Alabama
Goodman: Watching Alabama basketball with Auburn’s Chad Baker-Mazara
This is an opinion column.
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A unique opportunity presented itself on Friday here in Lexington, Ky.
I had the chance to watch Alabama play Robert Morris in the NCAA Tournament while interviewing Auburn’s Chad Baker-Mazara. Throughout the interview, Baker-Mazara fed me updates on the action and even threw in some commentary, too.
Alabama was playing in Cleveland, and Auburn was at Rupp Arena, but anything is possible in this age of technology. Baker-Mazara had the Alabama game streaming on his smartphone during Auburn’s open locker room media session.
It made for some amusing content.
One after another, reporters kept asking Baker-Mazara if he was going to keep his emotions in check against Creighton. That’s a pretty tired angle at this point, though. We all know CBM plays best when he’s a little too excited.
“I try to be myself, but at the same time keep it cool, so I don’t hurt our team,” Baker-Mazara said. “I just try to learn that, and the guys are helping me with that — so just trying to keep my emotions in touch.”
If I were Johni Broome or assistant coach Steven Pearl, then I’d start every game from here on out by slapping Baker-Mazara in the face before tipoff.
Assistant coach Steven Pearl was critical of Baker-Mazara and Broome after Thursday’s 20-point victory against 16-seed Alabama State. So was someone else.
But it’s a new day. The sun shines upon Auburn once again. The Tigers have been the best team in the country all season and they take on No.9-seed Creighton at 6:10 p.m. CT on Saturday. I like the Tigers’ chances.
Bored with everyone’s questions, I kept asking Baker-Mazara for the score to the game streaming on the device in his lap.
Priorities, people.
“Ooh, 63-64, and Mark [Sears] just got blocked,” Baker-Mazara said. “Get that out of here, Mark! Just kidding.”
But not really.
Baker-Mazara was rooting for Alabama to lose. It didn’t happen, thankfully. The Tide pulled away from Robert Morris in the second half and won 90-81.
As a professional journalist, I’m not supposed to be rooting for any particular team in the Big Dance. Well, let’s be completely transparent about something. I am openly rooting for No.2-seed Alabama and No.1-seed Auburn to meet in the national championship.
Baker-Mazara was ejected in Auburn’s most recent game against Alabama. Hopefully he gets another shot at the Tide (but not literally, though, because that elbow on Chris Youngblood was pretty dirty).
Auburn practiced on Friday at Rupp Arena. The Tigers’ pre-practice locker room was open to reporters for 30 minutes. Miles Kelly’s locker was next to Baker-Mazara. They sat side-by-side. Kelly had on fuzzy slippers that looked like the paws of a black panther. “Black Panther” is his favorite movie and his sister gave him the slippers for Christmas. Baker-Mazara had on a stylish Auburn letterman’s jacket on top of an Auburn hooded sweatshirt with Aubie the mascot spinning a basketball on his claw.
It was a good look.
Not a good look … Auburn’s tourney opener against Alabama State. The Tigers were sloppy and coach Bruce Pearl was angry after the game. So was team leader Dylan Cardwell, who challenged his teammates with a passionate speech.
“I felt like we all had to hear that,” Baker-Mazara said. “We got a little lackadaisical yesterday and I feel like we had to hear that to get a little fire in us.”
Yeah, but what about that score to the Bama game?
“Still a one point game,” said Baker-Mazara, with a touch of hope in his voice.
Moments later, the Tide began to turn.
“Ahh,” CBM said, “Alabama just scored. It’s a three-point game, 65-68, with 5:56 left.”
He wanted Alabama to lose, naturally, because Baker-Mazara, as much as he tried, couldn’t hide his dislike for his school’s instate rival.
Baker-Mazara was asked if he prayed for Alabama’s downfall?
After first denying it, CBM admitted he wouldn’t mind if Alabama lost early in the NCAA Tournament.
“I don’t pray on anyone’s downfall,” he said, “but — man, you’re putting me [on the spot] on this one — but I want to see the SEC do good, but it is Bama, so, yeah, I do want them to lose.”
Baker-Mazara laughed and feigned embarrassment. He qualified the statement. His friend, Aden Holloway, plays for Alabama, and Baker-Mazara said, “I want Biz to do good.”
The NCAA Tournament is the greatest sports event every year, and it only seems to get better and better. It’s the one thing the leaders of collegiate athletics couldn’t get wrong even if they tried. Players like Baker-Mazara will always keep us guessing.
Baker-Mazara was kicked out of the first round last season, ejected for a cheap shot against Yale. CBM wants his chance at redemption and I hope he gets it. He’s too good of a player to go home early, and Auburn has the potential to be an all-time team.
What’s CBM’s favorite thing about March Madness?
“How unpredictable it is,” Baker-Mazara said. “You really don’t know who’s going to win. You go based off records and who’s playing the best, and all that, but you really don’t know because anyone can come beat you any day, for real, as long as you bring it.
