Mark Sears's Voice The Catalyst For Alabama Basketball's Final Four Run

The Crimson Tide superstar has stepped up in a different way throughout Alabama's NCAA Tournament run.

Mar 30, 2024; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide guard Mark Sears (1) celebrates after / Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

PHOENIX – On March 15 the Alabama Crimson Tide basketball team appeared to be coasting to the end of the year. Alabama had just lost the fourth of its last six games of the season and limped into the NCAA Tournament on the heels of a 14-point SEC Tournament loss to the Florida Gators.

Fast forward to Friday and the Crimson Tide is getting set to play in the first Final Four in program history. What was the catalyst for Alabama's turn around? It's best player stepped outside his comfort zone, found his voice and became a leader.

"I think he's done a better job encouraging his teammates, talking in the huddles. We got to get stops. He comes in, he's a lot more vocal. I think a lot of guys, maybe it's not their nature to be as vocal. They kind of let their play kind of lead the way, if you will. You've got to do more than that if you want to be a real leader. There's no option. You have to be vocal, you have to speak up, inspire your guys. He's become more vocal," Alabama head coach Nate Oats said on Friday. "He's talking in timeouts. He's talking in huddles. He's making sure that he knows what the scouting report is so that he can really talk through with some of these younger guys what we have to do. I think a lot of the more vocal, inspiring, holding guys accountable stuff he's been a lot better at."

Sears has taken his game to another level in the NCAA Tournament, averaging 24.25 points with 15 assists and is converting at 44-percent from beyond the 3-point line. He set the tone for the tournament by scoring 20 of his 30 round one points in the first half against Charleston.

"I think Mark, he's just being a lot more vocal now, voicing his opinions, what he thinks, and then too he's just playing at a very high level," Alabama guard Aaron Estrada said. "I think when you see guys like Mark playing, guarding as hard as he can for 24 seconds it just gets everybody else going."

Sears revealed Friday it was a conscious effort to step up in around beyond the basketball court. While the Muscle Shoals product has had the shooting and scoring touch all year, it was his voice and energy that he found at the perfect moment for the Crimson Tide.

"Just being the energy guy, bringing energy and letting others feed off my energy and also just being a vocal leader and just encouraging guys when they're not playing so well and when they're playing not to the potential that they need to just letting them hear it, but in a positive way," Sears said.