Trio of former Bloomington South standouts set college plans

Patrick Joyce is going to play college basketball and do it close to home.

Everything fit at DePauw for the Bloomington South senior guard and he announced his commitment to the men's program in Greencastle on his Twitter account recently.

He chose the Tigers over several nearby NCAA Division III schools that showed interest, Elmhurst (Ill.), Hanover and Wabash.

"I didn't really like Wabash being an all-guys school, so I eliminated that," Joyce said. "Elmhurst is pretty far away, so it came down between Hanover and DePauw. It was really close. I love both schools.

"But DePauw is a closer to home and the conference is a little bit better. I knew I would enjoy being at either one, but I wanted to be closer to home so I chose to go to DePauw and I'm excited about that."

The last Panther in the program was Josh Hall, who used to be Joyce's neighbor.

Joyce's commitment came the same day DePauw announced Rusty Loyd as its new head men's basketball coach, replacing Bill Fenlon, who retired after 30 years. Loyd had been the coach at Rose-Hulman since 2014.

"Their new coach seems great," Joyce said. "I met all the players and I think I fit in well. And the school academically seemed the best school for me. I want to do really well in school."

Joyce said he plans to be a pre-med major and become an orthopedic surgeon due to his interest in sports medicine.

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The All-Conference Indiana performer averaged 6.5 points, 3.6 assists, 3.3 rebounds and 1.4 steals per game in his only season as a regular starter and hit 26 3-pointers.

He's planning to spend his time at point guard with a strong pool of forwards coming in next year as well. He's looking forward to the shot clock and the faster pace.

"It means a lot to be able to play at this level," Joyce said. "No matter what division it is, it's college basketball and high level basketball. I'm blessed to be able to play at the next level.

"At South, I came in as a freshman at 5-foot-6 and 110 pounds and still worked really hard. Then I had a growth spurt and it helped."

Grinstead switching to Newberry

Georgia wasn't exactly peachy.

South grad Brooke Grinstead committed to the women's basketball team at Reinhardt, an NAIA school in Waleska, Ga. but soon found it wasn't a good fit.

Soon as she arrived, the assistant coach who recruited her left. Grinstead was upset, but stayed. She got along with the players, but wasn't comfortable with the head coach's style of play and coaching methods. And the school didn't have the major she really wanted (exercise science).

So after her freshman year, it was time to move on.

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"I definitely learned quite a bit," Grinstead said. "The speed was way different than high school. There were some things I didn't get better at. That was another reason I wanted to leave. I improved, but not as much as I think I should have. That was part of it, too."

She asked for, and received, her release papers and had her old AAU coaches helped her begin her search for a new school. It came down to Asbury (Ky.) and NCAA Division II Newberry College in South Carolina, just northwest of the state capital, Columbia.

"I really started building connections with them and Newberry stood out to me," Grinstead said. "It's a really great opportunity, being the level that it's at."

Newberry's head coach, Joanna Tincher, is a 2000 Bedford North Lawrence grad, so there was an instant connection there.

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"I was able to see practice and see what the daily life for the players was like and it's exactly how I wanted it," Grinstead said. "The school also had my major. There was so many plusses to it."

That includes the basketball. Grinstead is more comfortable as a shooting guard, but found herself running the 3 and even the 4 late in the season at Reinhardt. She'll go back to the 2 at Newberry.

"They said they play very fast and they like to play full court defense," Grinstead said. "They're wanting another shooter on their team and that's what I am. They said they could really use my shooting to space the floor for their talented big girls."

With a year under her belt, Grinstead has figured out how much her defense needs to improve and just what it takes to get on the floor. She has to prove herself to a new set of eyes.

"You practice but you have to really put in more work than that," Grinstead said. "You really do. Practices won't cut it. You go in before school and after. It's hard to balance with school, but you have to pick your hours and times to work on your game.

"It's really about who works the hardest."

Holmes closer to home

Jonathan Holmes, son of South head boys' basketball coach and athletic director J.R. Holmes, has take an assistant coaching position at Miami (Ohio) under new head coach and Danville native Travis Steele.

"I am excited and grateful for the opportunity to be a part of Coach Steele's first staff at Miami," Holmes said in a school press release. "He and I have known each other for several years, and I am thrilled to be back in the Midwest working at such a great institution. Miami University certainly offers the best of both worlds when it comes to high level academics and athletics, so I am eager to get started and help Coach Steele build on his vision for RedHawk basketball."

Holmes had spent the past three seasons at Elon, working primarily with the guards.

While with the Phoenix, Holmes' top priority was coordinating the offense and helped Elon reach the Colonial Athletic Association Conference Championship game in 2020-21. Holmes was named a top-three assistant coach in the CAA by Stadium in 2020 and was also named a top-50 mid-major assistant coach nationally by Silver Waves Media.

Holmes joined the Phoenix after spending 11 seasons at William & Mary, where he served as the associate head coach for his last six seasons with the program.

Contact Jim Gordillo at jgordillo@heraldt.com and follow on Twitter @JimGordillo.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Trio of former Bloomington South standouts set college plans