Texas Basketball: F signee Ron Holland named a Naismith POY finalist

More national recognition keeps coming the way of the elite five-star Texas basketball power forward signee and Duncanville High School standout Ron Holland in the midst of a solid season senior. Just a couple of weeks ago, Holland was recognized as a semifinalist for the Naismith High School Player of the Year honors, along with nine other high school standouts.

On Feb. 16, the Atlanta Tipoff Club announced the five finalists for the Naismith High School Player of the Year honors. Holland was included among four other finalists for the honors. This is his first time being selected as a finalist for these honors.

The other four players that are finalists for the Naismith High School Player of the Year award are as follows.

• Isaiah Collier, Marietta Wheeler High School PG (USC commit)
• Justin Edwards, Philadelphia Imhotep Institute Charter High School SF (Kentucky commit)
• Cameron Boozer, Miami Christopher Columbus High School PF (uncommitted sophomore)
• DJ Wagner, Camden High School PG (Kentucky commit)

Holland is the only senior out of the state of Texas that was included in the mix among the finalists for the Naismith High School award.

5-Star Texas basketball PF signee Ron Holland named among the 5 finalists for the Naismith High School Boys Player of the Year award

The winner of the Naismith High School Boys Player of the Year award will be announced on March 3. If Holland were to claim these honors, he would be the first Longhorns men’s basketball signee to do so since the award was first handed out in 1987.

Texas did have a women’s hoops signee win the Naismith Prep Player of the Year honors in 1988 when Indianapolis Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School forward Vicki Hall took the award.

Holland is one of the two five-star signees in the Longhorns 2023 class. The other is the 6-foot-5 and 160-pound Castaic Southern California Academy combo guard AJ Johnson. Texas signed the 6-foot-8 and 195-pound Holland and Johnson in the 2023 class during the Early Signing Period last November.

Johnson and Holland make up the second straight signing class for the Longhorns basketball program that is ranked inside the top 25 in the nation (per 247Sports Team Composite Rankings). Both five-star signees rank in the top 20 recruits in the nation for the 2023 class in the 247Sports Composite.