In Reply to: Mara was never a Cronin type player, but few truly are. posted by Enlightened on March 21, 2026 at 13:30:45
I have no proof, but the rumors swirling around Mara's and Johnson's transfers do not paint a pretty picture. Furthermore they make sense to me.
When Mara left for Spain he had already declared his intention to return to UCLA. He was not in the portal. I believe that was also the case for Johnson of Illinois.
All of a sudden Mara, like Johnson, was transferring to Michigan. What happened? Conventional wisdom points toward May, or his minions, tampering with both of them. It's my understanding that if a player is not in the portal then no one can approach them with offers.
I'm sure there are nefarious ways of getting around that but they would still be unethical and skirting around the spirit of this rule. There's a real bad taste in my mouth over all of this. None of what I've heard in terms of the official explanations given seem to completely make sense to me. As far as I'm concerned, unless I hear otherwise, Michigan and May have joined the ranks of other outlaw schools and coaches. John Calipari much? How about North Carolina? This is why I hope Michigan gets beat.