University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: Holmes Knows Similarities Between IU And UNC
November 26, 2001 | Men's Basketball
Nov. 26, 2001
By Adam Lucas
TarHeelBlue.com
"It represents tradition, a winning program, and academic excellence," Jonathan Holmes said recently.
He might have been talking about North Carolina's sterling reputation. Instead, the Bloomington, Indiana, native was talking about what it means to wear one of the red-and-white Indiana jerseys.
All of Carolina's players know a little something about the IU tradition. Most of them probably associate the Hoosiers with Bobby Knight, or maybe they even recall Keith Smart's NCAA title-winning shot against Syracuse in 1987. But Holmes grew up three minutes from campus and has a first-hand appreciation for the similarities between the two programs, both of which rank in the top ten in the NCAA in all-time men's basketball victories (the Tar Heels are second, IU ninth).
Last Wednesday, he went home for a quick Thanksgiving visit with his family in Bloomington. It was a return to an area where Holmes wrote a little of his own Indiana basketball history. His father, J.R. Holmes, coached him at Bloomington South High School, where Holmes was the typical coach's son and ended his career as the alltime school leader in points, assists, free throw percentage, and games started. He also found time to be ranked number one academically in his class.
One of his favorite movies-as if you had to ask-is "Hoosiers," the archetypical underdog film about a tiny Indiana high school that beats all the powerhouses on the way to a state title.
Holmes can relate. He appeared on Carolina's radar screen late in the spring of 1999 when it became clear that the Tar Heels needed a point guard. He got some playing time early in his freshman year, including a game in the Meadowlands against Indiana that ended in an 82-73 loss. While Holmes has seen action in 41 games in his UNC career, he has spent most of his time being overlooked by anyone handicapping the point guard race.
This year, with Matt Doherty planning to use more defensive pressure and a deeper rotation, Holmes may get a chance to play meaningful minutes. In nine minutes against Davidson last Tuesday, he handed out three assists and had zero turnovers.
"You're going to need to use more guys when you're out there putting pressure on them," Holmes said.
If there's one game he wants to make sure that he's involved in, it's Indiana. When Holmes returns home in the summer, he plays pick-up games against IU stars Dane Fife and Tom Coverdale.
The group didn't trash talk this summer. Instead, they talked tickets.
"Dane was already trying to get some tickets off me," Holmes said. "It's going to be kind of weird playing against them, because those are the guys I hang out with."
But for two hours on Wednesday night, Fife and Coverdale won't be friends. They'll be competitors, and they'll be trying to send Carolina to an 0-3 start. The Hoosiers have been a consistent obstruction for the Heels, having won three of the last four games in the series, including the 1981 NCAA final and the memorable NCAA second-round game in 1984 in which Dan Dakich forever embittered Carolina fans by turning in a stellar defensive effort against Michael Jordan.
Wednesday night, the previous history won't matter, although both schools have plenty of it. As Holmes well knows, the only thing that matters right now is getting Carolina's first victory.
"After two losses, you start to question and doubt some things," he said. "We have to go out there and keep playing, and we have to be the aggressor. As we get more and more confidence and get wins, you'll the confidence level rise."
PREVIOUS MEN'S BASKETBALL COLUMNS BY ADAM LUCAS
Adam Lucas is the co-publisher of Basketball America. He is a lifelong observer of UNC sports and can be reached at JAdamLucas@aol.com.
