Texas Basketball: 5-Star Ron Holland de-commits, deals devastating blow

Just as it seemed like newly-hired full-time Texas basketball head coach Rodney Terry had the bad news this offseason in the rearview mirror in terms of the recruiting trail at the high school ranks and the NCAA Transfer Portal, matters got worse on April 28. Texas lost the elite five-star Duncanville forward commit Ron Holland.

Holland announced on social media on the afternoon of April 28 that he is re-opening his recruitment. And he plans to request a release from his letter of intent with Texas.

Although, Horns247 reports on April 28 that Holland hasn’t officially requested his release from his LOI with Texas yet as of the writing of this article on the afternoon of the same day this news dropped. Granted, it is expected that Holland will officially request the release in the very near future.

Holland posted a message in his announcement that he is de-committing from Texas on Twitter.

"“I want to take this time to thank head coach RT and the entire Texas coaching staff for their consideration, I would also like to thank the Longhorn Nation for all their love and support. While this has been a difficult process, I have decided to de commit from University of Texas and re-open my recruitment. Texas will still be one of my top schools of choice.”"

Texas basketball dealt a huge blow, losing 5-Star F Ron Holland

Holland thanked Terry and the Longhorns staff in his post on social media. And he did mention that Texas will still be one of his top schools as he figures out the next steps in his journey to play basketball at the collegiate level, or by potentially taking another route to the pros.

This news comes after Holland gave Terry a pretty positive endorsement less than one month ago after the news became official that RT was going to be Texas’ next full-time men’s hoops head coach (per On3).

"“Just knowing how hard he had those guys playing and he really deserves that job. 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 for me because I get to stay committed to that team. Me and AJ Johnson. We get to go try get us a national championship next year.”"

After losing Holland’s commitment, Terry and the Longhorns don’t hold any pledges in the 2023 class. Texas also lost the commitment of the elite five-star Southern California Academy combo guard AJ Johnson, who decided to take his talents to Australia’s NBL with the Illawarra Hawks earlier this month.

In fact, there is a high likelihood that Texas will lose all but one of its commits from the high school ranks in the last two recruiting classes ahead of the 2023-24 season (the one remaining being forward Alex Anamekwe). Texas already saw freshman forward Dillon Mitchell declare early for the 2023 NBA Draft a couple of weeks ago.

Terry and the Longhorns also lost a pair of freshman guards from the 2022 signing class, Arterio Morris and Rowan Brumbaugh, to the transfer portal early this offseason.

Holland is now the highest-ranked uncommitted recruit in the 2023 class in high school at the moment following his de-commitment from Texas. Prior to committing to Texas last year, Holland held offers from more than a dozen schools including the Kentucky Wildcats, UCLA Bruins, Arkansas Razorbacks, and Kansas Jayhawks, among others.