MR. HOLLAND’S FOCUS: To Be A Complete Player
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DePaul Basketball
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December 10th
With Brown sidelined by a knee injury that caused him to miss most of the Blue Demons’ pre-season practice regimen as well as both exhibition games and the regular-season opener, Holland, a first-year junior college transfer from Vincennes University (the same school that produced Phoenix Suns’ star forward Shawn Marion) has surprisingly emerged as the top player on DePaul’s roster during the early part of the season. Through the first four games, Holland (a 6-6 small forward) leads the team in scoring with an average of 19.5 ppg on 64.4% shooting from the field. Holland is also shooting an incredible 83.3% on 3-point field goal attempts. He also leads the team with 2.5 steals per game and is second on the squad with 2.5 assists per outing. To cap it off, Holland also shoots a very solid 78.9% from the foul line. The biggest irony is that Holland came dangerously close to never even putting on a DePaul uniform. After signing with former DePaul coach, Pat Kennedy, in the fall 2001, Holland initially expressed a desire to go elsewhere after Kennedy stepped down from his post at the end of last season after finishing in last place of the American Division of C-USA for the second consecutive year. But after meeting with Leitao, a long-time assistant to Jim Calhoun at UCONN who was instrumental in helping build the Huskies’ 1999 NCAA championship team, Holland decided to stick with his original commitment to DePaul, thus ending his whirlwind journey across college basketball’s vast landscape. After finishing his career at Roosevelt High School in Greenbelt, Maryland, where he averaged 31 points, eight rebounds, and five assists as a senior, Holland headed off to Independence Community College in Kansas (he had originally signed with Rhode Island out of high school but failed to qualify academically). Holland averaged 17 points and seven boards a game as a freshman at Independence but opted to transfer to Vincennes for his sophomore year after a coaching change at Independence. Going into his sophomore season at Vincennes, Holland was named a pre-season third-team junior college All-American by Street & Smith’s. Holland went on to lead Vincennes in scoring with an average of 21 ppg to earn the team’s Most Valuable Player award. Although naturally blessed with outstanding offensive skills, Holland (along with the rest of his Blue Demon teammates) has had to adjust to Leitao’s defensive-minded philosophy since arriving at DePaul. ''This is all new to me coming from junior college. It was difficult at first [to play defense], but [Leitao] stays on us every day to stay at a certain level in practice.'' After spending an extended stretch of DePaul’s first exhibition game on the bench due to a defensive effort that didn’t quite measure up to Leitao’s high standards, Holland has now become a true believer in the value of good, tough team defense. ''We have each other's back, so it's not just one-on-one. It's five guys helping each other, and that's great. Defense helps the offense get open shots, fast breaks.” After being picked to finish no higher than sixth place in the seven-team American Division of C-USA, DePaul’s newfound defensive identity under Leitao has gotten the team off to a 4-0 record in non-conference play, the school’s best start since the 1991-92 season. Leitao stated that he was already aware of Holland’s offensive prowess from his prep days in Maryland, but he told Holland from the beginning that he wanted to help him become a complete player. So what does Leitao think of his star pupil now? "I didn't recruit Holland in high school but I had seen him play," Leitao said. "That made the transition easier. He has really fit in. He's energetic and athletic. You don't really have to run plays for him, he is all over the place." Judging from those remarks, it sounds like Holland is well on his way to becoming that complete player that Leitao wants him to be. Don't forget to check out, and then bookmark the Onions archive, so you can be caught up in the action each week. |
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into the 2002-03 season, everyone who follows DePaul basketball knew
who would be the team’s best player this year. After all, former
McDonald’s high school All-American, Andre Brown, a 6-9 power forward
who led the team in scoring (14.5 ppg), rebounding (9.4 rpg), and
field goal percentage (50.3%) as a sophomore last year and was voted
by the Conference-USA coaches to the pre-season all-conference first
team this year had decided to return to DePaul for his junior season
rather than try his hand in the NBA draft. Shortly after he was hired
last April, DePaul’s new coach, Dave Leitao, challenged Brown to
strive to become one of the three best players in C-USA and appointed
him as a team captain. So it was a foregone conclusion that Brown
would once again be DePaul’s best player this year. There’s just one
problem: Somebody forgot to tell Delonte Holland.