Unnoticed Sears on point for 'Bama
MEN'S FINAL FOUR
TUSCALOOSA, ALA. >> Nate Oats admits it: He whiffed on Mark Sears out of high school.
It's OK, though. So did every other major college coach.
It is why Alabama's undersized, high-scoring point guard wound up at Ohio University before finally getting a chance to return to his home state.
Nobody is overlooking the 6-foot-1, 185-pound Sears now. A sharpshooter with the quickness to dart by defenders, he has led the Crimson Tide to their first Final Four heading into Saturday night's game against top-seeded UConn in Glendale, Arizona.
“I probably screwed up not offering him out of high school,” Oats said. “Not probably, we did screw up.”
He didn't make the same mistake twice. Sears spent two seasons at Ohio, emerging as one of the Mid-American Conference's top players. Then the Muscle Shoals native was in the transfer portal and coveted by the same programs who once didn't think him good enough or big enough.
A player who jotted down goals as a kid that included playing in the Southeastern Conference and making the Final Four picked Alabama, where he's now the only player from the state on the roster. A surprise as the team's No. 2 scorer behind Brandon Miller last season, Sears has been a revelation during this Final Four run.
He is averaging 21.5 points a game, second in the SEC behind Tennessee's Dalton Knecht and 11th in the country. Sears is ninth nationally in 3-point shooting, making 43.4%.
Sears has been even better in the NCAA Tournament, making 17 3-pointers and scoring 97 points over four games. That includes seven 3s against Clemson, after which he was named most outstanding player of the West Regional.
“Did I think he was going to be this good?” Oats said. “Nobody did. Maybe his mom did.”
Lameka Sears has always been her son's biggest cheerleader. That's why the TV cameras kept pointing her direction in the stands during NCAA Tournament games, often showing her going through his free-throw routine along with him before every shot from the line.
“I have to remind him, Use your legs, Mark. Use your legs,” said Lameka Sears, a travel nurse.
In interviews, Sears is as soft-spoken as his mom is exuberant.
“Coming out of high school, I wasn't highly recruited,” Sears said after the Clemson game. “My parents, they kept encouraging me to never give up and stay focused, put God first. I just put the work in, trusted God, and now I'm here. That's really all I can say.”
What were his expectations coming to Alabama? “Coming to Alabama, my expectation, I pretty much achieved most of them and just to be able to do it and being from the state of Alabama means the world to me.”
The progression of his game since high school led him — and Alabama — to the Final Four. Oats said had Sears not stepped up his leadership and defense over the past month, the team's season would be done.
Purdue vs. NC State, 3:09 p.m., TBS UConn vs. Alabama, 5:49 p.m., TBS