Prior to the season’s start, junior Aday Mara was projected to be a solid starting center in the Big Ten, ready to take advantage of Michigan coach Dusty May’s froncourt-friendly offense. In less than a year, however, the 7-foot-3 Spaniard is now projected to be a top-25 pick in this year’s NBA draft after aiding the Wolverines to a No. 1 seed and their first Final Four in eight years.
When asked what changed about his game, Mara didn’t cite a specific workout regime or crash course on basketball theory. Rather, he looked inward at himself.
“I’m in a better shape and I’m playing more, getting more minutes helps, but I think it’s all confidence,” Mara said Feb. 11. “Obviously, we are working on different things, the way we play, (I’m) getting that experience during games. So I don’t think I have changed as a player. I think I’m feeling better, I’m feeling confident. I’m happy to be here. So I think that’s the big difference.”
Coming off a loss in the Round of 32, Mara’s old head coach — UCLA’s Mick Cronin — spoke about his frustrations in developing players only for them to leave, making it clear who he was speaking about with his final comment.
“You have to detach yourself from what college basketball used to be,” Cronin said “… I spent two years developing, and now you’re going to leave. That’s going to happen to you. It happened with Aday Mara. It’s a business… You can’t take it personal. So from the moment I got back, I had to change hats and start running the program from an acquisition and retention standpoint”
When asked about his former coach’s remark, Mara didn’t have anything negative to say about Cronin and instead just pointed to the confidence he had gained with more minutes played. Two days later, though, Mara did have plenty of positive things to say about May.
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The journey to becoming more confident in his game began with Mara’s skepticism about actually being offered a starting role as a center.
“When we first talked, (May) told me that I had the opportunity to be the starting center but (for) the first (few) months I didn’t believe it a 100%, because the last two years, it made me overthink a lot because I didn’t get what I was expecting,” Mara said Mar. 26. “I was just overthinking about it and saying, ‘Yeah, he can say that now, but maybe it’s not what’s gonna happen.’ But as soon as we started practicing, he was doing what he said.”
From these summer workouts, Mara learned that May backed up his promises, given corresponding hard work on his end. The family atmosphere wasn’t a ploy to get the center to sign, it was a key part of the foundation that the Wolverines’ coach was trying to build. And while it’s easy to say it worked now with Michigan two games away from a national championship, the team and Mara clearly bought in from the onset.
As the season began, May didn’t shy away from keeping up his promises to Mara. During Christmas, Mara remained in town while everyone else took off to their respective corners of the world. May took initiative, inviting Mara to work out one-on-one. Not just playing as a body on the block, May worked with Mara on all parts of his game, including his shooting — helping Mara do something for the first time in his collegiate career.
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Going into Michigan’s rematch against Ohio State, Mara had shot just four attempts from beyond the arc in his entire collegiate career. All misses and matching up against a similarly sized center in the form of Christoph Tilly, it would’ve been understandable for Mara to keep his offensive success within the paint. But in his highest scoring game of the year, Mara couldn’t help letting a couple fly from downtown.
Not in a late-clock situation, not baiting for a foul, just recognizing that Tilly was dropping low when he was beyond the arc, Mara fired off the fifth 3-pointer of his career. Off the target, Mara didn’t let his miss get in his head, swishing his sixth and seventh attempt.
Again, it wasn’t for a lack of skill.
“Obviously, I’ve been practicing 3-pointers,” Mara said Feb. 8 post-Ohio State. “I don’t want to rush, I don’t want to take bad shots. So I saw that that was open, I just shot it. But again, I’m confident with my shot. It’s in my game. It’s just that I haven’t shot it for two years, but I know it’s there.”
Two misses and nearly as many months later, Mara made his third 3-pointer Sunday against No. 6 seed Tennessee. While Mara was trailing in transition, graduate guard Nimari Burnett swung the ball to him at the top of the arc. Mara took the shot in stride, hitting a three in the biggest game of his life. If there was any doubt whether Mara really did gain confidence throughout the year, a 3-pointer with 25 seconds left on the shot clock in an Elite Eight game put them to rest.
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The 3-pointer wasn’t the only shot Mara developed this year. Mara struggled from the free-throw line, hovering around 40% in the early part of the year. While not atypical for centers, his challenge with converting on trips to the line wasn’t mechanical like it is for many players of his stature. A fluid motion without excessive tilt behind his head or tilt on the horizontal axis, Mara’s form was solid. This, combined with the fact that he hit free throws with twice as much efficiency during practice, pointed to mental problems over physical ones.
“It was funny, because in practice I was making all the free throws,” Mara said Mar. 26. “ … In practice, we always have to make a couple free throws to win the game, so it counts. (May) was telling me to shoot those free throws, and I was making those. I was just telling all the coaches I come to practice and I have, like, 80-90% and then I go to the games and they didn’t go in.”
Around the end of the season, a new trend began to appear. Spurred on by his coach’s belief in him and the knowledge that there isn’t anything fundamentally wrong with his shot, his shots at the line began dropping through the cup a little more. Removing the first half of the season, Mara’s free-throw average jumped up 30 points, with the center sinking 36 of his last 43 shots in the previous two months.
“The first part of the season I was like, ‘Oh, I’m getting to the free throw line, I’m probably gonna miss,’ ” Mara said. “It was just that mindset when I was shooting free throws. And the only thing that I changed is now when I get to the line (I’m thinking) ‘I’m gonna make these two of the free throws.’ ”
Sometimes that’s all that needs to change.
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When asked about his one-on-one time with May, specifically watching film, Mara quickly harkened back to Christmas time and to the difference from being with the Bruins.
“I’m watching a lot more film with coach,” Mara said Mar. 28. “And also I remember from Christmas, for example, I was here in town. I was in Ann Arbor and Dusty was a guy who was coming with me, practicing. I didn’t do that in UCLA. I was always with the assistant coaches, but working out with the head coach, him looking at how you’re doing different things, you’re seeing him (and you) realize that he wants you to improve.”
A bit more reposed, Mara continued:
“I don’t know what to say, but you feel that he wants you to improve or to get better, you know. So that’s better for you as a player, with the confidence, he’s trying to help you.”
Suffice it to say that UCLA was probably the wrong place for Mara. Sure, being a big man in a frontcourt-centric system helps, but it’s the support and opportunity that May has given him that’s allowed Mara to showcase his potential. The skill was always there, it just took joining a program that laid the foundation for him to stand tall.
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