Bring together a pair of Belgians and a group of Americans at an English airport, and what will they talk about?

On this particular night, the topic of conversation was ... Bucknell graduate J.R. Holden?

Strange but true.

As the Bucknell men’s basketball team made its way through a British airport a few years back, their “Bucknell” apparel caught the eye of a Belgian basketball fan and his son. They began talking, and the father informed the Bison that his son’s favorite player was Holden — who at the time was coming off a spectacular season in which he was named player of the year in the Belgian league.

Holden, called the best point guard in Europe by his current coach at CSKA Moscow, is already a well-known basketball player on the other side of the pond; he averaged 9.2 points per game and 3.8 assists per game last season as CSKA Moscow won the Russian and European championships.

But now, ironically, fans back in the states are about to become more familiar with the Pittsburgh kid who plays in the shadow of the Kremlin. The 6-foot-1 Holden, a two-time All-Patriot League selection for the Bison, became a naturalized citizen for Russia and will lead the Russian national team in the XXIX Olympiad, which begins Friday in Beijing.

The total package

“He’s a very popular guy, because he does all the right things,” says recently retired Bison coach Pat Flannery, who recruited and coached Holden at Bucknell. “He has the whole package. The CSKA Moscow people love him because of who he is: Pencil him in for seven assists, 10, 11 points, and he’ll defend the other team’s best player.”

Even though Holden graduated in 1998, he and his former coach have remained close over the years. So close, in fact, that Flannery is going to the Games as a guest of the Russian Basketball Federation.

“After (Russia) qualified, I wrote (in a text message), ‘Congratulations. I’m so proud of you,’ ’’ Flannery says. “And he wrote back, ‘You’re going with me.’ ’’ (Flannery was scheduled to leave for China on Wednesday.)

In the Olympic qualifying tournament last September, Russia won its first EuroBasket championship when Holden buried a last-second jumper to beat Spain by one. It was a big moment for the Russians, though people have noticed that it came courtesy of an American. In an e-mail to The Daily Item, Holden says that he doesn’t have a problem wearing a Russian uniform.

“It’s an honor and a privilege to even be invited to suit up for another country,” he writes. “It’s not politics or something that could harm others. It’s an opportunity of a lifetime to play in the Olympics, and I am glad that the Russian Basketball Federation thinks that highly of me as a person and a player to represent them at the Olympics.”

American Becky Hammon plays for the Russian women’s basketball team and CSKA Moscow’s women’s team, and has come under criticism for her decision to play for the Russians. Flannery is disappointed that either player would be chastised for their decision.

“To have one of your own kids playing for a national team ... it’s basketball,” he says. “It’s not guns and butter.”

When asked whom he’ll be rooting for should the U.S. and Russia meet in the Olympics, Flannery doesn’t hesitate.