Los Lunas High Schools’ Jalin Holland is New Mexico’s best boys basketball player

LOS LUNAS — Jalin Holland’s basketball profile, capsulized in at least one nutshell: 

“All the attributes that your typical 5-10, 5-11 kid has,” Travis Julian, the head boys basketball coach at Los Lunas High School, said. “And he’s doing it in a 6-5 body.” 

In truth, Holland is a Swiss army knife in basketball shorts. And all of his unique on-court functions lead to the same conclusion: he is New Mexico’s most elite and most complete player. 

Holland — who is 6-foot, 4-inches tall, but 6-foot, 5-inches tall in his kicks  — is to boys basketball in New Mexico what Eldorado’s Bella Hines is to the girls. Dynamic, explosive and always worth the price of a ticket. 

The 17-year-old Holland has eyeballs tracking him locally, regionally and nationally. He is not only New Mexico’s highest-profile recruit, but already ranks as one of the state’s most recruited basketball players of any era with a dozen D-1 offers on the table and others certain to come. 

And did we mention? Jalin Holland is only a junior. 

“If I’m a college basketball coach,” said Brandon Mason, the founder of Albuquerque’s ABC Prep, where Holland competes for a club team during his offseason, “you can see his game, the way he scores, it translates to Division I high level basketball.” 

Holland’s suitors include regional programs, like Southern Utah, TCU, Texas, Arizona State and Oklahoma, plus New Mexico and New Mexico State. But Holland’s name and game is expanding. Cincinnati has offered him. So has Missouri. Plus Washington State, Washington and San Diego State. 

Eventually, predicts Mason, himself a former D-1 player at NMSU, Holland will be a top-50 national recruit. 

The ceiling, Mason said, is high major, which is basketball speak for: Holland should be able to write his own ticket when the time comes. 

“He has a love for it,” said Jalin’s father, Wilson. “He wants to be the best player he can possibly be. … We discuss it and we talk about it every day.” 

One scarcely needs a GPS to locate Holland. He practically redefines the term “gym rat.” One of the best anecdotes you can find about Holland comes from his dad, who is also the district athletic director at Los Lunas Schools. 

“Kids are going out Friday night. He’s in the gym,” Wilson Holland said. “12 o’clock at night, he’s in the gym.” 

Sure, it helps when your dad has the keys, but still. 

“He’s always everywhere,” marvels Mason.  

Julian chimes in about this, too. 

“Some of the kids in my own program don’t realize how much time he puts in,” Julian said. 

Bare bones, Holland is a fusion of sheer natural talent and prodigious work ethic. 

“He’s a gifted kid,” Julian said. “He’s playing at a really high level. This fall, definitely the highest level I’ve ever seen from him.” 

Mason said Holland projects as a prototype 2 guard — Holland is rated as one of the top shooting guards in the country in the Class of 2025 — although he will sometimes run the point for Los Lunas. 

But of all that Holland brings to the floor, including his prowess as a defender, Mason cited something that many probably would not first think to mention. 

“His physicality,” Mason said. “Of course he can shoot the basketball, he can dunk, but it’s his ability to absorb contact, finish at the rim, the leg strength to get through two or three defenders.” 

Not to mention, he said, Holland’s uncanny ability to hit tough shots, his smooth catch-and-shoot motion, and his pull-up game. “Elite,” Mason said, describing the whole package. 

The testimonials about Holland are not hard to find. 

“Jalin is good enough to beat anybody,” Atrisco Heritage boys coach Steve Heredia said. 

Ironically, the person least inclined to discuss Holland in detail is Holland himself, who is not wired for self promotion. He is soft spoken, well spoken, humble. 

“I’m never gonna be as good as I can be,” he said quietly. “I’ll always be in the gym, working, getting better than I was yesterday. I don’t think I’m ever gonna be done.” 

His reserved tone runs counter to the volume of his basketball persona, a fluid, explosive, versatile talent with a fair bit of ruthlessness running through his veins. 

“He has the killer dawg (mentality),” Mason said. “Like, I’m about to score this ball every single time, and you’re not gonna stop me.” 

For his part, Holland is unquestionably ambitious when it comes to basketball. 

“I wanted to be that kid,” he said. “Everyone wanted to be that one kid that goes to the NBA. That’s always been my dream.” 

Holland so far has broken through a recruitment barrier, insomuch as it relates to that oft-repeated refrain about prominent New Mexican athletes struggling to get noticed here. 

Jalin is actually the third Holland sibling who is going through the college recruitment process. Jacob and Jordan were recruited when they played at Los Lunas. They both are able to offer their experience and guidance to Jalin during what can often be a mentally grueling process for upper tier athletes. 

“At a young age, he looked up to his older brother and sister,” Wilson Holland said. “Ever since he could dribble that ball outside in the back yard, he tried to beat them all the time. He wanted to be better than them. He had that drive.” 

If there was one week that probably most accelerated Holland’s profile, it was the Section 7 team camp event in Glendale, Ariz., in June. Holland seized some additional attention, but only partially because he averaged over 32 points a game that weekend. He was fielding calls from new colleges while he was in his hotel room, before the tournament had even ended. 

“It did change things, but I tried to make it that it didn’t,” Holland said. “Before camp, (I thought), this is where I’m gonna blow up, and talked it into reality. More (colleges) could see what I could do.” 

Holland averaged 21.2 points, 7.3 rebounds and two assists as a sophomore in Los Lunas, and was a Class 5A first-team All-State selection. 

And his duties with the Tigers will largely be his focus for the next several months as tries to lead Los Lunas to a state title in March. 

“I’m trying to not let it impact me too much,” Holland said of the natural distractions that come with a recruit of his level. “I have to keep myself in check, and look at all the things that I have that other people don’t have, that I should be super grateful for.” 

He remains, as he noted, a work in progress and someone setting high standards for himself. 

“He’s physically gifted for any level,” Mason said. “The thing with Jalin is, a lot of kids plateau and their ceiling is usually capped or they can’t get too much better. But his game, every single year, every summer, has increased.”