Chet Holmgren News - MinnesotaSportsFan https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/tag/chet-holmgren/ Minnesota sports, but different Tue, 16 Apr 2024 08:17:44 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9 https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=32,height=32,fit=crop,quality=80,format=auto,onerror=redirect,metadata=none/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/cropped-cropped-MSF-favicon-1.jpg Chet Holmgren News - MinnesotaSportsFan https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/tag/chet-holmgren/ 32 32 OKC Thunder Organization Showed up for Chet Holmgren Jersey Retirement at Minnehaha Academy https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/minnesota-timberwolves/okc-thunder-chet-holmgren-jersey-retirement-minnehaha-academy/ Sat, 20 Jan 2024 02:26:11 +0000 https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/?p=46831 Chet Holmgren will probably go down as the best basketball player the state of Minnesota has ever produced, a title I imagine he will hold for quite awhile. I mean, it’s not very often a #1 overall pick, 7-foot unicorn who can handle, shoot from everywhere and bang down low arises out of the MN high school ranks.

Related: Minnehaha Academy Pulls Big Upset over Bronny’s Sierra Canyon at Target Center

But that’s what Holmgren is. So with his NBA team, the Oklahoma City Thunder (#2 seed in the West right now), in town for a Saturday night matchup with the Minnesota Timberwolves (#1 seed in the West), Chet’s high school, Minnehaha Academy held a jersey retirement ceremony for the 21-year-old Minneapolis native.

Entire OKC Thunder organization shows up for Minnehaha Academy retirement ceremony.

I know the Wolves play a big regular season game against the Thunder tomorrow night but it’s hard not to love the support the OKC organization showed for ‘one of us’ Chet Holmgren on tonight. Except Josh Giddey, who they must’ve left back at the hotel to keep an eye on the team’s stuff.

For good reason, the basketball world was excited about what 2023 #1 overall pick, Victor Wembenyama, would bring to the NBA this season, as a 7-foot something talent good enough to flip a struggling organization back onto a winning track.

But in the process, they forgot about Chet Holmgren, 2022 #1 overall pick who missed all of last season with injury. He’s been pretty impossible to forget about through 40 games this year. In take-two of Chet Holmgren’s league debut, he’s averaging 17.4 points, 7.2 rebounds and 2.5 blocks per game and he’s now the betting favorite to win NBA Rookie of the Year.

Wemby’s Spurs are in the gutter of the Western Conference while Holmgren and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander have the Thunder fighting with the Wolves near the peak. I love seeing Chet succeed, until tomorrow night and any other time he runs into the Minnesota Timberwolves during his career. In those games, I hope he plays terrible.

Related: Chet Holmgren Named Gatorade National Boys Basketball POY; First Ever From MN

Here is more local and national reaction to Holmgren’s jersey retirement and the support shown by his NBA teammates and the entire Thunder organization.

Related: Are Minnesota Timberwolves on Pace for Best Season in Franchise History?

]]> Fri, 19 Jan 2024 21:10:25 +0000 Minnesota Timberwolves Chet Holmgren Named Gatorade National Boys Basketball POY; First Ever From MN https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/gophers-basketball/chet-holmgren-named-gatorade-national-boys-basketball-poy-first-ever-from-mn/ Thu, 10 Jun 2021 03:05:26 +0000 https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/?p=35324

Chet Holmgren is a phenom. I was lucky enough to watch him and Jalen Suggs, just before society walked off a ledge in early 2020, play together vs Bronny Jr at Target Center from media row. I did not realize, at the time, just how special that night was.

Minnehaha Academy won in amazing comeback fashion and that in itself made the event well-worth the price of admission for the 17,000 in attendance. Now, just two years since that memorable night, Jalen Suggs earned 1st or 2nd team All-American honors (depending which voters you ask) while leading Gonzaga to a National Championship game. Oh, and he’s going to be a top-5 pick in what is seen as one of the deepest drafts in NBA history later this summer.

