Bruce Pearl says Auburn basketball's Chad Baker-Mazara 'has another year of eligibility'

AUBURN — One of Auburn basketball's most-impactful seniors could be back for another season.

Chad Baker-Mazara is one of six Tigers who will be honored during Auburn's senior day festivities against No. 7 Alabama on Saturday (1:30 p.m. CT, ESPN), but his head coach explained Friday that the former junior college standout qualifies for an extra season of eligibility.

"I don't mind even talking about this without any kind of appeal: Chad Baker has another year of eligibility," Bruce Pearl said. "He does, because he fits all the criteria. Some of the other guys that have been talked about, I'm not going to specifically reference, but Chad is the one that right now qualifies."

In December, Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia sued the NCAA, arguing that his two previous seasons in junior college should not count against his Division I eligibility, since he had no reasonable opportunity to profit from NIL at that time.

A U.S. Circuit Court judge granted Pavia a temporary injunction on Dec. 18 for another year of eligibility. The NCAA is appealing that injunction, but in the meantime, it granted a blanket wavier for all Division I student-athletes with expiring eligibility who "attended and competed at a non-NCAA school" to be eligible for competition during the 2025-26 school year.

Under the ruling, there's still a chance two other Auburn seniors — Denver Jones and AD Scott — could qualify for an extra season.

This year, Baker-Mazara is Auburn's second-leading scorer, averaging 13.1 points, 3.3 rebounds and 2.6 assists in 30 games.

Adam Cole is the Auburn athletics beat writer for the Montgomery Advertiser. He can be reached via email atacole@gannett.com or on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter,@colereporter.