Goodman: What Auburn’s Chad Baker-Mazara says about the Deep South
This is an opinion column.
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Cleaning out the notebook before a flight to San Antonio for the Final Four …
Auburn’s Chad Baker-Mazara is a well-traveled basketball player.
He gets a bad rap for some of his on-court antics, but he’s a fun personality in the locker room and Auburn loves him.
Does anyone better represent this new age of collegiate athletics? Eight of the 10 players who are projected to start in Saturday’s matchup between Auburn and Florida began their careers at other schools. Baker-Mazara has played for four schools in five years.
CBM is originally from the Dominican Republic and moved to The States for high school. He started his college career at Duquesne before transferring to San Diego State. From there, CBM went to a junior college in Florida.
Auburn recruited him out of Northwest Florida State College, and now he’s in the Final Four after two seasons with the Tigers.
“I’ve been everywhere,” Baker-Mazara said. “East Coast, West Coast and now I’m in the South.”
Thanks to basketball, CBM has a better understanding of the different cultures across the U.S. than most Americans.
“Everybody got their own [culture] … like the East is different from the West and the South,” Baker-Mazara said. “It’s so different to me because in the DR it’s not really like that. Everybody is pretty much the same.”
CBM has found a home in Auburn and he loves it. It’s genuine, too. I’ve never seen a college player wear his letterman’s jacket more than CBM.
He cherishes that jacket. For him, it represents a new start and a second chance. It’s a good-looking jacket, too.
Every student-athlete at Auburn gets a letterman’s jacket after their first season, but CBM might be the only one who’s going to wear it when it’s 80 degrees outside. That’s how much he loves that jacket.
“Just something to carry on the tradition,” he said.
Chad Baker-Mazara wearing his Auburn letterman’s jacket before the NCAA Tournament.Joseph Goodman
CBM has grown fond of the Deep South. He says it’s different from anywhere else he’s been, but in a good way.
“It’s weird how the East Coast people are way different from the people from the South and the West Coast,” Baker-Mazara said. “That really shocked me a lot. People down here in the South are really nice.
“In the East Coast, you might find some people who … [points at head] … you might clash heads.”
Due to a court ruling allowing junior college transfers to play an extra year, CBM can return to Auburn next season. I’d be surprised if he left. He’ll be Mr. Auburn in 2026, a designation that teammate Dylan Cardwell has crafted for himself after five seasons with the Tigers.
People said NIL money and the transfer portal would kill school spirit. I haven’t found that to be the case while covering Auburn’s run to the Final Four. Most of the players might have started out at other schools, but they all love Auburn and they play for each other. That chemistry is one of the things that makes this team so good.
Auburn is a 2.5-point underdog against Florida, but I like the Tigers in the national semifinals. They’re the more experienced team and players like CBM and guard Miles Kelly are long enough defensively to disrupt a few of the 3-point attempts by Florida red-hot sharpshooter Walter Clayton, Jr.
The All-SEC semifinal adds an extra layer of intrigue to the game. Florida defeated Auburn 90-81 back on Feb.8. Five Gators scored in double figures at Neville Arena with Clayton, Jr., going for 19 points, nine assists and six rebounds in 40 minutes.
Finding a way to limit Clayton, Jr., will be a key to the game.
This NCAA Tournament has been a redemption tour for CBM, who was ejected in the opening minutes of the 2024 Big Dance. Auburn ended up losing to Yale and CBM has carried that weight with him ever since. It says something about Auburn coach Bruce Pearl that CBM was even allowed to return to the team. Pearl gave CBM a second chance and now they’re both in the Final Four.
Baker-Mazara has been all over the country. What makes Auburn different?
“They really let me be myself around here,” Baker-Mazara said. “I feel like in other places, they really tried to make me be someone I really wasn’t, and I wasn’t comfortable with that. Because if you can’t take me for who I am, then it’s not meant to be.
“Everyone here has accepted me for my ups and downs and has trusted me to be the best version of myself because of that.”
CBM is 25 years old. His road to the Final Four began years ago back in the Dominican Republic. His dad is a basketball coach back home. As the story goes, Baker-Mazara didn’t know he was moving from the Dominican Republic to the United States until his parents hit him with the news during the summer before his junior year.
Surprise, you’re moving to New Jersey.
He had about a week to say his good-byes and then he was off to live with his grandfather.
Baker-Mazara told me all about his journey to Auburn last year during the Tigers’ run through the SEC tournament. Then came the infamous game against Yale in the first round of the 2024 NCAA Tournament.
CBM has sneaky elbows. The refs were ready last year and they’ve been watching him closely this tournament, too.
There was a moment at the end of the first half against Michigan State when CBM went up for a rebound and might have slipped an elbow into an opponent. No one noticed, but Pearl saw the play. Luckily for CBM and Auburn, the halftime buzzer sounded at the exact moment of the would-be foul. Pearl rushed onto the court and wrapped his arms around his volatile player.
It was a close call.
“He believes in me,” Baker-Mazara said about Pearl. “Yeah sometimes I might go over the edge, but he knows that I’m not really trying to do that. Obviously, that’s who I am. I’m a fiery person, and he talks to me every day.”
Auburn will need CBM’s best against the Gators. His journeyman’s career has led him to the top of the mountain. Maybe it’s time to lean over the edge one last time.
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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.”
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