Chet Holmgren Gatorade National Player of the Year

And now, his partner in crime that night, Chet Holmgren, has been named Gatorade Boy’s Basketball National Player of the Year, becoming the first Minnesotan in the award’s history (1985) to earn the honor. Jalen Suggs presented the award to Chet, in surprise Zoom fashion.

The 7-foot, 175-pound senior center led the Redhawks to a 20-1 record and the Class AAA state championship this past season. Holmgren averaged 20.8 points, 12.6 rebounds, 4.7 blocks and 4.4 assists while connecting on 68.2 percent of his field-goal attempts. A McDonald’s All-American Game selection, Holmgren is the 2021 Naismith High School Trophy Player of the Year and the nation’s consensus No. 1 recruit in the Class of 2021. He concluded his prep basketball career with 1,567 points, 964 rebounds and 456 blocked shots.

Gatorade Press Release

Chet is the #1 national boy’s basketball prospect in 2021, according to 247Sports.com, and will follow in Jalen Suggs footsteps to Gonzaga. But there’s no doubt that the state of Minnesota has become a national recruiting hot bed for basketball. Hopefully we can stop sending them elsewhere once it’s time to leave the nest.

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

]]> Thu, 01 Jul 2021 14:31:51 +0000 Minnesota Gophers Basketball Ben Johnson and Chet Holmgren Have Talked Over Phone and via Text in Last Week https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/gophers-basketball/ben-johnson-and-chet-holmgren-have-talked-over-phone-and-via-text-in-last-week/ Sat, 27 Mar 2021 12:44:42 +0000 https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/?p=34115

Chet Holmgren isn’t just the best 2021 high school basketball recruit in Minnesota. The Minnehaha Academy star is the #1 player in the country and the only of his class with a 1.000 rating at 247Sports.com.

So, I don’t want to ring the alarms or get anyone who bleeds maroon and gold too excited… but Chet unloaded some information worth knowing on Ben Goessling (Star Tribune) Friday night. Yes, Goessling apparently does more than just Vikings now for the Star Tribune and after Minnehaha’s victory last night, Holmgren told him that Gopher coach, Ben Johnson, has both texted and called him in the last week, since taking over as Minnesota head coach. They were also in contact while Johnson was at Xavier.

Don’t get too excited, Gopher fans. While anything is impossible in 2021, I don’t think anyone is changing their Chet Holmgren commitment prediction just yet. Chet is still projected to Gonzaga or the G-League and his statement didn’t exactly scream, “I’m staying home next year”.

Still, it’s nice to have a coach who’s willing to put in the work on all of these ELITE in-state kids, no matter how uphill the battle. What a change of pace.

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

]]> Thu, 01 Jul 2021 14:32:03 +0000 Minnesota Gophers Basketball Why Gopher Commit, Treyton Thompson, Tumbled Down 247Sports Rankings https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/gophers-basketball/minnesota-gophers-commit-treyton-thompson-take-tumble-down-247sports-rankings/ https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/gophers-basketball/minnesota-gophers-commit-treyton-thompson-take-tumble-down-247sports-rankings/#respond Thu, 03 Sep 2020 20:56:34 +0000 https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/?p=29304

Treyton Thompson is a, “do-it-all”, 6’11” big who plays for national prep powerhouse La Lamiere during the school year and Adidas-sponsored AAU program, D1 Minnesota, in the summer. The Alexandria, Minn. native and current Minnesota Gopher men’s basketball commit can dominate your best player down in the paint, or spread the floor and show off his silky-smooth jump shot.

Thompson seemed to have it all going for him… until Wednesday, when 247Sports.com released their updated recruiting ratings for the 2021 class. Dropping on that list like a rock, is the aforementioned Treyton Thompson. Pre-update, Thompson — who held offers from Iowa, Texas Tech, and Oklahoma before picking the home-state Gophers — ranked 80th nationally. After the update, he dropped 45 spots, down to 125th.

