Nate Oats discusses Mark Sears' decision to return to Alabama after draft process
Nate Oats and Alabama received great news on Wednesday, as senior guard Mark Sears, the Crimson Tide’s leading scorer last year, withdrew from the NBA draft and returned to UA.
One day after Sears’ decision, Oats spoke with Andy Katz about the massive news.
“Mark Sears, being from the state of Alabama, he’s super competitive,” Oats said. “He got good feedback from the NBA, like everybody I talked to liked him, but he wasn’t gonna get a guaranteed contract. It would’ve been a two-way. And I think with the way NIL is working in college, a kid like him is much better off in college than on a two-way.
“The way that college basketball rules are right now helped us a little bit.”
For the second year in a row, Sears tested the NBA draft waters before electing to return to the Crimson Tide roster. This year, he does so after breaking multiple school records, being named an All-American and leading Alabama to its first-ever Final Four berth in Phoenix.
A starter in 74 consecutive games in Tuscaloosa, Sears averaged 21.5 points, 4.2 rebounds and 4.0 assists per contest last year and shot 50.8 percent from the field and 43.6 percent from 3-point range. Although it was a successful season for the Alabama senior, it ended two wins short of the team’s ultimate goal of hoisting a national championship trophy.
The historic NCAA Tournament run likely helped to lure Sears back to school, as well.
“I think the Final Four run helped,” Oats said. “I think there’s some guys that feel like there’s unfinished business that were on the team last year that want to come back and finish it.”
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Sears and Jarin Stevenson both chose to return to the Crimson Tide after going through the draft process, and their decisions mean Alabama’s roster for the 2024-25 campaign is now complete. UA welcomed back three other players from last year’s team, added four key transfers and four high school players to form one of the nation’s best 13-man squads.
Oats hasn’t shied away from the lofty expectations for the Tide coming off of its first Final Four, and that continued Thursday as he concluded his 12-minute conversation with Katz.
“We’re gonna try to win it all this year,” Oats said. “We’re gonna try to add another championship-caliber program in the athletic department here at Alabama because there’s a lot of them and we’re gonna see if we can get (it) done. I think we’ve got a roster that we’re gonna compete for a national championship this year.”
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