Photo by Isaac Hoops. AJ Bramah played in four out of the five preseason games. He also played in the exhibition game against Dominican University.
Head Coach Steve Alford released AJ Bramah from the Nevada men’s basketball team after the first six games of the season “due to conduct detrimental to the team.”
It is unclear what conduct the program is citing. Bramah has already been removed from the online team roster. After the team’s second game at the Crossover Classic, Alford released more information about Bramah.
“We will continue to help him, we’ll have all the academic services that he needs if he chooses to stay in school,” Alford said. “He’s very close to getting his degree and we help him any way we can. It was strictly a decision by me. At some point, you try to help, you try to help and we’ve done that for five months, six months. I think our staff has worked very hard to help, but at some point…decisions are made where consequences trump everything. And the consequence of everything that’s happened in my opinion led to a dismissal. But like I said, worse things happen to, I don’t like it, but we will help him any way we can to help him academically.”
Bramah was not a starter, but he did help out the Wolf Pack a good amount. He averaged 21.3 minutes per game and has a total of 43 points which is higher than starter Tré Coleman — who has a total of 16 so far in the season. Bramah was a big help on rebounds, averaging 6.5 per game which is the second highest after Warren Washington. He also stands with the third highest free throw percentage at 88.9.
Bramah was originally committed to Arizona State instead of his other offers – Nevada, St. Bonaventure and Western Kentucky. Although he ended up decommitting from Arizona. The six foot seven athlete transferred from Robert Morris during the offseason to Nevada.
Braham unfollowed all Nevada athletics and local sports media accounts on his Instagram but still follows some players. Bramah’s Twitter profile no longer appears on the social platform.
Not only is losing the Robert Morris transfer skills something that fans are upset about, but also the teams 1-4 standing.
“Bramah was a high profile grad transfer that was being counted on to elevate Nevada, ” said Steve Ivy on Twitter.
There were also fans, like Jamie Tibaduiza, who had their suspicions about Bramah early on saying she “could tell something [was up with] Bramah.”
The Wolf Pack is 1-4 this season and had a win at their home exhibition game. However, many are not happy about this record and blame Alford.
Aaron Torres, host on Fox Sports Radio, even tweeted about how he warned Nevada fans to “stay away from Steve Alford.”
Alford signed a 10 year contract, which is the longest in Nevada history, leaving him at Nevada until April 30, 2029. By the end of his contract Nevada would have paid Alford $11.6 million. An $8 million payment would have been owed to Nevada if Alford broke his contract within the first year, but decreases each year after that. The least Alford would have to owe is $1.5 million at years six through ten.
This story is ongoing and will be updated as more information is revealed.
Kelsey Middleton can be reached at kelseymiddleton@sagebrush.unr.edu or on Twitter @kelsmiddleunr