Additionally, he was downgraded from a 4-star prospect to a 3-star prospect, although his rating of 89 overall was only one point away from a 90 — the lowest rating a 4-star can get. So you may wonder: why the large drop? Well, I’ve got a few different theories.

Theory 1: Lack of offensive production

Although Treyton has all the traits of a player who can dominate on the offensive end, he fails to show the production to back it up. Just look at some of the stats he posted this summer with D1 Minnesota.

DatePointsRebounds
8/910N/A
8/879
8/1118
7/19115
7/1956
7/1858
7/1174
7/1164
All stats courtesy of Ryan James

Now, those numbers may be less due to being on a team with other high-major prospects like David Joplin, Eli King, Tamin Lipsey, among others. Still, it looks like the 247Sports rankers didn’t seem to think that output was enough. 

On the bright side, one of Thompson’s strengths happens to be his IQ of the game. Based off Gopher Illustrated’s Ryan James Twitter highlights, Thompson regularly shows the ability to pass out of the post and find open teammates, as shown below. He also shows the ability to do the little things, like setting good screens and rebounding the ball at a consistent clip. 

Theory 2: Body Weight/ Strength

Although Thompson has the height of a Big Ten/high-major big, he doesn’t appear to have the muscle mass to go along with that size. He weighs just 190 pounds, according to 247Sports, which happens to be the same weight as 2020 Gophers commit Martice Mitchell. Mitchell is still dealing with those same criticisms today.

I don’t know how much this could’ve impacted his ranking — I’m sure not too much — but it could be one of the reasons for his drop.

Theory 3: Everyone hates the Gophers 

As stupid as this sounds, this could be a reason (although not likely). Thompson is a homegrown Minnesota kid who committed to his homestate school with not many offers. Now, if he committed to Texas Tech, this is a different conversation, as the Red Raiders have turned into a national contender.

Believe it or not, bias towards/against programs is real; just ask Duke or Kentucky. But in the grand scheme of things, the school Thompson is committed to probably doesn’t matter. 

The Truth

If you have a subscription to 247Sports affiliate, GopherIllustrated.com (if you don’t you should), then you would already know why Thompson dropped down the rankings. The recruiting big shot who loved Treyton at 247Sports is no longer with the outlet.

With Treyton the reason for the drop was honestly simple, Evan Daniels was always the one who really believed him in him in that top 80ish range, and I never did. I always felt with his limited offensive game he was more someone who was a high three-star who would fall outside the top 100. Evan always felt that he had more offensive ability than he did. Because of that, he was always a major debate when rankings time would come up.

Now that Evan has moved on to a different profession, those of us who are in the rankings group decided a drop outside the 100 was the right move. This was based upon previous evaluations as well as what we saw during this summer’s stuff when he was with D1 Minnesota.

Brian Snow – 247Sports CBB Recruiting Expert

Evan Daniels was hired by CAA to be an agent in the college basketball coaching division and no longer gets a vote… clearly. Oh well, Treyton Thompson’s ranking of 125th nationally is still plenty good. Plus, last time I checked, Richard Pitino doesn’t make evaluations using rankings. 

Chet Holmgren Tops List

  • Minnehaha star Chet Holmgren came in as the number one overall player in the same 247Sports ranking. This past year the 7-footer averaged 14.3 points, 9.9 rebounds and 4.9 blocked shots per game, while playing on the same team as 5-star Jalen Suggs and 4-star Prince Aligbe, among others. While Holmgren is well-known for his viral move against Stephen Curry, he has shown that he can do much more than that, as 247Sports analyst Josh Gershon writes. 

“Extremely unique player who is unlike almost any American prospect in recent years… Despite lack of strength, very tough kid with impressive mental makeup. Has range to perimeter with jumper, good body control and high feel. Outstanding rim protector and rebounder. Level 10 motor.”

