Holland is Free, But Musselman Still Has to Land Him

Next two weeks will be highly impactful in regard to future of Razorback basketball program

Author:
Kent Smith
Publish date:
May 24, 2023 11:03 AM EDT

In this story:

FRISCO, Texas – After all the dust-up, uncertainty and made for TV drama surrounding the release of Ron Holland at Texas, Arkansas finally got what it wanted. Holland is free from his shackles at Texas.

However, with wishes come expectations. In the minds of Razorback fans, the only thing standing between Holland and a year at Arkansas was Texas. That means there's a lot of pressure on coach Eric Musselman to land him. That could be more difficult than originally expected because, despite the presumption being that Holland to Arkansas was unofficially official, instead of running to the hills of Northwest Arkansas, Holland's first move was to plan a trip to the deserts just outside Las Vegas for a little quality with representatives from G League Ignite.

There's a high potential that Razorback fans will have a knee jerk reaction, assuming that if Holland bolted straight to talks with the G League that Arkansas is suddenly not in the mix. While that technically could be true, it would be unwise for Holland to not meet with Ignite first. Holland's been to Arkansas on visits. He had a high school friend in former teammate Anthony Black on the inside able to feed him the most intimate details of the program. Also, it's no secret how hard the Razorbacks work the phones. It would be shocking if Holland didn't already know everything he needs to know from Arkansas.

In his case, one of the most important things would be how much NIL money will be on the table should he decide to spend his next year in Fayetteville. Now he needs to get a feel for life in the G League and what kind of compensation comes with it. Holland has to decide how much money it will take to give up the college experience and the added value of immediate brand recognition created by playing for one of the most visible programs in America with the spotlight of the NCAA Tournament looming at the end of the road.

If the G League can't offer whatever that value might be, then odds go way up for Musselman and his Razorbacks. If they can, then he still has the option to call up representatives in and around the Arkansas program to see if there's more juice to be squeezed. How much can be spared will probably tell a lot about the other cards still theoretically on the table for the Razorbacks.

North Dakota State's Grant Nelson has a decision to make in the next couple of days about whether he will stay in the NBA draft or follow through with his desire to transfer. There are also still decisions to be made by Arkansas forward Jordan Walsh and guard Davonte Davis. As of this writing, there's only a week left to make that choice. How much those decisions rest on what Holland does is unknown.

Arkansas currently has 11 roster spots filled if it can be assumed that Musselman is in full support of Makhi Mitchell returning to the team. That decision has hung in the air a bit since the Razorbacks' social media account briefly posted Mitchell's return announcement only to abruptly take it down. At this point, Mitchell can't hop into the transfer portal, but the program still has a few weeks to notify non-renewal of scholarship should the team choose to go a different direction.

If Mitchell is good to go, that leaves two scholarships for some combination of Davis, Walsh, Nelson and Holland or an unknown player to be named. There is also the option of having a highly paid walk-on to create flexibility. The most likely candidate for that would be Davis since his native Arkansan status guarantees the already super cheap tuition in terms of college cost to attend Arkansas will be at its lowest as an in-state student. He's also the most valuable from an NIL standpoint when it comes to state businesses. That means his school could be paid for with a large sum of money coming in on the side to ensure he's well compensated.

No matter what happens, Razorback basketball will continue to steal headlines for at least another couple of weeks. Considering this year's news cycle began in July because of preparations for the highly anticipated roster to play in Europe this past August, the program will now soon enter its 11th month of high level coverage. Only the NFL can boast such prolonged media attention.