Aday Mara has erased any doubts he had about his own ability. A big game Saturday helped Michigan waltz into the Sweet 16

By Dana O’Neil, CNN

Buffalo, New York (CNN) — It looked like something out of a Harlem Globetrotters routine, a fake-out so complete that it drew equal parts awe and chuckles from Michigan pep band members who were watching.

Standing on the baseline, the ball raised above his head, Aday Mara made like he was throwing a two-handed crosscourt pass. He did it with such authority and conviction that defender Robbie Avila actually turned his head. In that split second Mara peeled to his right, curling around Avila for the easy lay in.

Mara is not a cheat code like Zach Edey was for Purdue a few years ago, but he has the same ability to make defenders look silly, kind of like when your big brother would stiff arm you in the chest, and you flailed helplessly to hit him but couldn’t quite reach. That kind of silly.

Seven-foot-three can do that to you. It can also turn a very complicated basketball game into a simple one. Michigan would eventually turn on the Yaxel Lendeborg jets and romp to a 95-72 win against Saint Louis to reach the Sweet 16 for the second consecutive season.

But before the Wolverines found the second-half cruise control, the game was won in the paint where Avila, a delightful college basketball player, went head-to-head (or more like head to low neck) with Mara, a future NBA player.

“You know, we knew we had the size advantage,’’ Mara says, “so it was just a matter of playing, and not really overthinking. Just play the game as it comes to you.’’

It has come much more easily to Mara this past season at Michigan. Spied on his club team in Spain, he eventually settled at UCLA but couldn’t find his way into Mick Cronin’s rotation in his first season. Other people bolted Westwood, but Mara determined to stick it out. Until one season of riding the bench turned into two, and Mara needed out.

He made a short list of destinations, settling on Ann Arbor largely because he liked the work Dusty May had done with big men Danny Wolf and Vlad Goldin but admits he wondered if he could do the same.

“After two years, you start to wonder, am I good enough? Can I play at this level? Can I do it?” he says.

May will be the first to admit that his recruiting investment in transfer players isn’t the same. There’s simply not time. A coach can spend years on a high school kid, indulging in sit-down conversations and home visits with the family. Transfer recruiting is more like speed dating. Identify a player that seems intriguing and go from there.

It’s hardly a wing and a prayer, but it there is a legit element of risk, especially when there’s as little game tape (he averaged just 11 minutes per game over his two seasons with the Bruins) as there was on Mara.

May watched Synergy – a video library coaches use to scout tape – and liked what he saw. He did as much due diligence as one could in a couple of weeks, but he didn’t really get to know Mara as a person until he was on campus.

What he found was a kid who’s sort of a fuzzy, warm goofball – as the final minutes ticked away against Saint Louis, Mara practiced a few dance moves on the bench – who is more people-pleasing gentle giant than tough guy.

“I fell in love with him as a person,’’ May says. “It was just the way he makes people feel when he’s around them. It’s impossible to not feel better about yourself because of how engaging he is, how warm he is. And he really, really cares about other people.’’

He also turned into a pretty good bet. Mara answered any of his own lingering questions about his ability to play at this level pretty quickly. In Michigan’s first four games, he posted three double-doubles and dropped 13 against Gonzaga’s Graham Ike in a rout.

Against Saint Louis, he got the Billikens off their game by hitting easy hooks and giving them absolutely nowhere to go inside, resulting in 14 points and five rather easy-to-come-by blocks.

But Mara likes to say that “assists make two people happy,’’ and spread the love. Recognizing that the Billikens had little choice but to double him – especially after Avila picked up two fouls in five minutes – Mara zipped passes to the teammates who invariably were left open.

“He’s an undoubtedly good passer,’’ Saint Louis coach Josh Schertz said. “They can use him as the hub of the offense, like we use Robbie. He’s different. He doesn’t handle the ball like Robbie, but he’s so tall he can throw over the top.”

Or at least pretend to. Asked about the fake out, Mara grinned.

“He was playing me super close,’’ he said. “I was just trying to get some space, but I guess it looked good.’’

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