TUSCALOOSA — Alabama freshman point guard Rico Pickett, a Decatur High graduate, intends to transfer from the school, his father Rico said Monday morning.

The elder Pickett also iterated that his son’s recent suspension from Alabama’s basketball team for a “failure to comply with team rules” has nothing to do with academics.

“He told them that he wanted to leave. They told him they weren’t going to release him. This is their way of fighting back, saying that he is suspended for academic reasons,” his father said. “He has the same grades that he has had since he has been at Alabama.”

Added Pickett’s father, “He is transferring. That is a fact. You heard it from me.”

Tide coach Mark Gottfried announced in a release late Sunday night that he had suspended Pickett indefinitely from all basketball-related activities.

“We have standards and levels academically as well as athletically that our student-athletes need to meet, and there are consequences when they fail to do that,” Gottfried said in a statement released by Alabama.

Check Tuesday’s Decatur Daily for more.