Auburn transfer Chad Baker-Mazara stuns us all by committing to Big Ten school

The former Auburn basketball star is officially leaving the Tigers. Earlier this month, plenty of us were left quite shocked when Chad Baker-Mazara revealed that he was entering the transfer portal. With one year of eligibility remaining, we now know he's headed to a Big Ten school.

On Monday morning, the news broke that CBM has committed to the USC Trojans. On3's Joe Tipton was the one to provide the massive update. This feels like a bit of a stunner, as we would have assumed Baker-Mazara would have chosen a program that would put him in a position to get back to the Final Four. However, the Trojans were able to convince him that closing out his career in Los Angeles is the right move:

Auburn star Chad Baker-Mazara has committed to USC basketball

Per multiple reports, Baker-Mazara was receiving interest from Kentucky, Florida and several other programs. Again, a lot of people expected he'd stay in the SEC and join a powerhouse, but the Trojans have landed him seemingly from out of nowhere.

Last season, Baker-Mazara was a superstar for the Tigers, averaging 12.3 points a game and being a big-time difference-maker on the defensive end. He and Johni Broome were the leaders for Auburn and Bruce Pearl, helping the team capture the No. 1 overall seed for the NCAA Tournament, while reaching the Final Four.

There was heartbreak with a trip to the title game on the line, as the Tigers suffered a loss to the Gators, who eventually went on to win the national championship. Baker-Mazara teased a couple of times that he was going to return to Auburn, but apparently an incoming transfer receiving a bigger NIL deal opened the door for him to rethink his future. This led to Baker-Mazara's surprising decision to join USC, which went 17-18 overall last season and 7-13 in conference play.