Holloway comes full circle

Originally a 2005 Louisville commitment from Harlan High School in Chicago, Ill., Clarence Holloway has done a full circle the past two years and is back in Chicago at Boys to Men Academy and is now a 2007 Louisville commitment. The difference from two years ago is that Holloway's 7-foot-1 body is transforming.

"Clarence is now at 265-pounds, and his body has changed," said Boys to Men Academy head coach Loren Jackson. "He has made a commitment to work.

"For the first month and a half that I had him I told him to focus on just two things-running and running. I didn't care if he got a rebound or knew the set. I knew if we could get him running then the rest would take care of itself. Now he is consistently running and rebounding although I would still like to see him play more physical."

Coming out of Harlan High School in 2005, Holloway was a bottom four-star prospect. His positives were his height and skill level. His big negative was that he couldn't keep up with the action in a fast paced game.

According to Coach Jackson, Holloway is now capable of keeping up with the pace of the game, and those evaluators that last saw him play on the circuit in the spring of 2005 at the Tournament of Champions are in for a surprise.

"Coach Pitino was shocked at how his body has changed," said Jackson. "People who haven't seen him lately will be very surprised also. Clarence has always been skilled, but now he can keep up with the game."

17 years old as an original senior in high school, Holloway has struggled over the last couple of years in a large part because of his obsession with the NBA, even toying with the NBA draft last year after spending time at the IMG Academy. Now that he is focused more on having fun developing as a player, his NBA hopes are growing more attainable.

"The biggest thing on his mind and the people around him for a while was trying to be an NBA player in just one year out of high school," said Jackson. "He was just putting too much pressure on himself and was not happy playing the game. I told him to forget about all that junk and listen to me and just get better.

"There is no doubt, though, that he is a NBA prospect. You can't teach 7-feet, and every morning that he wakes up he's 7-feet tall. Now that he has dropped the weight, we are putting some muscle on him. When he gets to Louisville, he should be 275 and mobile."