In Reply to: Mara made the right choice posted by Pyperkub on February 16, 2026 at 10:37:37
Speaking in those terms doesn't make it so. All players don't leave because they don't start and believe they should. So may and others may not. Apparently Mara was one of those that was going to stay until he wasn't.
IMO Mara made exactly the wrong move by leaving. He was going to start. He was going to play big minutes - as much as his conditioning allowed. He was going to continue to learn how to play defense all over the floor. He was on his way to being a more complete player - more so then he is now and maybe more so buy the time he is finished playing college basketball.
From my observations Cronin is very good at developing players. Not all players have the wisdom to take to such coaching. It can be frustrating. Certainly hard. And some players just don't have the inner strength or patience for it. From my perspective it appears that Mara may fall into that category. I believe Mara's move was more from impatience than not.
Also, there's this element of the whole scenario where he had made up his mind, declared his intentions, then somehow had a change of heart which is why there are now rumors of tampering swimming about. That idea isn't completely nonsensical.
Cronin is old school. He seems to take the old school approach of breaking down a player and building him bake up with a more secure and firm foundation. IMO it is a good approach and one that works. That's what I saw him doing with Mara. Mara seemed to have taken to this approach, or at least tolerated it, and we were seeing the effects and rewards. I can only believe Mara was also seeing it hence his declaration to return. Then something changed all of that. If he transferred because he didn't start every game in the last half of last season, then why did he first declare that he was returning? Doesn't make sense.