Alabama picked to win SEC, Mark Sears, Grant Nelson earn preseason honors

Alabama was picked as the preseason favorite to win the SEC regular season title, while Crimson Tide guard Mark Sears was named preseason SEC Player of the Year by a panel of national and SEC Media members Monday.

The Crimson Tide is ranked as the No. 2 team in the country to start the 2024-25 campaign. Alabama is coming off of its first Final Four in program history and returned Sears, along with several others while adding one of the top transfer portal hauls and freshman classes in the country.

In addition to his preseason Player of the Year nod, Sears was also named preseason first-team All-SEC. The talented guard earned first-team All-SEC honors last season after leading the Crimson Tide to a fourth-place finish in the conference and averaging 21.5 points, 4.2 rebounds and four assists per game. Auburn’s Johni Broome, Georgia’s Asa Newell, Tennessee’s Zakai Zeigler, and Texas A&M’s Wade Taylor IV also received votes in the Player of the Year voting.

Alabama forward Grant Nelson is also coming back after being a part of the Tide's Final Four run. Nelson was named preseason second-team All-SEC after averaging 11.9 points, 5.9 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game last season.

Alabama will tip off the season against UNC Asheville at 8 p.m. on Nov. 4. The game can be seen on ESPN U.

Here are the preseason All-SEC teams and the predicted order of finish for the conference.

First team All-SEC

Mark Sears - Alabama

Johni Broome - Auburn

Walter Clayton Jr. - Florida

Zakai Zeigler - Tennessee

Wade Taylor IV - Texas A&M

Second team All-SEC

Grant Nelson - Alabama

Jonas Aidoo - Arkansas

Johnell Davis - Arkansas