Fans do for sure. https://www.tidefans.com/forums/threads/off-season-roster...

Yes, I could see him playing that role. Put in at the end of a game as the hall handler who will be fouled by the other team that’s trying to catch up.

Relax, Francis.

The way I read that makes perfect sense. Play him at the end of games with leads to handle the ball and go to the line with your 90% rate when the other team is fouling. Not limited, however, to minutes at the end of games.

And I continue to be baffled how certain posters judge the varying sentiments of hundreds of BA posters as though they are one erratic hypocritical person.

In fairness, I think there are like 25 active BA posters, not hundreds.

And a healthy percentage of them have spent the last week or so discussing Mark Sears' shortcomings and how they'll be exposed in the SEC.

So while I quoted an erratic, hypocritical person I thought his views were representative of a sentiment that's taken shape.

Just a Walk down memory lane--January 7th In the "Dwight Pretty Much Done for this Season thread:

FearLeon wrote:
Not a surprise about DW3. But this is the first time that I am starting to believe that Dwight wants to come back and give it one more year which would be incredible. And if BVP comes back for year six…my god…with Sears and the incoming class…just wow.

I wrote:

Please, just enjoy THIS season and the start to the MAC!

Who knows, it could be Oats helping his former team with a Muscle Shoals to Tuscaloosa offer.

Forgive me if this was already discussed. This thread is a zillion pages now.

Alabama signed the Top PG in the 2022 class -- Jaden Bradley...
2nd leading scorer, guard Jahvon Quinerly possibly returns...
4th leading scorer, guard JD Davison also possibly returns...
Texas Tech transfer guard Nimari Burnett missed last season due to injury so he'll be in the fold as well...

Needless to say there is no lack of competition. I guess it remains to be seen how much PT Sears will get. I don't think an SEC team can afford to put a 6ft "PG" at the SG position. Also I guess there is chatter about Quinerly and Davison possibly testing the NBA waters.

Rooting for him but also salty about it. That's the transfer portal life.

Interesting article.
https://www.si.com/college/alabama/.amp/bamacentral/alaba...

I would love for Mark to send me a highlight video of all his "pick and roll reads" and "kickouts" THIS YEAR! Dude was a way better facilitator his freshman year and last year decided he was the man. You are right -- he is a six foot shooting guard. If he finishes his career at Bama I will be shocked.

Could be Oates's way of justifying signing yet ANOTHER shooter. A big part of "quarterbacking" is making the pass that leads to a bucket, so assists are a good indication of a "quarterback." Sears certainly isn't a JP. Sears went from 3.3 assists per game his frosh year to 4.1 last season. JP had 3.4 his first year, 7.4 his second and 7.3 his third. I realize that in order to get an assist the other guy has to make the bucket, but JP's numbers were just plain overwhelming. If Bama fans are expecting that kind of level from Sears, they're likely to be disappointed. Bama might have better shooters than Ohio, but game in and game out they'll also face better competition.

I think he was playing to up his stats to get ready for the transfer. He really didn't care that much about wining. He often passed up a clear pass to an open player and instead got blocked on an insider move, especially against the better teams in the MAC. I'm not going to miss him at all.

He’ll be basking in NIL money and getting ready to be a first-round draft pick after he takes Alabama to the Final Four. He won’t have any time to remember Athens, let alone a fan like me. He ain’t no Jason Preston. You’ll win BTC’s famous chicken dinner if he ever comes back to an Ohio game like Jason did last year.

My sense is that he's a very good basketball player, but that he struggles against length. No argument there.

I just find the rush by so many to paint his decision to transfer as some moral failing to be weird. Immediately we decided he's greedy, doesn't care about winning, and in one case, insulted the dude's Mom. Says way more about the posters than it does about Sears.

From my perspective, he's a competitive dude who wants to play at as high a level as possible. It's hard to be that competitive and successful without being supremely confident -- irrationally so, sometimes. I wish him the best, and hope he does bring Bama to the Final Four, though I suspect he's something closer to replacement level in the SEC.

Either way, best wishes and thanks for two good seasons. Even though we lost, he was the only thing that kept us in that Creighton game. That's when I knew he'd be very good. Preston didn't show and Sears' 8 points off the bench gave us a little jolt and almost turned the momentum. He plays hard and fights. Hard not to respect a guy like that, even if it's a narrative violation around here for folks' whose feelings have been hurt by his transfer.