DUNCANVILLE, Texas — ESPN 5-star prospect Ron Holland has been told he should take a look at Arkansas, and a trip to Fayetteville might happen soon.
Holland 6-8, 192 pounds, of Duncanville, Texas, said his teammate and Arkansas target Anthony Black came away impressed with his official visit to Fayetteville over the weekend.
“I could tell he liked it a lot,” Holland said. “I really haven’t had a chance to talk to him about it yet, but he showed me the pictures. He was really excited about it. After his official visit there, he said it’s a school I should be looking at.”
ESPN also rates him the No. 2 power forward and the No. 6 overall recruit in the nation for the 2023 class. He said the Razorbacks aren’t slacking in recruiting him.
“They’re recruiting me real well,” Holland said. “I had a Zoom call with them. They see a lot of potential in me. They check in on me every day after my practice, after school. On the Zoom call, they showed me how my game fits with theirs.”
He averaged 13.8 points and a team-high 10.1 rebounds as a sophomore and helped the Panthers to a 29-1 record and a second consecutive Texas Class 6A state championship. He recorded 16 double-doubles on the season.
Duncanville was ranked the No. 6 team in the country by MaxPreps in 2021. Holland said a visit to Arkansas is a possibility.
“I have a potential visit next month,” he said.
Coach Eric Musselman and his staff have been relentless in pursuing him.
“I don’t know how they talk to other guys, but they send every coach after me, so they make sure they’re doing their best job trying to recruit me and trying to get me over there,” Holland said.
Holland won a gold medal while helping lead the USA Basketball National Team to the 2021 FIBA Americas U16 Championship in Mexico. He averaged a team-high 19 points and team-high 10.2 rebounds in helping the squad to a 6-0 record.
Musselman, assistant Keith Smart, Ronnie Brewer Jr., the program's recruiting coordinator, and Mike Ekanem, the director of player development, have a combined 72 years of NBA experience.
“That shows a lot because that means they know what they’re doing,” Holland said. “It shows they have chemistry and the potential to get me over there because they’ve shown they’ve done it before.”