This is an opinion column.

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Fun game down in Auburn, but not for the guy watching the double classic from inside the Tigers’ locker room.

What to do about Auburn’s Chad Baker-Mazara?

He blew it for the Tigers in the NCAA Tournament last season, and this time he goes into the postseason riding an ejection in the regular-season finalé against Alabama.

Love the guy, but maybe at some point he should start wearing elbow pads if he’s going to continue taking cheap shots under the rim at the heads of his opponents.

Alabama 93, Auburn 91 on Saturday was an all-timer. The outcome didn’t affect the standings, but maybe that made it even better. For the love of the game. For the hate of a rival. Last shot wins.

The buzzer-beater by Alabama’s Mark Sears will go down as a legendary dagger to end the greatest regular season in Auburn basketball history. Rivalries just don’t get any better. It felt like the 2023 Iron Bowl all over again.

That game ended with a prayer from Alabama quarterback Jalen Milore to receiver Isaiah Bond on fourth and forever. This was one was all Sears after calling an audible for himself.

Apparently Alabama coach Nate Oats drew up a play to give freshman Labaron Philon the last shot. With the ball in his hands, Sears recognized a mismatch and dialed up a floater for the win.

He then rushed to the student section and called out the kids waving the rally towels. Auburn’s students were so mad they began throwing the commemorative towels for winning the SEC at Alabama’s hero.

On a day when Auburn’s Johni Broome went for a career-high 34 points, Sears went downhill into the teeth of Auburn’s defense to give Alabama bragging rights and momentum going into the SEC tournament.

Their masterpiece to end the regular season should give the Crimson Tide a No.1 seed for the NCAA Tournament. Oats said the Tide might have too many losses. Maybe so, but consider this. Alabama played seven ranked opponents to end the regular season, including three straight games at the end against teams that could conceivably all be No.1 seeds themselves.

“Obviously these are two teams that are capable of making it to the Final Four,” Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said.

That’s if Auburn’s excitable Baker-Mazara can keep his cool for four straight games. At this point, I don’t like his chances.

The Tigers are the No.1 overall seed for the Big Dance. This result shouldn’t change that. The regular season is over and No.1 Auburn is the favorite to win the national championship. What’s possibly stopping this team? It’s Auburn’s tendency to meltdown in big games more so than any single opponent.

It’s one thing to be a marked man by officials. It’s something else entirely, though, to be ejected on your own Senior Day during a victory-lap of a game that doesn’t even matter in the standings.

Chad, what were you thinking?

I’ve defended Baker-Mazara in the past, but this time was different. He put an elbow into the back of the head of Alabama’s Chris Youngblood and the refs were correct in tossing Baker-Mazara from the game.

“I have not seen the play so I can’t comment on whatever happened there,” Pearl said. “Obviously a flagrant-2, this is his second time having it, and obviously we’re not as good a team without him.

“So he takes a lot of contact. He gets hit a lot. And if it was some sort of retaliation, he just can’t retaliate. I’ll know more when I look at the play.”

I’ll save Bruce the suspense. Baker-Mazara wasn’t being targeted, which is a claim that I’ve made in the past. Not this time, though, and Baker-Mazara’s flying elbow couldn’t have come at a worse time for his team. The spotlight on his antics will be glaring in Nashville and then again at the beginning of the NCAA Tournament.

On a follow-up question, I asked Pearl if he thought Baker-Mazara was being treated unfairly by officials.

“No, I just think that contact is a part of the game and I think a year ago it was a retaliation play and my guess without seeing the play, it was some retaliation for getting hit,” Pearl said. “And you’re going to get hit, and you’ve got to get to the next play, so Chad can’t do that.”

You could see the flagrant-2 coming. Refs reviewed three different plays involving Baker-Mazara before kicking him out of the game. In the earlier plays, Baker-Mazara was on the receiving end of physical interactions.

But each time the refs reviewed the plays, they ruled that Baker-Mazara wasn’t fouled. In other words, the refs — right or wrong — thought that Baker-Mazara was embellishing contact.

Baker-Mazara went to ground after Alabama took a 58-57 lead with 11:57 left in the game. Less than a minute later, he was kicked out for his blindside elbow.

We’ve seen it all before. Baker-Mazara is one of the best players in the SEC, but he loses his cool during big moments and resorts to playing dirty. It could cost Auburn a shot at the national championship.

Broome said after the game that they could have won without Baker-Mazara, but that’s not the same thing as knowing that Baker-Mazara would have given Auburn a better chance at the victory.

“The message to Chad is to just learn from his mistakes,” Broome said. “He wants to change and do better for the team and for himself. We all love Chad … but obviously he’s down on himself as well.”

Before the season even started, I wrote that Baker-Mazara could be the only thing standing between Auburn and winning a national championship. After watching him elbow Alabama’s Youngblood in the back of the head, everyone in the country understands the scouting report. Agitate Baker-Mazara every possession of the game.

Eventually, he’s going to swing back.

BE HEARD

Got a question for Joe? Want to get something off your chest? Send Joe an email about what’s on your mind. Let your voice be heard. Ask him anything.

Joseph Goodman is the lead sports columnist for the Alabama Media Group, and author of the book “We Want Bama: A Season of Hope and the Making of Nick Saban’s Ultimate Team.”