Next up on Kentucky’s visit list: a top-10 basketball recruit with ‘scary’ potential
At this point, just about everyone is expecting five-star basketball recruit Ron Holland to leave his official visit to Kentucky with a new scholarship offer.
Holland — one of the top forward prospects in the 2023 class — has said as much in recent interviews, telling the Herald-Leader a couple of weeks ago that he has a “good feeling” the UK offer would come during his recruiting trip to Lexington that was scheduled to start Monday.
John Calipari, who has scouted Holland closely over the past few months, has shown as much in this 2023 cycle, often waiting to get a star player on campus before formally extending the offer to play for the Wildcats.
For just about every top prospect on UK’s 2023 radar, that’s the script that Calipari has followed, and this week will be Holland’s turn to get a look at the campus and get to better know the Kentucky program.
Holland’s coach on the Nike circuit, Brandon Espinosa, told the Herald-Leader that his star player has very much been looking forward to this week’s trip as the latest stop on a basketball journey that is projected to reach the highest level of the sport.
“I mean, it’s like an NBA factory, right?” Espinosa said of Kentucky. “I think it’s eye-opening for them to be able to see that in person. To get those conversations and to see how they work and how they think and how they’re organized. All that is important — you’re talking about a guy who’s projecting as a lottery pick in the next two years.
“They’ve had tons of players with a lot of success. Cal and his staff obviously recruit those guys, but they also develop them while they’re there, and then they put them in a position to get drafted. And that’s a big deal.”
While the Kentucky offer is more or less a given at this stage, the ultimate outcome of Holland’s recruitment remains foggy. Last month, he cut his list to eight options: Arkansas, Auburn, Houston, Kentucky, Memphis, Texas, UCLA and the G League.
A couple of weeks ago — when tasked with making a “too early prediction” for every uncommitted player at the top of the 2023 rankings — 247Sports analyst Travis Branham gave Kentucky the nod for Holland, writing that the recruitment had become a four-team race between the Wildcats, Arkansas, UCLA and the G League.
Some recruitments are much more difficult to handicap than others, however, and Branham told the Herald-Leader going into the weekend that Holland’s is still very much up in the air, a pursuit that could still go a few different ways.
For most of the past year, the word in recruiting circles was that the professional route would be the most likely path for Holland, though the Herald-Leader was told Friday that college is looking to be more of a possibility in recent weeks. And Holland’s recent movements would also indicate that’s the case.
Last month, he took an official visit to UCLA. This past weekend, he was on Arkansas’ campus for a recruiting trip. Following the Kentucky visit, which is expected to end Wednesday, the Dallas-area standout will head to Texas for another official visit.
And to drive home just how wide-open this recruitment appears to be, there have been a total of zero predictions logged across his 247Sports Crystal Ball, Rivals.com FutureCast and On3.com prediction pages over the past six months.
Ron Holland on the court
Holland is the No. 9 overall player in the 2023 class, according to the 247Sports composite rankings, and MaxPreps.com named him the national junior of the year this past season, when he led Duncanville High School to its third Texas state championship in a row.
“He’s just an elite winner,” said Espinosa, who noted the three state titles among Holland’s team accolades, which also include a run to the Peach Jam U16 title game on the Nike circuit and a FIBA gold medal with USA Basketball U16 squad last summer.
Over the past two high school seasons, Duncanville has amassed a 64-2 record. As a junior, Holland averaged 15.9 points, 7.9 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 2.0 steals per game. He averaged a double-double as a sophomore.
“Ron has always been a player whose motor runs hot. He just plays so hard,” Espinosa said. “And now his body — he’s 6-8 — his outside shot, his skill set, all that, is now catching up to his motor. So, now it gets scary.”
Those are the next steps for Holland, who has gone from an undersized “4-5”-type player to a legitimate small forward prospect. He’s been working on his three-point game and ability to make plays off the dribble from the perimeter, while honing his already-impressive skills in the paint.
Just how much Holland can build on that perimeter aspect of his game will likely dictate his final place in the 2023 rankings. At the Louisville stop on the Nike EYBL circuit in late May, he did show a knack for creating opportunities for himself away from the basket. Putting it all together will be the next step in his development.
“He’s always been a big-time athlete. He’s always been tough. He’s always played a lot harder than everybody else,” Espinosa said. “But now you add the knockdown three-point shot. You add the ability to make a play with the ball in his hands and get by a defender. …
“When you add that to the talent that he has, and the motor that he has, and then you see the skill set development — I’m excited for him.”
This story was originally published June 13, 2022 at 7:00 AM.
