CLOSE

DaRon Holmes may have moved to Florida to play his senior year of high school basketball.

But the former Goodyear Millennium forward may be coming back to Arizona if he picks the Wildcats.

On Wednesday night, the 6-foot-9 Holmes included the University of Arizona in his final four colleges from which he’ll choose before the early November signing period. The other three are Marquette, California and Dayton.

Holmes gave insight into his choices to The Arizona Republic:

Arizona

“The atmosphere is amazing (at Arizona). The coaching staff is always engaged and they have really good development also like the style of play.”

Cal

“I really like the style of play (at Cal). (They have a) great culture in their program. I like that it’s a high academic, the coaching staff is great, nice development as well.

Marquette

“Marquette has a great support system. The school has no football program and the students really come and support the basketball games the coaching staff is really cool and they have a great culture.”

Dayton

“Dayton Flyers have a really nice program (that’s) also underrated to me. They do a great job with their players and the coaching staff is really cool.”

Marquette, in recent years, has had big success recruiting Arizona talent, including former two-time All-Arizona Gilbert Perry guard Markus Howard and Desert Vista 6-10 forward Osasere Ighodaro, The Arizona Republic’s 2019-20 Basketball Player of the Year, who is now a freshman there.

Holmes started on Millennium’s varsity basketball team since his freshman year. The last two years, he led the Tigers to the 5A championship game.

He is a four-star recruit who is ranked No. 39 in the country overall in the 2021 class in the 247Sports Composite. He is the No. 10-ranked power forward in the country.

After averaging 23.5 points, 10.5 rebounds and 3.8 blocks as a junior, Holmes decided to elevate his level of play even more by transferring to Montverde Academy in Florida, where he is on scholarship and lives on campus.

To suggest human-interest story ideas and other news, reach Obert at [email protected] or 602-316-8827. Follow him on Twitter @azc_obert.

Support local journalism: Subscribe to azcentral.com today