Five-star Texas basketball recruit Ron Holland 'excited' about the hiring of Rodney Terry
The well-wishes and congratulation that greeted Rodney Terry’s hire as the permanent men’s basketball coach for Texas extended to Houston, where prized Longhorns recruit Ron Holland gathered with the nation’s other elite high school players for the McDonald’s All-American Game later this week.
Holland, a 6-foot-8 forward from Duncanville who’s rated as a five-star prospect by virtually every recruiting service in the nation, told reporters on Monday that he’s “really excited” that Terry was given a five-year contract by Texas just a day after the Longhorns' season ended with their first Elite Eight trip in 15 years.
More:Texas hires Rodney Terry as full-time men's basketball coach on five-year, $15.3M contract
“Just knowing how hard he had those guys playing, he really deserves that job and just to see him reach that goal and for them to give him the opportunity to continue to coach that team, it’s a really good feeling,” Holland said.
Holland picked the Longhorns in November after receiving offers from an array of college basketball powers, including Arkansas, UCLA, Kentucky, Memphis, Kansas, Auburn and Houston, among others. He will join AJ Johnson, a four-star guard from California, as the two freshmen in Texas' 2023 class.
After watching Texas fall one game short of the Final Four in an 88-81 loss to Miami Sunday in Kansas City, Holland has high hopes for next season.
“Yeah, with AJ, we got to go try to go get us a national championship next year,” he said.
Holland: Terry 'really cares about his players'
Holland says Terry played a critical role in his recruitment, and the love that he shows his players helped seal his commitment to Texas.
More:What we know about Texas men's basketball coach Rodney Terry
“I feel like Coach RT (Terry), he’s just really well-trusted by his guys,” Holland said. “Not only does he coach them, but he makes them good on and off the court to make sure that they're just good mentally. He teaches a lot of life lessons that you can carry with you to become the young man that I'm going to be. Knowing that he really cares about his players and he's not going to give up on you, you feel like that makes him a player's coach.
“That was a big thing of my recruiting. You can pick out who really cares about you. They want to know how your family is doing, what you're doing in the gym, or what game you're playing. They care about your personal life, they really care about you. If I'm going to your school, I want to be treated like family. I can trust you and you can trust me.”
Amid all the uncertainty of Terry's future, Holland said Terry gave him the same type of advice that the coach passed on to the Longhorns in the aftermath of former head coach Chris Beard’s firing in January following his December arrest on a domestic violence charge that was later dropped by Travis County.
“He would always tell me to just stay the course,” Holland said. “Work on my game, get in the gym. Anything can happen.”
Holland, Gatorade’s player of the year for the state of Texas, averaged 20.3 points and 10.1 rebounds this past season for Duncanville. Rated the sixth-best prospect in the nation by 247Sports' composite rankings, he also earned a spot on the Team USA roster for the Nike Hoop Summit in April.
Can Holland step in as an immediate impact player?
Holland could fill an immediate roll for a Texas team that went 29-9 this season. Five players participated in Texas’ Senior Night festivities before a home game against Kansas on March 4: guards Marcus Carr and Jabari Rice and forwards Timmy Allen, Christian Bishop and Dylan Disu. Of those, Disu is the only one who has remaining eligibility, and he has not committed to returning for next season.
Without factoring in any additions or subtractions from the transfer portal, the frontcourt would feature freshman starter Dillon Mitchell, graduate student Brock Cunningham and possibly Disu. Alex Anamekwe, a three-star freshman from McKinney who played less than 60 minutes this season, also could factor in next year’s rotation.
Texas’ backcourt looks in good shape next season with starter Tyrese Hunter and promising freshman Arterio Morris back. The 6-foot-6 Johnson should also find a spot in the rotation after picking Texas over offers from Louisville, LSU, Kansas, Tennessee, USC and the G League, among others.
But Holland remains Texas' biggest prize in this recruiting cycle. His defensive versatility could help him immediately start alongside Mitchell next season, which would allow Cunningham to remain in his role of supplying the energy off the bench.
Holland told reporters in Houston that his ability to play multiple positions in the frontcourt will hep him adapt quickly to the college game.
“Growing up, I was a 5 (post) and I was bigger than everybody, but seeing everybody in the NBA and even college, I'm not the biggest guy anymore,” he said. “There’s those that are way taller, way stronger than me. So I've been in the gym working on the game that I need to work on and just knowing that I got guard skills and I can hit the open shot. I can facilitate and lead the team to get the best basket that we can get. I feel like I'll be able to play a small forward or power forward type.”
A stellar student who’s active in his community, Holland is also a proven winner who helped Duncanville win two state titles. He could have claimed even more hardware; he played on a powerful Duncanville team as a freshman that had its season ended by the pandemic, and the program chose not to participate in this year’s UIL playoffs after having their 2022 title stripped following the use of an ineligible player.
“Ron Holland has had probably one of the more decorated high school careers of any kid that's played basketball in the state of Texas,” Terry told reporters earlier this year. “You talk about a guy who’s won a state championship every year he’s played, you talk about a guy that’s played for USA Basketball, won two medals. He’s done everything you can do at the high school level and then some. You’re not going to have a more decorated guy from a high school standpoint coming into college. At the end of the day, Ron Holland is a winner. He’s a winner, he comes from a winning program, and he’s done that his whole life.”
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Five-star Texas recruit Ron Holland: 'really excited' RT got the job.
