Tag: A 10 basketball

Former Dayton star DaRon Holmes suffered torn achilles in Summer League debut

Former Dayton Flyers star and All-American DaRon Holmes II will miss his rookie season after tearing his achilles for the Denver Nuggets on Friday.

DaRon Holmes, a first round pick by the Denver Nuggets last month, suffered a torn achilles and is likely to miss the entire 2024-25 NBA season.

Holmes suffered the injury on Friday in Denver’s 88-78 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers. He finished with 11 points and seven rebounds in 26 minutes, before he was seen leaving Cox Pavilion on crutches.

The Nuggets made Holmes the 22nd overall pick in the 2024 NBA draft out of Dayton after he posted an extremely impressive junior season for the Flyers in the A-10.

Holmes averaged 20.4 points, 8.5 rebounds, 2.6 assists, and 2.1 blocks per game while shooting 58.5% from two and 38.6% from the three point line, earning a consensus All-American nod.

His 6’9 frame, high level athleticism, passing skills, switchability on defense, and outside shooting made him a highly sought after prospect, and he was expected to be Denver’s primary backup center this season behind superstar Nikola Jokic.

The injury is of course a huge blow to Denver, who is attempting to win its second NBA Championship in the past three years, as well as for Holmes who now has to spend an entire year rehabbing before he can realize his dream of playing NBA basketball.

UMass extends head coach Frank Martin through 2029 season

UMass Minutemen head coach Frank Martin received a contract extension to stay in Amherst through the 2028-29 college basketball season.

Following the first 20 win season in over a decade, the UMass Minutemen extended head coach Frank Martin’s contract for two more seasons, keeping the 48-year-old in Amherst through the 2028-29 college basketball season.

Martin and his coaching staff will all receive raises, per the team’s release. Martin’s first contract was a five year deal signed in 2022 that paid him $1M per season, but he’ll earn a bump after leading the Minutemen to a 20-11 record and a fourth place finish in the Atlantic 10.

“I am unbelievably excited personally, for our staff and players that this university believes in us and asked us to be a part of the present and extend us well into the future,” Martin said in a statement. “Together with our supporters, we will continue to build this program and get it back to a championship level like it deserves and assist the university as we transition to a new conference. I have tremendous enthusiasm for this opportunity that Ryan Bamford and Javier Reyes have afforded me.”

UMass had not finished above .500 in conference play across a full season since they went 10-8, and 17-15 overall, in the 2014-15 season under coach Derek Kellogg. Led by Josh Cohen (15.9 points) and Matt Cross (15.3 points), last year’s Minutemen squad went 11-7 in league play and lost to VCU in the Atlantic 10 Tournament.

Martin was the head coach at Kansas State from 2007-2012, making the NCAA Tournament in four of five seasons before taking over at South Carolina ahead of the 2012-13 season.

Martin only made the big dance once at South Carolina, but it was a run all the way to the Final Four in 2017 before the team fell by four to Gonzaga – narrowly missing a matchup against North Carolina for a national championship.