Ithaca’s Holmes commits to Hamilton basketball

One of Ithaca High School’s top boys basketball players is staying in-state for college.

Last month, William Holmes announced his commitment to Hamilton College to continue both his athletic and academic career. There were multiple Division III schools that were interested in Holmes’ services, but he found out more about Hamilton through Little Red alum Ravi Travers, who plays soccer for the Continentals. After taking the two-hour trip to Clinton to tour the college and meet the team, Holmes’ decision was clear-cut.

“They were just the most incredible guys,” Holmes said. “I knew the next four years would be great with them, so they made it really easy. And head coach [Adam] Stockwell and assistant coach [Sherry] Dobbs just create a great environment that I could really learn and grow [in]. It was kind of an easy decision after I got it all sorted out.”

Ithaca High’s William Holmes recently announced his commitment to play Division III basketball at Hamilton College. Holmes clocks in as the tallest player on the Little Red at six feet, eight inches. Photo by John Brehm.

If there’s one thing that Holmes will bring to Hamilton, it’s more height. The senior comes in at six feet and eight inches, making him the tallest player on the Little Red and will be one of the biggest on the Continentals.

“The system that I believe Coach Stockwell is building right now is bringing in tall guys,” Holmes said. “They want length on this team, and they want length that can shoot, so I think what I can bring to this team is a more ‘stretch four/three’ role that can drive, shoot and stretch the floor, but still be big on the inside with rebounds and everything like that.”

Holmes did not originally plan on pursuing basketball in college. That all changed last summer when he joined the City of Light Hoop Group, a AAU team that includes multiple Tompkins County standouts (namely Newfield’s Jalen Hardison, Lansing’s Josh Hunter, and Ithaca’s Luke Little). Joining this travel team gave Holmes the confidence to grow his game and garner interest from multiple schools.

“When I went to the first tournament and then I got a couple emails from coaches, I was like, ‘Man, I can really do this,’” Holmes said.  “I started working so, so hard, because I knew that would really help me get into a place that I really wanted to go to. So I put my head down and worked with [head coach] Ted Peet over the summer. I just knew that it would be right for me because I love playing basketball. That’s what I do a lot of the time, so I think playing in college will be a great experience.”

Holmes also shared what specifically he’s worked on since joining the City of Light Hoop Group.

“I really improved upon my rebounding, going to get the ball, and boxing out bigger guys,” Holmes said. “I’m not the biggest guy out there but I can box out a lot better now. I definitely improved a lot on my perimeter defense, and now it’s much easier for me on switches to guard shorter guards. I still have a lot to improve on perimeter-wise, but I think I really helped my chances of getting recruited by improving my perimeter defense to be more of a versatile big.”

Holmes will look to close out his time with Ithaca on a high note. So far, it’s been a mixed bag of results for the Little Red with a record of 5-4, as of Jan. 9. Ithaca is coming off a 66-57 win over Corning on Jan. 4, something that Holmes hopes will act as a turning point after an inconsistent start.

“We have so much bright talent on this team,” Holmes said. “It took a little bit at the start of the season to get that together. There were some humps and bumps that we had to work past and some goals that we had to all lean towards together. But I think now we’ve really meshed. We got that huge win against Corning, and I’ve just noticed that it’s been up from here. We have a great assistant coach in Tim Little, who’s been coaching us since we were little kids. It’s great to work with the same group of guys. I definitely think we have a really bright future ahead and for the latter half of the season. I’m really excited to see what we can do.”

As Holmes’ high school basketball career is nearing its end, he has learned plenty of valuable lessons along the way that he will carry over to Hamilton.

“When I came in as a freshman, I didn’t have the work ethic I have now,” Holmes said. “And we’re big here on building that work ethic and building the team mentality, so it’s less about you and more about the team. I think that’s something that’s great at the collegiate level, because a lot of times at higher levels there’s a lot of clashing between superstars. But when you can really mesh together, that’s when the chemistry and everything comes together and you can really win.”