College Basketball Star Arrested Ahead of March Madness Tournament

The  Crimson Tide will likely be a man down when the NCAA tournament kicks off this week, after Alabama guard Aden Holloway was arrested on felony drug possession charges on Monday.

Just days before the team is set to go head to head against Hofstra on Friday, Holloway, 21, was arrested after West Alabama Narcotics Task Force agents searched a home near campus Monday. Inside, they reportedly found more than a pound of marijuana, paraphernalia and cash, per TMZ, citing Tuscaloosa police.

Holloway was taken into custody and charged with two felonies: first-degree possession of marijuana and failure to affix a tax stamp. He posted $5,000 bond and was released on Monday morning, per ESPN.

Leading up to this week's face-off against Hofstra, Holloway had been averaging 16.8 points, and scored 18 against Ole Miss last Friday. He's the second highest scorer on the team.

Following his arrest, the University of Alabama released a statement saying they were “aware of the allegations” and “were working to gather more information.” The school added Holloway had been also been “removed from campus pending further investigation by the UA Office of Student Conduct.”

Indefinite Suspension

On his own weekly radio show Monday night, Alabama Coach Nate Oats said Holloway had been suspended indefinitely.

“We’ve got standards in our program and ways we’ve held our guys accountable,” he shared. “We found out about what was going on this morning, and we had to suspend him pending the investigation by the [University of Alabama] office of student conduct.”

“We’re certainly disappointed in his behavior,” he continued. “That being said, we still love him. He’s still our guy and we’re helping him get the help that he needs and we’re going to help him in any way that we can.”

Per Oats, the team is “preparing to play without him this weekend” and had a “great practice” earlier in the day.

“Aden is one of our guys and everybody wants to wrap their arms around and love him. Everybody makes mistakes in life, but they also understand, we've got to move on and we've got a whole other group of guys and the team's got to go play Friday,” said Oats. “I thought we did a good job of that this morning, kind of addressing the situation. I did tell our team, this team—more than any team I've ever coached—is better equipped to handle a situation like this. We've won plenty of games with guys not available.”

Potential Legal Consequences

In Alabama, the possession charge alone can carry a sentence of up to 10 years in prison and a maximum fine of $15,000.

The team will play against Hofstra—likely without Holloway—when the NCAA tournament starts Friday in Tampa, Florida.