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Posted (edited)

7'3" Aday Mara leaving UCLA.  He was locked and loaded to return, went home to Spain, and everything changed.  But if the $9.95 info below is correct, fuck all that.  See ya.  It is suspected he was tampered with while in Spain.  It'll be interesting to see with whom and how quickly he signs.

Spoiler

I have more information on how UCLA and Aday Mara parted ways Monday.

Like I've said, before Mara left for Spain, he and his people had agreed to terms for returning to UCLA next season. That was just not for NIL, but also for his commitment to the program.

When Mara returned to L.A. Monday that had changed.

In the meeting, Mara set down some new requirements for him to return, which included him remaining in Spain for the summer, but also dictating that he wanted to be able to visit Spain at his own discretion, regardless of team obligations. He wanted to be able to decide on his practice schedule. He also wanted to be able to determine when he would play during the season, and be able to choose to come out of games when he wanted.

Mara did pull himself out of games this last season. Most of the time there was an underlying reason -- like an illness. But there were times when he seemed fine health-wise.

It's believed now that Mara set these demands because, at least in part, this is what he wants going forward. But he also knew they would be unacceptable to the staff. UCLA was also never given the opportunity to increase its NIL offer either. So the feeling is that Mara returned to UCLA Monday with the intention of parting ways. And it's possible it's because another program tampered with him in the intervening week.

Amazingly, after all this happened Monday, Mara asked if he could still practice with the team. As you might expect, the staff rejected that request.

 

Edited by Sbbruin
  • Haha 1
Posted
5 hours ago, Sbbruin said:

In the meeting, Mara set down some new requirements for him to return, which included him remaining in Spain for the summer, but also dictating that he wanted to be able to visit Spain at his own discretion, regardless of team obligations. He wanted to be able to decide on his practice schedule. He also wanted to be able to determine when he would play during the season, and be able to choose to come out of games when he wanted.

Lmao what? I'd be like - k - there's the door ->

Posted
6 minutes ago, ztejas said:

Lmao what? I'd be like - k - there's the door ->

It almost seems like he made those demands knowing it wouldn't fly just to make the breakup look amicable or some shit.  No way Cronin would've considered any of that nonsense for a second.  What kind of message would that send to other players?  Prisoners running the asylum and wutnot.

Posted

I figured it would settle itself down with a lot of mid guys not finding better situations and others seeing it’s a waste of time but I guess not. It should be the top performers of non blue bloods going blue blood, top lower division guys moving up, and some general shuffling for fit or location. I don’t know how coaches can do this shit every year with fucking everyone in the portal every year. I don’t know the answer but tell f players they can’t move is not it and we’re definitely not going back. Best I’ve seen is contracts so at least there’s a buyout involved but schools ain’t gonna do that either because it makes them a lot closer to employees with other rights. Just gotta stop caring about individual players I guess.

Posted
1 minute ago, 'stache said:

I figured it would settle itself down with a lot of mid guys not finding better situations and others seeing it’s a waste of time but I guess not. It should be the top performers of non blue bloods going blue blood, top lower division guys moving up, and some general shuffling for fit or location. I don’t know how coaches can do this shit every year with fucking everyone in the portal every year. I don’t know the answer but tell f players they can’t move is not it and we’re definitely not going back. Best I’ve seen is contracts so at least there’s a buyout involved but schools ain’t gonna do that either because it makes them a lot closer to employees with other rights. Just gotta stop caring about individual players I guess.

What other rights?  Like health insurance?  I think they may already have that.  Employees can be terminated.  Right now players are winning.  We will see how things look in a few years 

Posted
10 hours ago, 'stache said:

I figured it would settle itself down with a lot of mid guys not finding better situations and others seeing it’s a waste of time but I guess not. It should be the top performers of non blue bloods going blue blood, top lower division guys moving up, and some general shuffling for fit or location. I don’t know how coaches can do this shit every year with fucking everyone in the portal every year. I don’t know the answer but tell f players they can’t move is not it and we’re definitely not going back. Best I’ve seen is contracts so at least there’s a buyout involved but schools ain’t gonna do that either because it makes them a lot closer to employees with other rights. Just gotta stop caring about individual players I guess.

My best guess is that eventually Congress gives an antitrust exemption to either the NCAA or whoever is running the top level college administration at that time. At some point it's going to be whoever gives the Big 10/SEC or an eventual merger between the two the most power. 

Then people will have to win cases without using the antitrust act, which is still possible, but that's the linchpin for all the lost cases that's destroyed the NCAA's ability to run college sports. 

But until then there are no guard rails, and there's too many actors with too much to gain for some kind of cabal to be able to stifle wage increases the way we see in other industries. NIL is also not governed by profit/loss concerns, but by the value placed on the emotional investment in seeing your alma mater win. That value is different depending on the individual, and how much of their net worth they're willing to spend. I don't think we've come even close to reaching a ceiling. I don't think we will until the system suffers some kind of collapse, although I'm uncertain what a collapse would look like. I just know we're not there yet. But we will be at some point. I don't think Congress is going to pass legislation until then. But maybe I'm wrong. 

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