AZTECS LOSE MW 6TH MAN OF YEAR
Baker-Mazara didn’t make grades to keep his ’22-23 eligibility
Chad Baker-Mazara made a pair of free throws with 9:42 left in the second half of the NCAA Tournament game against Creighton on March 17, giving him a team-high 17 points in a mere 17 minutes. He subbed out shortly after and never returned.
They would be the final points Baker-Mazara scored in the game and, it turns out, in a San Diego State uniform.
“Chad has not lived up to his academic responsibilities and is no longer a member of the team,” coach Brian Dutcher said Wednesday. “That’s as plain as it gets.”
The Mountain West’s sixth man of the year enrolled for the first session of summer school at SDSU needing to pass multiple classes to remain academically eligible, but he apparently fell too far behind with just a week remaining. Dutcher informed him of his status Tuesday night.
Baker-Mazara was not immediately available for comment.
That leaves the 6-foot-6 sophomore wing from the Dominican Republic with two options if he wants to continue in basketball. He can play at a junior college for 2022-23 and, with the NCAA allowing an extra “COVID” season, try to restore his academic standing so he can transfer to a fouryear school for his remaining two seasons. Or he can pursue pro opportunities, most likely in Latin America.
Transferring to another four-year college program is out this year if he’s not academically eligible.
“We’re all responsible to some degree,” said Dutcher, whose team has achieved a program-record GPA in recent semesters. “He’s responsible for reaching his potential as a student, and we’re responsible to help him do that. But I thought we did an outstanding job trying to monitor him, help him, assist him to be the student that we all felt he could be. Obviously, he did not live up to those responsibilities. We did everything we possibly could to help him.
“Chad is a wonderful basketball player, but it’s more than basketball. It’s about living up to responsibilities. I can’t just make it about basketball. It’s about academics and preparing yourself for life, and those are things we live by in this program.”
Baker-Mazara averaged only 6.4 points and 12.8 minutes for the Aztecs, and he didn’t hit double figures in scoring in November and December. But his defense slowly improved, getting him on the floor more, and he showed flashes of glistening potential with games of 11, 14 and 15 points in the first four conference games.
His real breakout came Feb. 19 at Fresno State, erupting for 13 points in 4½ minutes in the first half and finishing with 20 on a night when leading scorer Matt Bradley had only two. Six days later, he had 16 points against San Jose State.
But he was wildly inconsistent. He followed that with games of zero and two points. He had 11 in the next game, then two and zero in the semis and final of the Mountain West Tournament, then 17 in 17 minutes in the NCAA Tournament. He also could be emotional, leading the team in flagrant and technical fouls.
His departure may appear abrupt and unexpected to fans, but those close to the
program have been expecting this outcome since, well, the middle of last season. It
also explains why SDSU pursued and landed Oakland transfer Micah Parrish, also a 6-6, left-handed rising junior who can shoot 3s. Parrish might not have BakerMazara’s offensive explosiveness, but he’s viewed as a superior defender and would have soaked up many of his minutes.
The Aztecs now have 12 players on scholarship for 2022-23, one short of the maximum, but they aren’t expected to immediately fill it. Dutcher has made it a habit to hold one scholarship in case a can’t-miss prospect emerges late in the summer or at the semester break, and also because he thinks the full 13 can cause chemistry issues over playing time.
Baker-Mazara transferred to SDSU last summer after playing his freshman year at Duquesne in Pittsburgh, where he was academically eligible. But he spent much of the preseason running sprints or stairs for skipping tutoring sessions or other team activities, and Dutcher is adamant — as Steve Fisher was before him — about not operating a program that essentially hands grades to players.
“We always tell them, the majority of their life is going to be spent without a basketball in their hands,” Dutcher said. “We have a responsibility to get them ready for that part of their lives. We have a high bar.”
Baker-Mazara was nearly ineligible after the first semester but did just enough to continue playing. He still had a chance for 2022-23, but it would have required passing multiple classes in both summer sessions.
“I love Chad,” Dutcher said. “He’s a wonderful kid, if you spend time with him, a wonderful person. But he has to grow up and be more responsible, like all parents want their kids to be. I feel awful for Chad, but there are ramifications when you don’t meet your responsibilities. That’s part of life.
“He’s good enough to be a professional player. But reliability is part of that, too. It all goes hand in hand. Being dedicated, on time, committed, those are things he needs to grow.”