Jarrod Uthoff is relieved, happy and ready to find a new school now that the University of Wisconsin has lifted most of the restrictions on where he can go.

"I'm just glad this is over with and I can go on about finding the right school for me, with all the publicity dying down now," he told the Metro Sports Report in a telephone interview Thursday evening.

"I feel good," he said. "I can focus on finding the right fit for me."

Uthoff, 18, was thrust into the national spotlight the past few days when he challenged Wisconsin Coach Bo Ryan and essentially won.

Ryan had banned Iowa, Iowa State, Marquette, Florida, Virginia and all the schools from the Big Ten and ACC from contacting Uthoff after the 6-foot-8 forward decided last week to leave Wisconsin after one redshirt year with the Badgers.

Uthoff appealed the restrictions and on Thursday won his case, for the most part. Wisconsin has lifted all the restrictions on non-Big Ten schools, but left the restrictions on fellow Big Ten schools in place.

If he transfers to a Big Ten school like Iowa for the 2012-13 campaign, he'd have to pay his own way as a walk-on before becoming eligible for a scholarship in 2013-14.

If he transfers to a non-Big Ten school like Iowa State or Creighton, he can get a scholarship right away and not have to wait. Regardless of where he goes, Uthoff will be ineligible during the 2012-13 season due to normal NCAA tranfer rules. He'll have three years of eligibility once he starts playing in 2013-14.

"Having the restrictions on the Big Ten is normal for most schools, not wanting the kid to transfer in-conference," he noted.

Uthoff can appeal the restrictions on attending a Big Ten school to the University of Wisconsin athletic board, but is not sure he will. "I'm still deciding to or not," he said.

Uthoff had two meetings Thursday morning with top University of Wisconsin officials. His first meeting was with Justin Doherty, UW's associate athletic director, and his second meeting was with Barry Alvarez, the school's director of athletics. The meetings took about 90 minutes.

"I wasn't that nervous," he said. "I was just more in the mindset that I wanted to get the stuff appealed. I just wanted to get it over with."

Uthoff did not know what the outcome would be when he left the meetings. He was informed later in the day, after Alvarez had met with Ryan.

"I really had no indications," he said. "I just explained to them the situation and that was it."

Uthoff declined to discuss any specifics of his meetings with Doherty and Alvarez. "I agreed to keep the meetings strictly confidential, so anything that was said between us was between us," he remarked.

Alvarez, Ryan and Doherty huddled after Uthoff left. The school announced its decision by mid-afternoon and claimed in a press release that Ryan is supportive of the decision.

Ryan had been severely criticized by members of the national media, especially by radio and TV hosts on ESPN, for placing the restrictions on Uthoff in the first place. Ryan had banned a total of 26 schools from contacting Uthoff, a number that's now been reduced to 11 Big Ten schools.

Uthoff plans to visit Creighton and Coach Greg McDermott this coming Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. McDermott has offered a scholarship, but Uthoff said he's not ready to make a decision.

"I'm sure I'll visit other schools and other campuses," he said, but as of 5 p.m. Thursday no other visits had been arranged.

Uthoff described the past week as "crazy" as his decision to leave Wisconsin became a national story, mostly because Ryan kept placing restrictions on where he could go.

"I tried not to pay attention to everything that was going on and just get it appealed," he said. "I do appreciate all the support I've gotten and received from people."