Alabama’s Mark Sears on NBA Draft readiness, challenges from last year’s combine and Cooper Flagg’s impending NBA greatness (EXCLUSIVE) 

The setting validated why Mark Sears withdrew from the NBA Draft last year in hopes to further develop his game with an extra year at the University of Alabama.

Sears attended the Los Angeles Athletic Club last week for the John Wooden Award ceremony as one of the finalists. Though that award went to Duke freshman phenom Cooper Flagg, Sears earned a seat at the table.

The setting also brought some painful reminders of his shortcomings. Though he felt proud to lead the Crimson Tide to the Elite 8, Sears crossed paths with Flagg less than two weeks after losing to Duke.

Sears spoke to Sportskeeda about those developments, shared insight on his NBA pre-draft experience last year and addressed both his strengths and concerns entering this year’s Draft on June 25.

The following one-on-one interview has been edited and condensed.

What does it mean to be a part of the Wooden awards?

Sears: “It means a lot. This is like the Heisman in college football. It’s very similar. A lot of greats have been in this. So to be in the same area as them is an honor. It’s an honor to be here. Last year, I didn’t get the opportunity to come. Now to get an opportunity to come for such a prestigious award is an honor.”

What do you take away from Alabama’s NCAA tournament run both with the success and losing in the Elite 8?

Sears: “As a player, you want to win it all. But as a program and as a player, to be a part of three straight Sweet 16s, two straight Elite 8s and one Final Four, a lot of players haven’t been able to do that. So I look at it from that perspective. I had a really good year.”

What’s it like to rub elbows with Cooper shortly after you all lost to Duke?

Sears: “Oh yeah, it was definitely tough. When I see him with Duke, I’m like, ‘Oh man, they just put us out of the tournament!’ That’s the last person I want to see right now. But he’s a good guy and a good person. We’ve been talking and laughing. So it’s all good.”

You’ve seen him play this whole season and have gone up against him. What do you think that means moving forward for him in the NBA?

Sears: “He’s super talented. He can go offensively and defensively. One through five, he can guard. And he can play one through five. He’s a special talent, for sure. He’s a special, special talent.”

What has he shown that tells you he’s the real deal and the hype is legit?

Sears: “His versatility on both sides of the ball offensively and defensively. He has a good 3 ball. He can shoot it at a high level. He has a mid-range game and he can play above the rim. Defensively, he can guard one through five.”

For you personally, you withdrew from the NBA Draft last year after the combine because you wanted to further your develop your game at Alabama. Now that you’ve gone through another year, what do you think that extra year did for you?

Sears: “My playmaking has improved just with playing in the pick-and-roll and making the pocket reads. My passing overall really developed and I averaged a career-high in assists (5.1). Just being able to be that playmaker was important. Even when my shots aren’t falling, I’m still able to be effective with passing.”

What do you expect that will do for you with the Draft?

Sears: “I just want to be in a good situation. It doesn’t matter the [draft] number. I just want to be in a good situation where I can thrive and can start from the ground up like I did during my college year.”

What do you think would be a good situation?

Sears: “Somewhere where I have an opportunity and somewhere I can thrive in and be myself. I feel like I’m very capable of stepping in and being a rotational player. I feel like with being in college for five years, I’m ready to go and help an organization.”

What do you take away from your draft combine experience?

Sears: “The experience overall was great. I’m able to be in NBA workouts and NBA arenas and talk to NBA GMs. It was definitely motivational. Hopefully I’m able to go through the same process again with going to the NBA Combine. I feel like that experience will come over. I feel like I’ll be more prepared.”

How so?

Sears: Like in interviews. Then with the NBA Combine, handling the measurements, the shooting drills. I don’t feel like the nerves will be there as much as I had last year.”

I also saw you said in other interviews they really tried to test you in the workouts. What did they do?

Sears: “Yeah, they wanted to get you tired. They wanted to see how you operate when you’re tired and fatigued. They want to see what type of player that you are when you’re not thinking and seeing what mistakes you make.”

I wanted to relay one of the mock draft analyses of your game. Starting with the strengths, one of the mocks praised your shot creation, shooting and leadership. What’s gone into developing those skills?

Sears: “At Alabama, we’re mainly about getting 3s and layups and trying to create a lot of advantages. I feel like my 3 ball was good and I was able to play off of DHOs (dribble handoffs). I was able to have good games where I’m hitting the big and reading the defense. If they leave me open for a wide-open mid-range, I’m capable of knocking that down. I didn’t feel like I showed my inside game during my three years at Alabama, but I feel like I’m very capable. With my leadership, I’m doing whatever it takes to win and trying to encourage my teammates, pick them up and be there for them. I try to lead by example and set the tone. I play with energy. Energy is very contagious.”

That same mock outlined concerns about your athleticism and your defense because of your size (6-foot-1, 190 pounds). How do you view that?

Sears: “I played in the SEC this past year. That is the best conference. We had a national champion in that conference. For me to have the numbers that I had with 18 (points) and five assists, being the top three in scoring and top two in assists, I was doing all of that while we were winning. So I feel like I was playing against the best athletes this whole year and in my conference. The size and athletic concerns, they’re just going to say that because of my height. I feel like I’m always going to prove them wrong. That’s my mentality.”

How would you evaluate yourself defensively with what you like and what you think you need to improve on?

Sears: “I always take it personally. When I was in the draft, people were saying that my size is a liability. But I’m the type to turn that into fire and I’m going to show you why I’m not a liability. I’m not going to go down easily.”

Overall, what do you think you have done to overcome your size disadvantage?

Sears: “Just outwork people. I feel like I got to where I’m at because I outwork people. I’m going to keep that same mentality when I go to the next level. It’s just about having that underdog mentality. That’s something that I’ve had throughout my whole college career. I’m going to carry that all the way to the next level.”

What’s your favorite highlight reel this season?

Sears: “Hitting the game-winner over Auburn to end its season.”

How do you relive the play-by-play of that with pulling off the play and the emotions you felt before and after the moment?

Sears: “I remember we were up three. Then they had the ball. All I remember was [Johni] Broome shot a 3 and he missed. They got a rebound and hit Broome, and he hit a crazy side-step 3 to tie it up. The arena went crazy. We had called a timeout. Coach [Nate Oats] drew up a play. It was to get me the ball at the elbow. Then Labaron [Philon] came off the pick and he hit me at the elbow. Grant [Nelson] was rolling to the rim so I had the option to hit Grant. But Broome stayed with Grant. So I was able to turn the corner and get the right angle. It was a top moment, for sure. It was really quiet. After I shot it, I heard myself say, ‘That’s game.’ It was so quiet. It just felt good to see our rivals stunned.”

What’s your itinerary going to be these next few weeks as you prepare for the Draft?

Sears: “I’ll go back to Tuscaloosa (Ala.) for one day and then I’ll leave to go to Miami to start pre-draft prep.”

Mark Medina is an NBA insider for Sportskeeda. Follow him on X, Blue Sky, Instagram, Facebook and Threads.