In Reply to: Mara speaks on why he transferred posted by ClockBlocker on August 27, 2025 at 09:16:00
I certainly don't. From what I saw from my distant vantage point it appeared that Mara was increasingly getting more and more playing time. We can only assume that if he had remained at UCLA that would have continued. From my perspective it appeared that Cronin was slowly bringing him along as he tried to coach up Mara to better fit into his schemes and system. In spit of that Mara continued to be an uneasy fit but Cronin appeared to be bending his vision in order to better incorporate Mara's unique skill set and tremendous upside into the fold. Who knows how all of this would have played out this season. It's very possible Cronin would have continued to find it difficult to completely accommodate Mara, but I also believe Mara would have continued to become a much better basketball player under Cronin's tutelage.
Mara wasn't wrong to transfer. I believe what he says in terms of how he felt, but I believe he was impatient. What he was saying wasn't happening at UCLA appeared to me to have been actually happening. Perhaps it was just too slow for Mara. Youth can often be impatient. Mara may be better off having transferred. May could be a better fit for Mara and maybe everything will be better for everyone.
Mara wasn't wrong to transfer. Cronin wasn't wrong in how he handled Mara's development. I don't think Mara's future success somewhere has anything to do with Cronin except that he had a hand in his development. I think Mara is for the better having gone to UCLA and played under Cronin and it may turn out that transferring may have been the best thing he could have done. The two aren't necessarily mutually exclusive.