What Transfer Mark Sears Brings to Alabama Basketball

There are many aspects of Sears' game that will fit in seamlessly in Tuscaloosa.

Alabama basketball in 2022-23 will look very different from the team that was bounced in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in uninspiring fashion last season.

Whether the eventual outcome will be different remains to be seen, but the faces on the court will certainly be fresh as at least eight players will be seeing the Coleman Coliseum hardwood for the first time as Crimson Tide players. 

One of them is Ohio transfer Mark Sears. The 6-foot-1 guard from Muscle Shoals, Ala., was one of the most highly-touted prospects in the 2022 transfer portal cycle. In today's new era of college basketball, the transfer portal has become almost as important, if not more so than the high school recruiting trail, and Sears' commitment exemplifies that.

Playing for the Bobcats last season, Sears was undoubtedly the best player on his team, scoring an average of 19.6 points in addition to grabbing six rebounds and dishing out just over four assists. His performance earned him first team All-MAC honors. 

“Our entire staff felt like Mark was one of the best overall guards available in the transfer portal, so we really went after him hard," Alabama head coach Nate Oats said. "He is a high character kid with great basketball feel who is a perfect fit for the way we want to play. He shoots the ball really well, he’s a great decision-maker and is terrific in transition."

Analysts of basketball like to use the term "fit" when a player commits to a new program. A player's fit with a team could be defined by a number of things from his playing style to his attitude, and how he blends with the culture of the program. 

From the looks of things, Sears "fits" with Alabama in every possible category.

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To begin with his playing style, Sears is a fast-paced lead guard with high scoring capabilities, which fits the bill for an Oats point guard to a tee. The coach aims to run a guard-oriented offensive system with a free-flowing offense where seemingly everyone has the green light to shoot. 

Alabama's offense ranked first in the country in 2021-22 in "rim and three rate," a metric that measures the percentage of a team's possessions that end in either a shot at the rim or a three-pointer. The Crimson Tide's rim and three rate was an astounding 96 percent, while Ohio's offense was not far behind at 84 percent.

While the breakneck speed of the Crimson Tide offense can produce lofty scoring outputs, one of the major drawbacks is typically an elevated number of turnovers due to the fast pace. Last season, Alabama averaged 14.5 turnovers per game, the program's second highest rate since the 2008-09 season.

Meanwhile, Sears was one of the best in the country at making good decisions with the ball last season. According to the analytics service ShotQuality, 30 percent of Sears' possessions were deemed "good possessions," or possessions where he shot or passed into what ShotQuality deemed as a ''high quality" shot. That number was notably higher than all three of Alabama's lead guards last season: Jahvon Quinerly, JD Davison, and Jaden Shackelford, who posted good possession rates of 13, 21, and 22 percent, respectively. 

Numbers are not the answer to everything, though, so here are some plays where Sears showcases his playing style in a way that will blend astoundingly with Alabama's system.

Rim and three rate is important, but it is even more important to actually make the open looks. Here, Sears plays off-ball and uses a screen from the center to relocate to the left corner and knock down an open three. 

The three-pointer was possibly Sears' greatest strength as an offensive player last season, indicated by his shooting percentage of 40.8 percent from distance. That percentage would have led Alabama's team by nearly five percent. 

In the clip against Western Michigan, Sears displayed a pull-up three in transition that fans will undeniably see next season knowing Oats' tendency to give the permanent green light to players that have shown they have the ability to make those shots.

Against Akron, Sears once again exhibited his savviness off the ball as he read the defense's rotation to find an open spot on the three-point line and knock the shot down. 

Sears' three-point shot is not his only offensive weapon. In addition to his marksmanship, Sears has exceptional driving ability to go along with a knack for making difficult finishes around the rim. 

In the play against Ball State, Sears hesitated off of a ball screen at the top of the key and exploded downhill towards the rim while absorbing the contact and finishing despite a foul. While facing Bowling Green, Sears showcased his explosiveness getting downhill again but this time executed an impressive spin move to bypass the defender and finished the layup off the glass. 

The ability to drive and finish compliments his shooting capabilities perfectly creating a uniquely balanced offensive attack where defenses are forced to pick their poison in isolation situations. When you combine that with the talent and slew of offensive threats around him at Alabama it creates a wide variety of opportunities for the Crimson Tide to score. 

Another aspect that Sears excels at is the transition game. Here, he picked up the steal and used his speed to isolate the lone defender in a 3-on-1 break, then implemented an effective euro step to get to the rim and finish.

Effectiveness in the transition game is crucial to the Alabama offense, shown by the Crimson Tide's ranking of 11th in the country in adjusted tempo according to KenPom. Sears' proficiency in that area provides another aspect that should click with Oats' vision for the team. 

In the midst of Alabama losing its final four games of last season, Oats cited both toughness and leadership as areas that were lackluster and contributing to the slide at the end of the season. 

"There's a leadership void after a loss like that," Oats said after Alabama's setback to LSU before the SEC Tournament. 

Sears was a leader in every way at Ohio, and he aims to bring that same desire to Tuscaloosa. 

"[I see myself in] that leadership role," Sears told BamaCentral after his commitment in April. "Coming in and being a leader and leading by example."