Nate Oats: Sears Had Best Two Consecutive Days of Practice 'Since He's Been Here'

TUSCALOOSA, Ala.— Alabama head coach Nate Oats didn't mince words Tuesday when it came to star guard Mark Sears: he said, point blank, that the best version of Sears is what's best for the team.

That's the version of the All-American point guard that Oats is hoping will take the floor for the No. 4 Crimson Tide from here on out, and not the version he thought he saw when he benched Sears for the duration of the second half of last Saturday's win against LSU.

However, Sears' response in the two days of practice the team has held since then has earned high regard from his coach.

"Mark Sears has definitely had the best two days in a row that he's had going into a game," Oats said. "I think he's had the best two days of practice leading into a game since, probably, he's been here. We kinda poll our guys on, kinda have them grade themselves as a team on various categories after practice... We vote a practice MVP. Cliff [Omoruyi] and Mark, between the two of them, had every vote for practice MVP yesterday."

Oats added that, though the polling from players was not yet available for Tuesday's practice, he felt Sears repeated a strong Monday with an encore performance. He did not directly acknowledge whether he would start Sears on Wednesday night at No. 14 Mississippi State, as Alabama's other guards impacted the LSU game tremendously and Chris Youngblood put up good minutes in his first start of the season. Sears is averaging 18.1 points per game, as well as 4.9 assists per game.

"I don't know who we're gonna start. I haven't determined that," Oats said. "Any combination of the five [of a hypothetical 10 healthy players if Derrion Reid can go] of them we put on the floor, I think, are pretty good... We've got eight or nine guys that could easily start, put up starter minutes and starter points. It's hard to match our depth, and we've needed it at various times."

As for the message he'd hoped would get across by sending Sears to the bench, Oats said it's reflective of a message the staff tries to send to everyone in all its decisions: that no one person is above the program, including the head coach. "It wasn't just Mark," he said. "It's not just a point about Sears, or Cliff, or anybody."

Omoruyi had also been benched to start the second half of the LSU game, but returned and posted a final line of eight points and nine rebounds, winning the Hard Hat. Oats said it was important to build such a strong program and culture that one person is not solely relied on, but emphasized the need of Sears, Omoruyi and others to be the best they can possibly be.

"Our program knows it... Getting the best version of Mark Sears is what's best for this team, for this program. That's what we plan on getting moving forward," Oats said.