“You might be good, but you don’t know who on the other team might be hot that day. The basketball gods might be on their side and they come to win.”
The basketball gods are real, and CBM is in luck. They’re not in the business of awarding karma, just tough defense and soft touches at the rim.
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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.”
US immigration authorities have detained a doctoral student at the University of Alabama, campus officials confirmed on Wednesday.
A spokesperson for the state’s flagship university said in a brief statement that a student was arrested “off campus” by federal immigration officials, but declined to comment further, citing privacy laws.
The US government’s justification for detaining the student was not immediately clear, and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) did not respond to a request for comment late on Wednesday.
News of the arrest comes amid reports of the Trump administration increasingly targeting college students for arrest and deportation across the country, including people in the US on visas and permanent residents with green cards, raising alarms on campuses and in surrounding communities.
The Crimson White, a student newspaper at the University of Alabama, reported on the arrest, saying the targeted student was detained at their home early on Tuesday morning. The individual is Iranian and was in the US on a student visa and studying mechanical engineering, the newspaper said. The university’s College Democrats group said in a statement that Trump and Ice “have struck a cold, vicious dagger through the heart of UA’s international community”.
It was not immediately clear on Wednesday evening if the arrested student had a lawyer.
Alex House, a university spokesperson, said its international student and scholar services center was available to assist students with concerns: “International students studying at the university are valued members of the campus community.”
But House’s statement added that the university “has and will continue to follow all immigration laws and cooperate with federal authorities”.
The Alabama arrest was confirmed the same day news broke that Rumeysa Ozturk, a doctoral student at Tufts University in Boston, was detained by federal immigration agents and taken to an Ice detention center in Louisiana. Her arrest appeared to be part of the US government’s crackdown on students with ties to pro-Palestinian activism on campus last year.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said Ozturk was in the US on a visa and accused her of supporting Hamas, but did not provide evidence to support its claims. Media reports noted that Ozturk, a Fulbright scholar and Turkish citizen, had in March 2024 co-written an opinion piece in the Tufts student newspaper, alongside three other authors, supporting calls for the university to “acknowledge the Palestinian genocide”.
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Ozturk’s arrest has sparked widespread outrage as video circulated showing masked officers, in plainclothes, approaching her on the street and taking her into custody. A 32-year-old software engineer whose surveillance camera recorded the arrest told the Associated Press it “looked like a kidnapping”.
The Massachusetts director of Council on American-Islamic Relations, the Muslim civil rights group, said in a statement: “We unequivocally condemn the abduction of a young Muslim hijab-wearing scholar by masked federal agents in broad daylight. This alarming act of repression is a direct assault on free speech and academic freedom.”
Ozturk’s lawyer told the New York Times she was heading out to break her Ramadan fast with friends when she was detained near her apartment.
Tufts’s president said the university “had no pre-knowledge of this incident and did not share any information with federal authorities prior to the event”. The university was told the student’s visa was “terminated”, the president added.
Ice records suggested Ozturk was taken to Louisiana despite a judge ordering DHS to give advanced notice if officials sought to transfer her out of state.
DHS has also faced scrutiny over its efforts to deport Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian activist and recent Columbia graduate, who is a green card holder. A US judge in Manhattan on Wednesday blocked immigration officials from detaining Yunseo Chung, a Columbia undergraduate, who is also a permanent resident facing threats of deportation for involvement in Gaza solidarity protests.
Maya Yang contributed reporting
Alabama A&M’s Otis Hughley Jr. has resigned from his position as head men’s basketball coach, the program announced on Tuesday.
The move comes after a 10-22 season for the Bulldogs; the program said a national search will begin immediately.
“We want to thank Otis Hughley Jr. for his tenure at Alabama A&M University,” Alabama A&M director of athletics Dr. Paul A. Bryant said in a release. “We wish him well in all his future endeavors.”
Hughley spent three seasons at Alabama A&M as head coach, compiling a 37-63 overall record and 25-29 mark in SWAC play.
His 2023-24 team advanced to the semifinals of the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament before falling to eventual champion Norfolk State.
Along with being named the head coach of the Senegal Women’s National Team for the 2025 FIBA Women’s AfroBasket competition, he has also coached the Nigeria women’s national team and coached in Spain and China.
Hughey notably served as the head coach at LeFlore from 2004-2010 as he compiled a 185-20 record and a Class 6A state title in 2007, coaching four-time NBA All-Star Demarcus Cousins.
Lefore went 59-6 with Cousins, who was later selected in the first round of the NBA Draft by the Sacramento Kings; Hughley would later follow Cousins to the Kings and serve as an assistant.
He’s also been on staff with the Golden State Warriors (2011-2012), served as a scout for the Sacramento Kings, coached the Chinese Taipei Men’s and Women’s teams (2015-2016) and assisted with the Auburn women’s basketball team (2018-2019).
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