In Reply to: I like mikeo agree with almost all your points. posted by Cachorro on July 14, 2025 at 09:11:38
IMO it was always going to be a bit of a struggle for both Cronin and Mara to completely mesh.
In terms of defensive schemes, I think the way college basketball is played it is very difficult to play man to man defense without mobile bigs. Slow players can usually be exploited by the opponents offense. I thought Cronin was wise to coach Mara up to play outside defense, in spite of all the difficulties. IMO it was best for the team and for Mara as well.
You could be right about Mara's playing time next season. I could see Cronin limiting Mara's time, but I think that would only happen if opponents proved to be consistently and profoundly feeding off UCLA's defense anchored by a slow footed UCLA post player.
I could be wrong but I don't think that would have happened - at least on a consistent basis. What I saw was Cronin playing Mara more and more and UCLA's defense getting better and better at playing defense with Mara in there. Part of that was Mara learning and growing and part of that was Cronin adjusting - and Mara's growing was probably due, at least in part and probably a great part, to Cronin's coaching.
So even though you could be right about Mara's playing time at UCLA next season I just didn't see that happening. Cronin has his faults and limitations, but one of them isn't his lack of smarts. Any coach can see Mara's potential and would be a fool not to try and tap into that. Cronin is no fool. One doesn't get to be where he's at by being a fool.