‘It was a hard decision’: Aday Mara talks about why he departed UCLA for Michigan
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Nearly every time Aday Mara touched the ball over the season’s final months, a murmur of anticipation filled Pauley Pavilion.
Would the 7-foot-3 center show off his extraordinary passing skills, flinging the ball to a teammate for a backdoor layup? Would he pivot around his defender for a dunk? Would he use his mythical size to get off an unblockable sky hook?
Almost everything the UCLA sophomore did after becoming a regular part of the rotation in late January wowed fans who equally delighted him with their deafening cheers.
That support was among the reasons why Mara did not want to go quietly on his way to Michigan. For one of his final acts before leaving campus, Mara reached out to The Times to discuss the rationale behind his transfer and set the record straight about a report stating that he had made outrageous demands as a requirement for him to remain a Bruin.
The smile that never seems to leave Mara’s face vanished when it came to his departure from a place that he loved.
“It was a hard decision to leave UCLA,” Mara said Friday night via FaceTime, “because you saw every game — I was enjoying it, I was super happy because I saw all the crowd cheering for me, helping me a lot. Los Angeles is like a really, really good place, Westwood, so I’m going to miss that and I wanted to say that because it was a hard decision because it’s just after two years it feels like I spent a lot more time than two years, you know?”
So why is he leaving?
Mara said he was not the basketball player he expected to be almost two years ago when he first set foot on campus, even if his impact over the last few months far exceeded his season averages of 6.4 points, 4.0 rebounds and 1.6 blocks in 13.1 minutes per game. He started only one game — as an injury replacement for Tyler Bilodeau.
Coach Mick Cronin explained during the season that Mara’s usage was limited by matchups, conditioning and a few illnesses. Mara acknowledged there were times he asked to come out of games because he expended full energy in short spurts.
“I knew that I wasn’t going to play a lot,” Mara said, “so I was going like 100% — that’s why I was getting tired because I knew that it was going to be six minutes [of playing time] and if I play well it was going to be 15, so I was going like 100% and sometimes, yeah, I said like, ‘I’m tired, I need some rest,’ you know? But I think it’s a common thing if you try hard and you play hard.”
After a breakthrough 22-point performance against Wisconsin in late January, Mara became a bigger part of the rotation, his averages increasing to 8.6 points, 4.9 rebounds and 2.3 blocks in 17.1 minutes over the final 16 games. Still, it wasn’t enough to convince Mara that he should return for a third season in Westwood.
“I had expectations when I came here that I didn’t achieve,” said Mara, whose coming to UCLA necessitated a messy split from his Spanish professional team. “Also, I think I felt like I was playing good, practicing good, practicing hard, you know, putting in extra work and until Wisconsin I never had the opportunity to show that I was able to play, you know? And once [Cronin] gave me the opportunity, I saw — not a lot, but I saw what I could do, so those are the two reasons.”
The Bruins land big men Xavier Booker of Michigan State and Steve Jamerson II of San Diego as well as sharpshooter Jamar Brown of Missouri-Kansas City.
After the Bruins lost to Tennessee in the second round of the NCAA tournament, Mara returned to Spain to discuss his future with his parents. Though they offered support and guidance, Mara said, the decision to leave was his alone.
“I feel that I had to change,” Mara said, “but I didn’t want to.”
Mara said he informed Cronin of his intentions after returning to campus at the end of last month, knowing that the coaching staff needed to quickly pivot to a replacement. Then he entered the transfer portal and commenced discussions with Michigan.
One thing Mara said he did not do was demand more money or lay out a series of demands that would need to be met for him to remain at UCLA. Among the purported demands detailed by Bruin Report Online were Mara remaining in Spain for the summer and returning to his home country whenever he desired, not to mention the ability to dictate his own practice schedule and pull himself out of games whenever he wished.
“I feel like that’s crazy,” Mara said of the alleged demands. “For a player who is 20 years old asking a coach for not practicing or playing whenever he wants, I feel like that’s a crazy thing. If someone does that, it’s because, I don’t know, but I would never say that. It’s not true. … If someone who is 19, 20 or 21 says that, it’s because he doesn’t like basketball and I love basketball, so that’s crazy for me.”
Mara said he did ask Cronin if he could continue working out with Dave Andrews, the team’s director of athletic performance who had helped him round into shape from an off-season foot injury.
“Dave did an unbelievable job with me,” Mara said. “The time that he spent, the work that we did, that really helped me this year, so I knew that — because I thought that I was going to stay here for two months until I finished school, so that’s what I asked him because I knew two months with him would make a huge difference for me, so that’s the only thing that I asked him, to work with Dave. I said if I can, let me know. [Cronin] told me that [Andrews] was working with the guys that were staying here, so I was good.”
Mara soon withdrew from classes, giving him only 15 days before his student visa expired. He’s scheduled to fly to Spain on Sunday and spend about a month in his home country before reporting to Michigan for summer workouts.
Why did Mara decide to become a Michigan man? He said he was impressed by the way coach Dusty May utilized 7-footers Vladislav Goldin and Danny Wolf, who bullied the Bruins during the Wolverines’ 94-75 rout in January at Pauley Pavilion. Mara said he was also lured by Michigan’s fast pace under May, who likes to use his big men in transition. With Goldin and Wolf departing, Mara will be joined in the frontcourt next season by Illinois transfer Morez Johnson Jr.
“I’m super excited to go to Michigan,” Mara said, “to try to show everyone that I can play at a good level, that I can keep getting better and I know it’s a Big Ten team, so excited to play against UCLA.”
Mara was one of six UCLA players to enter the transfer portal after the season, joining center William Kyle III, forward Devin Williams and guards Dylan Andrews, Sebastian Mack and Dominick Harris. The Bruins have added four transfers in point guard Donovan Dent, wing Jamar Brown and centers Xavier Booker and Steven Jamerson II.
“The transfer portal is part of our world now,” said Cronin, whose roster will also benefit from the return of guard Eric Freeny and forward Brandon Williams from a redshirt season. “We accept it and understand it. We wish all the guys well and continued growth as young men.”
If all goes well, Mara could represent Spain as part of a triumphant return to Los Angeles for the 2028 Summer Olympics. Next season, he’ll see his old teammates again, presumably in Ann Arbor.
“I’m really going to miss them,” Mara said, his smile returning. “They are good people, good players. I guess we’re going to see each other again in Michigan.”
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