ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) — Aday Mara was on his tiptoes when he helped cut down the nets in Crisler Arena a few weeks ago after a win against rival Michigan State, celebrating Michigan's Big Ten championship.
The 7-foot-3 Spaniard looked around and lamented that he and German center Malick Kordel were the two Wolverines without family on the confetti-filled court.
If Michigan wins two more games in the NCAA Tournament to claim its second national championship
and first since 1989, Mara is thankful his parents will be with him.
Mara's parents, former professional basketball and volleyball players in Spain, have been able to attend just a few games when they traveled to spend Christmas with him.
Javier Mara and Gely Gomez are with their son, staying at his apartment, and plan to join him at the Final Four in Indianapolis to experience March Madness in person.
“Having them here is amazing because I can spend time with them now and if we win it all, I can celebrate with them,” Aday Mara told The Associated Press on Tuesday. “It's special.”
The Wolverines will face Arizona on Saturday night and the winner will advance to play Connecticut or Illinois for NCAA Tournament title on Monday night.
Michigan's versatile big man will likely be a pivotal player.
He transferred from UCLA last year, seeking a larger role with a team lacking a true center and found what he was looking for under coach Dusty May after Vladislav Goldin and Danny Wolf left to play professional basketball.
“Vlad and Danny left so it was a great place for me,” Mara said. “They had a great year last year and when I talked with Dusty, I could tell he is a person you can trust. I was also impressed with his obsession with basketball and with helping his players improve.”
Mara started in 37 of 38 games after starting in just nine over two seasons with the Bruins and played 23 minutes a game — an increase of 10 minutes — and made the most of the opportunity.
The Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year set a single-season school record with 100 blocks, breaking a record Roy Tarpley set four decades ago. The third-team, all-conference honoree also forces opponents to alter shots or simply not to take them if they get past other Wolverines.
“There have been so many times this year where we’ve been not afraid to be more aggressive than we normally are because of the shot-blocking that we have down there,” teammate Yaxel Lendeborg said. “It’s key to our defense.”
Mara makes plays at the other end of the court, too.
He averages nearly 12 points, almost doubling his scoring average from last season, and had career highs with 6.8 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game with a high-scoring, pass-happy team.
“Everyone for the last 10 years has known he’s had talent,” May said. “But how do you unlock that talent? We weren’t sure we could. We did feel like we had the system in place where we could maximize what he does well.”
Mara, who weighs 255 pounds, is remarkably nimble for his size and his ball skills as a key player in May's offense makes him a big problem for other teams. Mara credits the many sports he played growing up in Spain with athletic parents.
“The biggest thing that helped me was playing a lot of beach volleyball because moving in the sand is very difficult,” he said. “I also played a lot of other sports as a kid like soccer, a little golf and some American football, just throwing the ball around and running routes with my dad.”
Mara, in his third season away from home, keeps in touch with his parents via video calls every few days, his grandparents about once a week and regularly checks in with cousins while playing video games.
May is thankful Mara has made Michigan his home after weighing offers in the transfer portal.
“Once we started talking to him, I fell in love with him as a person — literally,” May said. “It’s impossible not to feel better about yourself because of how engaging he is, how warm he is, and he really, really cares about other people.”
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AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-mens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness
