Are the Gophers really in the lead for Chet Holmgren?

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Photo: Cheryl Myers

Anyone who has paid attention to the national recruiting scene knows how good Chet Holmgren is. The 7-footer averaged 14.3 points, 9.9 rebounds and 4.9 blocked shots per game playing for Minnehaha Academy. This was while playing on the same team as 5-Star Jalen Suggs, 2022 top-100 player Prince Aligbe, USC offered Hercy Miller, and a handful of other Division 1 prospects.

Elite Talent

Holmgren is ranked as the number four overall player in his class on Rivals.com, the number two overall player on 247Sports.com, and the number one overall player on ESPN.com. He has recieved offers from schools all across the country (32 programs in total, according to 247Sports). From Duke and USC, to Florida and Gonzaga, everyone wants a piece of Holmgren, but unfortunately only one school can have him. 

Chet recently announced his top seven programs via Twitter. Those programs are Minnesota, Michigan, Gonzaga, Ohio State, Georgetown, Memphis and North Carolina. To discuss those offers and more, Holmgren recently spoke with Stockrisers.com, a fairly well-known recruiting website. 

When you read the first few paragraphs, it sounds like your typical recruiting article. But where it gets interesting is about two-thirds into it. After discussing two of Holmgren’s other offers — Ohio State and Gozaga — the writer drops a mini-bombshell.

“Obviously the current favorite is the Minnesota Gophers. The hometown program has been involved for more than two years and an official visit isn’t needed as he has grown up around the school and his father, Dave, played for the Gophers from 1984-88 and still has significant ties to the program.”

Jake Weingarten via Stockrisers.com

Wow… that is interesting. If true, it would be huge. The Gophers have been in the running for 5-star players before (Jalen Suggs, Matthew Hurt, Tre Jones, Dawson Garcia) but they have never seemed to be in position to land one. On top of that, the Gophers haven’t landed a 5-star since Kris Humphries, who was in the class of 2003.

I don’t know if I should believe this. Let’s go through the facts and come to a conclusion.

Facts

  • Stockrisers.com is a well-known recruiting website who regularly interviews top prospects from across the country. 
  • The website has access to insider information that others don’t. One would normally agree with what the website says.
  • Stockrisers.com isn’t the same as 247Sports.com, however. 247Sports has experts who both talk to recruits and make crystal ball predictions. 
  • Chet hasn’t released any information favoring one program over the others. He has only released his top-seven and given his thoughts on each of them.
  • Chet has officially visited Gonzaga and Ohio State and has unofficially visited Georgetown and Minnesota, according to an interview with Evan Daniels in May. 
  • Chet’s former teammate, Jalen Suggs, will attend Gonzaga this coming year, so there is reason to believe that Chet could go there.
  • Not only did Chet’s dad play at Minnesota, but Chet’s family also lives in Minnesota. Chet has also attended Gophers practices and games in the past.

Conclusion

The Minnesota Golden Gophers are not the favorite yet in my opinion. I think Stockrisers.com thinks the Gophers are the favorite so far because 1) he has spent the most time around the program compared to the others schools and 2) he has family ties to the program. However, that does not mean that Minnesota is the favorite.

Chet, as outlined above, has not shown any bias towards one program over the others thus far. He also has only listed his top-seven schools to this point. I’m in no way trying to take credibility away from Stockrisers, but instead just forming my own opinion based off of that of the writer.

Carson Ruen | Minnesota Sports Fan

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