Mark Sears at SEC Media Days

Alabama is projected to be one of the top teams in college basketball this season, thanks in large part to Mark Sears.

Sears led Alabama in scoring last season with 21.5 points. Sears was vital to Alabama's Final Four run and will be once again if Alabama makes a move to the Final Four in 2025.

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Sears spoke with the media on Tuesday at SEC Media Days, where he discussed Alabama's practice intensity and a "bulletproof" mindset around this year's squad.

Alabama has one of the top rosters in the country, and Sears said it's reflective in practice, "Every day is like an SEC Tournament game."

Why did Sears return when he had multiple workouts with NBA teams and could have gone to the league? "I seen the team that we had and I wanted to be a part of it," Sears said. "Bring home Alabama's first national championship in basketball."

Alabama's mindset this season is to be "bulletproof." What does it mean? "We're trying to be bulletproof like have no weakness. That's something when we went against UCONN we heard them say and they were the truth, they were hard to stop," Sears said. "We want to be that but in our own way."

What was Sears's biggest takeaway from going through the NBA draft process? “Playing with effort, never taking plays off. Just constantly giving effort on both sides of the floor.”

It's that effort that will help Alabama basketball achieve the goals they have this season.

Alabama Men's Basketball will officially begin its season at home on Nov. 4 against UNC-Asheville.

Wyatt Fulton is the TIde 100.9 DME and Brand Manager, primarily covering Alabama Crimson Tide football and men's basketball. For more Crimson Tide coverage, follow Wyatt on X (Formerly known as Twitter) at @FultonW_.