UD’s Holmes on return of Red & Blue Game: ‘It’s going to be a great time’

It’s also a chance to perform in front of the fans at UD Arena for the first time in the 2022-23 season. Doors open at 12:30 p.m. The men’s team takes the court at 2:20 p.m. after signing autographs from 12:45 to 1:45 p.m. in the East Concourse Club

“We’re really looking forward to it,” Holmes said Thursday. “It’s going to be a great time.”

Dayton players held their own preseason event last year, a fan fest at UD Arena, and made money by selling tickets. This Red & Blue Scrimmage is a name, image and likeness opportunity as well, even though fans can attend for free. CareSource is sponsoring the the event. The players will sign autographs for free but be paid for their time — at least the U.S.-born Flyers who aren’t limited by student visas.

The Red & Blue Game comes two days after Atlantic 10 Conference Media Day at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y.. Dayton earned 22 of 29 first-place votes and topped the preseason poll for the first time in six years.

“We‘re really excited about that,” Holmes said, “but we’re going to keep our heads down, remain humble and continue to work hard.”

Holmes was named to the A-10 preseason first team. He was the youngest player named to that team this season. He’s the first Flyer to make the preseason first team in his second season since Obi Toppin in the 2019-20 season, though Toppin was a redshirt sophomore. Holmes is the first true sophomore too make the first team since Dayton joined the A-10 in the 1995-96 season.

The first-team group also included Davidson’s Foster Loyer, a fifth-year senior, Richmond senior Tyler Burton, George Mason senior Josh Oduro, redshirt junior Yuri Collins and Virginia Commonwealth junior Ace Baldwin.

Dayton coach Anthony Grant talked at length about Holmes at Media Day on Thursday and said he was thrown into the fire as a freshman who started all 35 games. That youth showed early in the year, Grant said, when Holmes had to guard veteran players who maybe didn’t have the name recognition of players Holmes would face later in the season but had plenty of talent and physicality to give a young forward trouble.

Grant saw Holmes evolve fast after some early struggles and become the best rim protector Dayton has had since Steve McElvene in the 2015-16 season. Holmes broke McElvene’s school record for blocks by a freshman with 81.

“He had to anchor our defense,” Grant said, “and I thought he really grew in terms of his confidence and understanding that role. He’s continuing to do that.”

Holmes is already generating some NBA Draft buzz this month. A mock draft by Jonathan Wasserman, of Bleacher Report, predicted he will be taken in the second round with the 41st overall pick in 2023. Jonathan Givony, of ESPN, predicted Holmes would be drafted 54th overall.

Asked about Holmes’ pro prospects, Grant said, “I think the beautiful thing about DaRon is if you asked him, that’d be the least thing he’s concerned about right now. I think he wants to continue to grow and get better. I don’t think he has that mindset of getting ahead of himself and looking two or three steps down the road. If you ask him, his focus is going to be, ‘How can I get better, and how can our team become the best version of itself?’ He’s really enjoying being where his feet are. So if those opportunities present themselves down the line for him, I think it means he had a great individual season and we had a great season as a team. Then we’ll cross that bridge when we get to that.”

Holmes did answer questions about his pro prospects over the summer and said just what Grant thought he would. All his focus is on the 2022-23 season, and he enters it with plenty of momentum after making the A-10 second team last year and joining Obi Toppin on the short list of Flyers who have won the A-10 Rookie of the Year Award.

“I’m pretty confident,” Holmes said. “I trust my teammates. I’m just really excited to have a fun year and to win games.”