Mark Sears, a consensus second-team All-American last season, will return to Alabama for his fifth season.
Alabama guard Mark Sears has withdrawn from the 2024 NBA draft and will return to school for a fifth year, the school said Wednesday evening.
“Last Dance #rolltide,” Sears wrote on X.
For the second straight offseason, Sears entered the NBA draft pool in April, with the possibility of returning to school. He attended the NBA draft combine earlier this month and had a last workout with the Milwaukee Bucks on Wednesday before the 11 p.m. CT deadline for players to withdraw from the draft and keep their NCAA eligibility.
“I got good feedback from the NBA,” Sears told ESPN. “But I can still improve in a few areas. I want to prove that I am a dog on defense next season, continue to provide vocal leadership, and work on my body to get in better shape. NIL has altered basketball, and NBA organization’s have told me that age is no longer a factor in today’s game, so I felt comfortable returning to Alabama to try to bring home a national championship.”
As of Wednesday afternoon, Sears was ESPN’s 80th best-available athlete for next month’s 58-pick selection. He was the shortest player at the combine, standing 5 feet 10 and 1/4 inches without shoes.
Alabama men’s basketball 2024 transfer portal and NBA draft tracker
Forward Jarin Stevenson, the other Tide player in the draft pool, is ESPN’s No. 86 best-available player and has yet to announce whether he would stay in the draft or withdraw.
With Sears’ return, Alabama now has a backcourt stacked with experienced veterans. Sears and guard Latrell Wrightsell are both playing a fifth season due to the NCAA’s COVID waiver for the 2020-21 season, and the Tide has signed two more fifth-year transfer guards, Chris Youngblood (USF) and Houston Mallette (Pepperdine). It also used the portal to sign Auburn guard Aden Holloway, a former five-star recruit from last year, and the nation’s No. 32 overall recruit, guard Labaron Philon, who had been released from his word of commitment with Kansas.
Alabama’s frontcourt will be led by fifth-year Rutgers transfer Clifford Omoruyi and Grant Nelson, who has elected to remain for a fifth year. The Tide’s returnees are hoping for a better finish this season after reaching the Final Four for the first time in school history last year but losing to eventual national champion UConn.
“I got a taste of the Final Four, and now I want to finish it off and bring it home,” Sears said on ESPN. “I’m really thrilled about the crew that’s coming in. I’ll have to do an excellent job guiding these folks in the proper direction. “I am confident that we can win the national championship.”
Sears is a Muscle Shoals, Alabama native who spent his first two seasons at Ohio before transferring to Alabama in 2022-23. After entering the draft last season, he returned for his senior season and developed into the SEC’s second-leading scorer, earning first-team All-SEC honours from coaches and the Associated Press.
Sears set Alabama’s single-season scoring record this season and was named the school’s third consensus second-team All-American. Sears was also voted Most Outstanding Player of the NCAA Tournament’s West Region and a finalist for the Bob Cousy Award as the nation’s top shooting guard.
“I’ve gotten better every year and next season won’t be any different,” Sears stated to ESPN.
