we still love him. He’s still our guy. We’re going to get him the help that he needs, and we’re going to continue to help him whatever way we can.”
First-degree possession of marijuana in Alabama is a Class C felony in the state. If Holloway is convicted, he could face up to 10 years in a state penitentiary and up to a $15,000 fine. He could also receive a six-month driver’s license suspension and have to take mandatory drug-awareness classes, per Polson law firm.
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Failure to affix a tax stamp is a charge applied to illegal drugs that are possessed without state tax having been paid, per patch.com.
Holloway’s arrest comes a day after the Crimson Tide received a No. 4 seed in the NCAA tournament. The team is set to take on No. 13 Hofstra in the first round of the event Friday.
Holloway’s absence would be a significant loss for Alabama. As a junior, Holloway averaged 16.8 points and 3.8 assists. He was the second-leading scorer on the team, behind sophomore guard Labaron Philon.
“I thought our guys, at the same time, you know Aden’s one of our guys and everybody wants to wrap their arms around him, everybody makes mistakes in life,” Oats said. “But they also understand that we’ve gotta move on and we’ve got a whole other group of guys, and the team’s got to go play Friday. So, thought we did a good job of that this morning, kind of addressing the situation, what we currently knew at the time, and got our guys focused in practice.”