hollins to uw

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SoCalHoops Recruiting News

Muir's Ryan Hollins Will Pick
Washington, Not UCLA--(June 10, 2002)

According to a report published in the Seattle Times, Ryan Hollins (6'-11" Sr. F/C) will sign a scholarship agreement to play for the Washington Huskies. Hollins originally signed a National Letter of Intent with Saint Louis University last fall during the early signing period. At the time, Hollins told everyone that he selected Saint Louis because of his relationship with former Saint Louis coach Lorenzo Romar. Thus, when Romar interviewed and later got the job as the new head coach at the University of Washington, it came as no surprise to anyone that Hollins was going to ask for his release from the NLI.

Under the rules applicable to the National Letter of Intent, any player who signs a letter who does not enroll at the school he has committed to must serve a mandatory two-year "sit-out" penalty at any other institution that also subscribes to the NLI program. That two-year penalty can be reduced to a one-year penalty if the original school grants a "conditional release" which Saint Louis has done. And, assuming the NLI appeals committee believes there are some extenuating circumstances which justify no penalty at all, the NLI can grant a complete release, thus restoring full eligibility to the player at the second institution.

In Hollins' case, he currently will be required to sit a year before being eligible to play. However, as noted in the story published in the Times, he will appeal in an effort to have is full eligibility restored. In our view, this would be unlikely given what we know about the facts, i.e., a player who simply wants to play where the coach who originally recruited him has moved to is not the kind of extenuating factor that has in the past justified a restoration of eligibility, but then again, stranger things have happened.

Hollins took an official visit to UCLA this past week, but according to the story in the Seattle Times, didn't feel that UCLA was showing him enough interest. UCLA also got a visit this past week from Aaron Brooks, a 6'-0" junior point guard from Seattle's Franklin HS, according to a report published last week in the Los Angeles Times.