While much of the talk surrounding the NCAA’s recent ruling that gives seniors who spent time in junior college an extra year of eligibility has been about football, Auburn men’s basketball could also benefit greatly from the decision.
Two Auburn starters, Denver Jones and Chad Baker-Mazara, are both in their final year of eligibility, but each spent one year at the JUCO level.
The new ruling could potentially grant both players an extra season, something that would give Auburn — a team expected to lose multiple key contributors after this season — a huge boost in the 2025-2026 season.
“Chad and Denver are both in the last year of their eligibility having played one year in junior college. There would be an anticipation they would qualify, but that’s something we’re checking into with the SEC office,” Bruce Pearl said when asked about the ruling on Friday.
How exactly the ruling will be implemented in college basketball is still unclear but could give both players a chance to return. The regulations around it will be important to monitor for Jones and Baker-Mazara, who have played four seasons at the Division I level.
Both are in their fifth season of college basketball in the 2024-2025 season, using their extra year granted to them due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which impacted the 2020-2021 season.
Jones spent that season at the JUCO level, while Baker-Mazara spent a season each at Duquesne and San Diego State, before playing JUCO basketball at Northwest Florida State College in 2022-2023.
Addarin Scott, a senior who is currently sitting out with the plan to redshirt, is Auburn’s only other former JUCO player, now in his second season at Auburn. Pearl shared on Friday that he plans to redshirt this season to make him available next year, but the JUCO ruling could make redshirting unnecessary for him to come back.
Despite having yet to play in a game this season, Scott is a senior, meaning that the ruling could potentially apply to him to get an extra year of eligibility.
“Addarin hasn’t played this year with the idea of potentially being a redshirt.” Pearl said. “I don’t know what that would even do with his redshirt because right now, the way I understand it, no matter whether you played one or two years in junior college you would only get one year back. It’s definitely something we’re looking at.”
If he’s only able to get one more year anyway, regardless of the redshirt, it could allow Auburn to play him this season. If both the extra year and the redshirt are counted, then Scott could have two more seasons, assuming he does redshirt and doesn’t play the rest of this season.
Overall, the ruling potentially allows Auburn to retain a much larger piece of its core next season than initially expected. With starters like Johni Broome and Dylan Cardwell already departing after this season, getting experienced impact players like Jones and Baker-Mazara back would go a long way.
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