Dayton forward DaRon Holmes II (15) answers a question from the dais as the Flyers take their turn in a press session on their off-day Friday at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City. The Phoenix-area native helped Dayton defeat Nevada in Thursdayβs first round, with the seventh-seeded Flyers taking on second-seeded Arizona on Saturday at 9:45 a.m. (Arizona time) in the Round of 32.
Arizona guards, from left, Conrad Martinez, Kylan Boswell and KJ Lewis line up for the national anthem before the Wildcatsβ NCAA Tournament opener against Long Beach State Thursday at the Delta Center. In Saturdayβs second-round battle, Boswell and the Wildcats will face Phoenix-area product DaRon Holmes II and Dayton in a breakfast-time matchup. The game tips off at 9:45 Arizona time, which is a bright-and-early 10:30 start in Salt Lake City.
Dayton forward DaRon Holmes II (15) takes a bow to the Nevada band and boosters after the Flyers held on to slip by the Wolf Pack 63-60 during the second half of their West Regional first-round matchup Thursday in Salt Lake City.
Dayton's DaRon Holmes II (15) gets off the pass between teammate Jeriah Coleman (12), left, and Nevada's Tre Coleman (4) during the second half of the No. 7 seed Flyers NCAA Tournament first-round win over the No. 10 seed Wolf Pack Thursday at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City.
SALT LAKE CITY β Good buddy Nico Mannion hadnβt checked in yet from Italy as of Friday afternoon, but DaRon Holmes was OK with that.
Besides, Mannion might just tell him to take it easy on his Arizona Wildcats, who will be dealing with Holmes as the centerpiece of seventh-seeded Dayton in a second-round NCAA Tournament game Saturday at the Delta Center.
βHe might not even know just because heβs so busy over there,β Holmes said of Mannion, the former Arizona guard who used to regularly work out with Holmes under a Phoenix trainer. βBut if he does know, then he probably will say something.β
Pretty much everyone else in Holmesβ Arizona life already has.
Thatβs what happens when you become the Arizona Gatorade Player of the Year, lead Goodyear Millennium to the 2020 Arizona Class 5A title, get recruited by the Arizona Wildcats β¦ and then head out of state to become a second-team All-American this season as a junior on a team that will face the Wildcats in the NCAA Tournament.
People either want you to go easy on the Wildcats, or end their season by beating them up.
βDefinitely hear from a lot of people about this game, especially this game.,β Holmes said. βA lot of my high school friends go to U of A. And some of my high school friends go to ASU, who just do not like U of A. I know about the rivalry. So this is gonna be very, very nice.β
Holmes also briefly attended Montverde Academy with UA walk-on Jackson Cook and played club ball on an Arizona Powerhouse team with UA forward Dylan Anderson. He said he also knows UA guard Kylan Boswell, who entered the AZ Compass program in 2021 just as Holmes left.
About the only person in Holmesβ life who might be quiet about Saturdayβs matchup is his little brother Cameron, a five-star prospect himself in the class of 2026 who has attracted considerable recruiting attention from UA coach Tommy Lloyd and his staff, just as DaRon did with former UA coach Sean Miller.
βCameron is still considering them but heβs also considering Dayton as well,β DaRon said. βSo itβs definitely pretty funny to see. Heβs staying out of it for the most part, but he definitely is watching the game. Heβs excited to come see the game. Itβs pretty cool.β
The Wildcats offered Cameron a scholarship last spring before his freshman season at Millennium ended, getting in on him early like Miller did. But DaRon committed to Dayton in Oct. 2020, after Mannion finished playing for the Wildcats in 2019-20, then attended Montverde and AZ Compress Prep as a senior, trying to keep playing under the COVID restrictions of 2020-21.
Arizonaβs recruiting was all but put on hold at that point anyway, with the Wildcats self-sanctioning themselves out of the postseason while Miller would lose his job in April 2021.
Meanwhile, Dayton coach Anthony Grant said Daytonβs 2018-19 NIT team and its would-be NCAA Tournament team (and possible No. 1 seed) in 2019-20 helped attract Holmes by showing them how his abilities would mesh with the Flyersβ system.
βI think he felt like his skill set, his talent would fit well,β Grant said. βThen once we got a chance to know each other, I think he felt very comfortable with our staff, with the things that we kind of shared with him about what we were about and how we could help him.β
Holmes said he still had Arizona among his top four final choices but expressed no regrets about what might have seemed initially like a somewhat curious choice to head to the Atlantic 10 powerhouse.
βItβs the people, the culture,β Holmes said. βI felt like this was gonna be a new home. This place is amazing. Itβs like a big family. Iβve really enjoyed it.β
Enjoyed everything, except the lack of mountains and desert.
βItβs just very different,β Holmes said. βItβs a lot different from home in terms of the scenery. I like the scenery in Arizona. The school, I like. Not too big, not too small. Itβs good to get around. Itβs very fun. Iβm having a great time.β
By now, Holmes could almost be the mayor of Dayton, too. Well known for its passionate fan base, Dayton has sold out every game in advance of its season three years in a row.
They won 24 games and reached the NIT during his freshman season of 2021-22 and, while injuries helped drag them down to a 22-12 record last season, Holmes led the Flyers to a 25-7 record that earned them a No. 7 NCAA Tournament seed.
Holmes has mirrored the Flyersβ improvement. A post presence right away as a freshman in 2021-22, taking only seven shots from beyond the 3-point arc, Holmes has evolved into a foul-drawing, elite interior scorer who also steps back to take over a fifth of his shots from 3 β and hits those at a 38.0% rate.
βWhen he walked in the door, we needed him as a freshman to be able to have a major impact on our team, and I think he grew β¦ β¦ understanding the physicality of the game, figuring out what he was good at and how he could impact the game,β Grant said. βThen, as a sophomore, he became a focal point for a lot of other teams, and he had to add some things to his game there.
βI think his best basketball is ahead of him. I donβt think heβs anywhere close to reaching how good heβll be. I think heβs still growing, still learning.β
UA coach Tommy Lloyd saw the roots of what made Holmes so versatile. As a Gonzaga assistant, Lloyd saw Holmes as a sophomore standout at Millennium when he was βmore of a perimeter base playerβ who may have projected as a college wing.
Then Holmes grew to 6-10.
βI donβt think anybody knew he was going to get this tall,β Lloyd said. βI think he made a great choice for himself (picking Dayton). Heβs become a player there thatβs featured. And his game has really grown; theyβve done a good job helping him become a better player inside the paint.
βThatβs what makes him tough. He plays inside the paint and out at 3. He can drive the basketball. He can get fouled. He presents a lot of problems.β
Those problems, on Saturday, will now be Arizonaβs to deal with.
And Daytonβs to try and celebrate.
βItβs amazing to be able help put the school in this position, itβs such a big deal,β Holmes said. βThis is something that not every school gets the experience. Itβs great.β
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Photos: (2) Arizona Wildcats dispatch (15) Long Beach State 85-65, NCAA West Region