NCAA Basketball Recruiting: Ranking 2023 5-star wing Ron Holland’s top 8
By Ian Mumm
Arguably the top player in the entire NCAA Basketball recruiting class, Ron Holland included Arkansas, Auburn, Houston, Kentucky, Memphis, Texas, UCLA and the G-League via his Twitter page. Over the last year and a half, Holland has moved in and out of the composite top-10 players despite how well his skillset amongst other traits speaks for themselves.
Selected to the FIBA Team USA U16 Americas roster last summer, he was a vital piece of their gold-medal-winning run. Holland posted the highest point per game total, 19.0, of any player in the competition regardless of the team with a full stat line of 19.0 points, 10.2 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 2.5 steals, and 1.2 blocks per game (35.3 PPG, 19.0 RPG, 4.7 APG, 4.7 SPG and 2.2 BPG per 40 minutes).
https://twitter.com/ron2kholland/status/1523437746572132352
It was a global coming-out party of sorts, as Holland has been causing similar and consistent damage in recent seasons for 6A state champion Duncanville (TX) and Nike EYBL affiliate Drive Nation (TX). Statistics aside, it’s hard not to notice the 6’9” incoming senior’s tenacity, effort and drive to make winning plays. These traits resulted in significant development of his arsenal and correspondingly dangerous leaps in his ability to take over games at will.
As persistent as Holland’s development has been to this point, it’s unlikely to slow down when he reaches the next level. His aim of reaching the NBA is the priority aspect for selecting a university or taking the G-League route.
Holland has the tools and physicality to thrive under either of these circumstances, but whichever can feasibly boost his stock to reach this goal will win the bid for his services. Notably, the options on the table are not bad and frankly could be categorized more along the lines of “good”, “better” and “best”. I rank those options ahead of a potential decision.