Chad Baker-Mazara dismissal: Bruce Pearl calls out 'bad days' for former star

The college basketball career of Chad Baker-Mazara appears to be over. Sunday brought an announcement of his dismissal from the USC program, not making it a full season in Los Angeles. Baker-Mazara will go down most well-known for his time at Auburn. His head coach, of course, was Bruce Pearl for two years.

Pearl had an opportunity to comment on Baker-Mazara following the recent news. He says there is always a little more than just basketball when dealing with Baker-Mazara. Emotions can get in the way at times, something we saw in the back-end of his time on the Plains. Those “bad days,” in Pearl’s estimation, are what got in the way of Baker-Mazara from finding an NBA future.

“My grandfather always told me, ‘If you don’t have something good to say about somebody, don’t say anything at all.’ But I’ve got something good to say about Chad Baker-Mazara,” Pearl said via Wake Up Barstool. “He helped us get to the Final Four. We won a league championship with him. On a good day, last year in the NBA Draft, on his good day, he would’ve been about the 20th best player taken in the NBA Draft last year, on a good day.

“But we all know that Chad has bad days. So, an incredibly talented kid with a real gift… His emotions at times have gotten the better of him. I have no idea what happened at USC, I just know what he did for us at Auburn.”

USC thought they were getting one of the top players out of the NCAA transfer portal this offseason in Baker-Mazara. To an extent, head coach Eric Musselman got good production. Baker-Mazara averaged 18.5 points per game while shooting 44.4% from the field and 38.1% behind the arc. To add on, just over four rebounds and nearly three assists came every time out there.

Those numbers are better than what Baker-Mazara produced at Auburn. His role at USC was different, though, being the main focus at times. Pearl had a stacked roster last season, as the Tigers made a run to the Final Four.

No statement has been released on Baker-Mazara on what is coming next for him. At least one of his former coaches believes there is NBA upside for him, thinking a first-round selection is possible. Getting rid of those “bad days” moving forward might turn out to be the difference.