Mark Sears preparing to play final home game of historic Alabama career

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Alabama’s game on Wednesday night against No. 7 Florida will be the team’s last home game of the season, and the final home game for the Crimson Tide’s seniors.

Of those seniors, 5th-year guard Mark Sears has had the longest Alabama career, coming to the end of his third season in Tuscaloosa. He’s accomplished incredible things over the past few seasons, and established himself as one of the all-time greats in Alabama basketball history.

“It’s our last home game, senior night, it should be a special night. Especially for Mark,” Alabama head coach Nate Oats said. “He’s got 79 wins here at Coleman, hopefully we can get to 80. That sounds a lot better than 79. He’s had a really good career here, he’s playing well.”

Sears was vastly underrecruited out of high school, being passed over by every high-major school in the country, including his home state of Alabama.

“He’s a kid that was overlooked by ourselves, shoot,” Oats said. “He had no high-major offers (out of high school), and that includes The University of Alabama when I was here. He goes out, I’m sure he was a little disappointed, a kid as good as he was. He choose to take a year of prep school, leaves the state to try to get his offers better, still doesn’t have high-major offers.”

Sears committed to Ohio and played limited minutes as a freshman on a team that made the NCAA Tournament. He put in the work to become an All-MAC player his sophomore year, entering the transfer portal and coming back home to Alabama.

“As a kid, I came to my first game here when I was in 7th grade,” Sears said. “It would have been hard to imagine me being here and to be a part of such successful teams I’ve been on. It’s been amazing.”

Sears has been a centerpiece of one of the most successful 3-year runs in Alabama basketball history. His first season in Tuscaloosa he was the team’s second-leading scorer behind Brandon Miller and a second team All-SEC performer, as Alabama won the SEC regular season, SEC Tournament, and made the Sweet 16 as the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament.

He elevated his game even more in his second season, becoming an All-American while leading Alabama to the program’s first-ever Final Four appearance. This season he’s got Alabama in position to get a top-2 seed in the NCAA Tournament again, and compete for another Final Four appearance, or even a national championship. All the while, Oats believes he’s playing better than he’s ever played before.

“I’ve said this a few times and it’s continuing, I think he’s playing the best basketball of his career on both sides of the ball right now,” Oats said. “The fans should come out not just to recognize Mark, but it would be great to show him the recognition he deserves on senior day, being a kid from Alabama who’s elevated this program to heights never seen.”

The Crimson Tide’s game against Florida will tip off at 6 p.m. CT on ESPN2. The senior night ceremony for Sears, as well as the four other Alabama seniors, will take place on the Coleman Coliseum floor after the game.

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