In Reply to: I think it's pretty clear that Mara is significantly improved... posted by Born2BBruin on February 12, 2026 at 21:57:41
but from what I have seen it looks to me like Mara has improved pretty much as most players improve from their sophomore to junior years. I wouldn't say it looks like a huge leap of progress for Mara but more toward the average improvement a player gains as he matures.
Perhaps I'm biased here and certainly what I'm about to say includes a bunch of speculation, but from what I saw of how Cronin was bringing Mara along I think if Mara had stayed at UCLA he would, right now, be further along in his development.
Cronin was asking/demanding of Mara to do things that he wasn't really good at. I could see Mara's overall defense improving quite rapidly in the course of last season. That kind of coaching usually results eventually into huge leaps of productiveness and effectiveness as well as a more balanced and rounded game.
I thought if Mara had stayed he would have ended up a more multidimensional player and not just a very tall player with some good mobility and a good passer. He's still a very good player with a huge ceiling and will probably have some good years ahead of him on the professional level. I just thought he would have been better off at UCLA under Cronin. Perhaps it would have been harder and maybe even frustrating for him at UCLA, but sometimes harder is better.