Chad Baker-Mazara made headlines during Auburn’s 93-91 overtime loss to Alabama in their IBOB regular season finale. He was ejected for elbowing Alabama’s Chris Youngblood and later took to social media to address the incident—suggesting he may not have fully grasped the lesson.
Bruce Pearl’s postgame remarks, in which he claimed he “didn’t see the full play,” didn’t exactly support the idea that CBM took accountability.
AL.com’s Joseph Goodman was much more critical, arguing that Youngblood was justified in targeting Baker-Mazara to provoke him into a reaction. Goodman suggested that CBM either “doesn’t care or can’t help himself.”
“It was absolutely Youngblood’s job to target Baker-Mazara with contact, hoping to bait him into a mistake. This will happen in every game for the rest of his career. Baker-Mazara knows this, but he either doesn’t care or simply can’t control himself,” Goodman wrote.
Johni Broome expressed hope that CBM would learn from his mistakes, but at 25 years old, Goodman questioned whether there’s much left to learn. In fact, he pointed out that Baker-Mazara’s behavior has worsened in recent weeks, a concerning trend for Auburn.
The Tigers also lost their No. 1 AP ranking, dropping to No. 3 after multiple defeats last week.
While it’s not time to panic, CBM needs to refocus. Auburn can’t afford distractions heading into March Madness—not with the level of competition in this year’s field.
