Alabama basketball 's Mark Sears is projected to have another major run in his last lap with the Crimson Tide.
In May, the grad student announced he would return to Tuscaloosa and forgo the NBA draft. The decision has boded well so far, as Sears was the only unanimous All-America first-team pick for CBS Sports when the network's preseason rosters dropped on Monday morning ahead of being named SEC Preseason Player of the Year that afternoon.
Gary Parrish, Kyle Boone and David Cobb of CBS heralded Sears for the 2023-24 season that proved his best yet.
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To lead an unlikely Alabama team to the Final Four , the 22-year-old, 6-foot-1 combo guard averaged 21.5 points, 4.0 assists and led the Crimson Tide's efforts from the arc, sinking 43.6% of his 3-point attempts.
The returning leading scorer for the SEC, Sears took it up a notch in NCAA tournament play with averages of 24.2 points and 3.6 assists per game.
League officials and media weren't the only ones to choose Sears as the SEC Preseason Player of the Year. It was announced on Thursday, Oct. 31, that Sears was also the award winner, as voted by Division I coaches. With additional honors for Nelson, who made the 2024 Preseason Coaches All-SEC Second Team, Alabama was the only school to have players on the first and second team.
Eight schools had multiple players announced as candidates for the Naismith Trophy on Wednesday, Oct. 30. Alabama was one of them, with Sears and fellow returning starter Grant Nelson among the 50 named to the watchlist for the Naismith Trophy Men's College Player of the Year Watch List.
Nelson averaged 11.9 points, 5.9 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.6 blocks per game last season and came into the new year a Preseason All-SEC Second Team selection.
On Monday, Oct. 28, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame announced Sears as one of 20 candidates on the watchlist for the Bob Cousy Point Guard of the Year Award. The 22 year-old award was named after Class of 1971 Hall of Famer and former Boston Celtic and Holy Cross guard Bob Cousy. Among award winners are the Memphis Grizzlies' Ja Morant and Jalen Brunson of the New York Knicks.
The league office announced Sears as the Southeastern Conference Preseason Player of the Year on Monday. Receiving preseason All-SEC honors with Sears, a first-team selection, was forward Grant Nelson, who was nominated to the second team.
The voting panel of SEC and national media members also picked the Crimson Tide to finish first in the SEC.
Sears, who this year was named Alabama's third consensus All-American in history, is the Crimson Tide's only preseason All-American. He's joined on CBS' first team by Duke forward Cooper Flag, the lone freshman on the roster, as well as Hunter Dickinson (Kansas), RJ Davis (UNC), and Ryan Kalkbrenner (Creighton).
Selections for the 2024-25 CBS Preseason All-America second team were headlined by Auburn forward and center Johni Broome. The senior was accompanied by Caleb Love (Arizona), Alex Karaban (UConn), Braden Smith (Purdue) and Kadary Richmond (St. John's).
Third-team picks featured Wake Forest shooting guard Hunter Sallis, who the Crimson Tide will face in a charity exhibition Friday in Birmingham, plus Houston's L. J. Cryer, Marquette's Kam Jones, Texas A&M's Wade Taylor IV and Arkansas' Johnell Davis.
Emilee Smarr covers Alabama basketball and Crimson Tide athletics for the Tuscaloosa News. She can be reached via email at esmarr@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Alabama basketball preseason awards, watch list: All-Americans and more
