Hours after vehemently defending his position on national radio, Wisconsin basketball coach Bo Ryan has agreed to significantly reduce the number of schools freshman Jarrod Uthoff is restricted from transferring to.

After meeting with Uthoff Thursday afternoon, University of Wisconsin officials announced in a statement that the former Iowa Mr. Basketball is now free to transfer to any school outside the Big Ten. He had previously been banned by Ryan from transferring to 25 schools, a list which included the entire Atlantic Coast Conference.

Here’s a portion of the statement from UW-Madison:

Uthoff visited with both Associate Athletic Director Justin Doherty and Director of Athletics Barry Alvarez Thursday morning as part of the appeal process.

Doherty, Alvarez and head coach Bo Ryan then met and collectively came to a decision that the University of Wisconsin Athletic Department has lifted "permission to contact" restrictions on ANY school outside of the Big Ten Conference.

Ryan is supportive of denials of Big Ten institutions only and has wanted the appeals process to serve as a means for dialogue to occur between Uthoff and UW Athletics administration.

Uthoff has been notified of these decisions.

Earlier in the day, Ryan stood firmly behind his original stance during an appearance on ESPN’s “Mike and Mike” radio show.

“I am doing what every other coach in the country has done,” Ryan said on the program.

Uthoff, a former Rivals.com Top 150 recruit, redshirted the 2011-12 season. He has stated that the reason behind his transfer is a feeling that he doesn’t fit in well with Ryan’s system.

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