After guiding the Alabama Crimson Tide to their first-ever Final Four appearance a season ago, many thought PG Mark Sears would ride off into the sunset and declare for the NBA draft. Fortunately for fans of the Crimson Tide, he decided to stay in Tuscaloosa for one last go-around after testing the draft process.
Sears was a First-team All-SEC member and Consensus second-team All-American a season ago, but expectations are even higher this year as the SEC recognized him as the Preseason Player of the Year today. But the accolades didn’t stop there as CBS Sports named Sears to their preseason All-American First-team alongside RJ Davis of North Carolina, Hunter Dickinson of Kansas, Ryan Kalkbrenner of Creighton and Cooper Flagg of Duke.
Over the last two seasons, Sears has started all 74 Alabama games and, in 2024, averaged 21.5 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 4.0 apg and 1.6 spg. With a much deeper roster this year I think some of Sears numbers will come down, but he will still be the guy Oats relies on in crunch time situations.
Alabama was ranked No. 2 in the first AP Poll released earlier today, and as crazy as it is to think, the basketball team probably has a better chance of winning a national title than the football team. CBS Sports raves of Sears saying,
“The only unanimous All-America First Team pick from us – and it’s a deserved honor for Alabama’s sharpshooting Sears. The Crimson Tide star is coming off a career year in Tuscaloosa where he averaged 21.5 points, 4.0 assists and hit 43.6% of his 3s on a team that hung its hat on chucking deep bombs at a volume only a handful of others topped. He was the face and force of Alabama as it finished second in offensive efficiency on the season while leading the sport (among all 362 teams!) in points per game.”
🏀 Introducing the 2024-25 @CBSSports preseason All-America teams🏀
First Team:
Mark Sears, @AlabamaMBB
RJ Davis, @UNC_Basketball
Hunter Dickinson, @KUHoops
Ryan Kalkbrenner, @BluejayMBB
Cooper Flagg, @DukeMBBMore 👇https://t.co/xhRY0g67jv
— CBS Sports College Basketball 🏀 (@CBSSportsCBB) October 14, 2024
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