He’s back for one last ride.
All-American point guard Mark Sears is withdrawing from the NBA Draft and returning to Alabama for his fifth and final season of college basketball, he announced on Wednesday. Sears went through the NBA Draft process including participating in the NBA Draft Combine, but ultimately elected to wait one more year before turning pro and use his final year of eligibility.
Sears, who spent the first two seasons of his career at Ohio before transferring to his home state of Alabama, is instantly one of the best returning players in not only the SEC, but the entire country. He has a great chance of being named preseason SEC Player of the Year and a preseason All-American after a season that saw him earn second team All-American honors while leading the Crimson Tide to its first-ever Final Four appearance.
Sears’ return means Alabama basketball, led by 6th-year head coach Nate Oats, has a chance to be ranked preseason No. 1 to enter the 2024-25 college basketball season. The Crimson Tide also returned starters Grant Nelson and Latrell Wrightsell Jr. from last season’s Final Four run, while adding four high-level transfers and the No. 2-ranked recruiting class in the country.
It will be one of, if not the most talented team Oats has ever coached in Tuscaloosa, and returning a 20-plus point per game scorer in Sears only bolsters expectations as the roster is nearly full and finalized.
Check out BamaCentral’s 2024-25 Alabama basketball roster tracker for a complete breakdown on where the roster currently stands.