Alabama junior guard Aden Holloway, who was arrested earlier this month on felony drug charges, has been cleared by a judge to travel out of state while his team competes in the NCAA Tournament in Chicago.
The school, though, said Holloway’s status with the team had not changed in a statement it gave to The Athletic. He has not been with the Crimson Tide since his March 16 arrest.
Holloway was arrested and charged with first-degree possession of marijuana and failure to affix a tax stamp, both felonies, after agents found about 2.1 pounds of marijuana and packaging materials in his apartment. He was released on $5,000 bond and was not with the team during its first two NCAA Tournament wins to reach Friday’s Sweet 16 game against Michigan at United Center.
Holloway requested and was granted permission to leave the state Friday and return Tuesday, according to court documents obtained by The Athletic. If Midwest Region No. 4 seed Alabama beats No. 1 seed Michigan, it would play Sunday against No. 2 seed Iowa State or No. 6 seed Tennessee, with a spot in the Final Four on the line.
Holloway was officially listed as “out” for Friday’s game in the NCAA availability report released Thursday night. If Alabama were to try to play Holloway in Friday’s game, that could be an issue, because schools are required to avoid surprises in terms of the availability of significant players. But Alabama’s circumstances have changed. The final availability report will be released two hours before the 7:35 p.m. ET tipoff.
Holloway is the team’s second-leading scorer (16.8 points per game) and most efficient 3-point shooter (43.8 percent), ranking second on the team to Labaron Philon in made 3s with 74. The Crimson Tide haven’t suffered yet from his absence, blowing out Hofstra and Texas Tech in the first two rounds of the tournament by a combined 45 points.
Asked last week about Holloway in Tampa, Fla., the site of those two games, Alabama coach Nate Oats said, “You know what, I’m not sure where that’s all going to go. We’ll kind of address things as they come up. But for right now, the team is just preparing to play with who’s at practice, and he’s obviously not there. We’ll prepare to play without him and address that matter if it comes up.”
The university’s office of student conduct removed Holloway from campus following the arrest. According to AL.com, Holloway would also need to be cleared by the office in order to rejoin the team; the office does not make its rulings public.