Josh Gershon on Chet Holmgren

247Sports also lists Minnesota and Gonzaga as “warm” regarding his interest in those two schools. 

Pedulla Moves Up

  • Minnesota offered Sean Pedulla vaulted high up the 2021 rankings. After being ranked just inside the top 250 prospects nationally, Pedulla is now ranked as the 139th overall prospect in his class. The 6-foot-1 point guard from Oklahoma put on a show this summer, as he showed off his 3-point shooting and high IQ (clip below). Playing with Team Buddy Buckets, Pedulla picked up his first high-major offer from Minnesota this summer, while also gaining offers from Colorado State, Louisiana Tech, Tulsa, among others. Here’s what he had to say about Minnesota when speaking with Ryan James: 

“I have talked to Assistant Coach Kyle Lindsted a lot and I have talked to Coach Richard Pitino a little bit. The culture of basketball in Minnesota is getting big. It’s becoming a big basketball culture area and that’s a big thing for me because wherever I go I want to be about culture and winning. My high school is the same way and I know the culture is big there.

I like the Twin Cities, I like the area. I went to the Mall of America on Friday. That place is insane. I was amazed by it. There is nothing like that in Edmond, Oklahoma.”

Sean Pedulla via 247Sports
  • Stewartville, Minn. native and Michigan commit Will Tschetter is still not ranked inside top 150 nationally, despite averaging over 33 points per game his junior year of high school and dominating this summer playing for the Minnesota Heat. Tschetter slid in at 199th in the 2021 class ranking.

Carson Ruen |Minnesota Sports Fan

]]> https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/gophers-basketball/minnesota-gophers-commit-treyton-thompson-take-tumble-down-247sports-rankings/feed/ 0 Thu, 01 Jul 2021 14:33:16 +0000 Minnesota Gophers Basketball Are the Gophers really in the lead for Chet Holmgren? https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/gophers-basketball/are-the-gophers-really-in-the-lead-for-chet-holmgren/ https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/gophers-basketball/are-the-gophers-really-in-the-lead-for-chet-holmgren/#respond Tue, 07 Jul 2020 23:48:25 +0000 https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/?p=26822

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

]]> https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/gophers-basketball/are-the-gophers-really-in-the-lead-for-chet-holmgren/feed/ 0 Thu, 01 Jul 2021 14:33:19 +0000 Minnesota Gophers Basketball Minnehaha Academy 2021 5-Star, Chet Holmgren Announces Final Seven List https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/gophers-basketball/minnehaha-academy-2021-5-star-chet-holmgren-announces-final-seven-list/ https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/gophers-basketball/minnehaha-academy-2021-5-star-chet-holmgren-announces-final-seven-list/#respond Fri, 26 Jun 2020 23:31:36 +0000 https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/?p=26448

Chet Holmgren, the highly touted 5-star center from Minnehaha Academy in Minneapolis, has announced the final seven colleges he is considering, come 2021. Included in his list, is the University of Minnesota Gophers. What an exciting little nugget to end the week on!

At seven-feet, 190 pounds; Holmgren is the nation’s second overall recruit in 2021 (according to 247 Sports). The “do-it-all” big man took to Twitter to make his announcement. Michigan, Memphis, Ohio State, Gonzaga, Georgetown and UNC round out the rest of the top seven.

A HUGE WIN

Snagging Holmgren would be a MASSIVE win for Pitino and the state of Minnesota. With a 2021 recruiting class that could include three 5-star recruits (Holmgren, Kendall Brown, Patrick Baldwin, Jr.) and two 4-stars in already committed Treyton Thompson, and target TyTy Washington), Pitino could become a huge force in recruiting.

Holmgren’s decision to include the Gophers would make Pitino look even better in an offseason where he’s already been labeled a winner.

As for Holmgren, he has already shown up on at least one 2022 NBA mock draft. He’s listed as a center but his perimeter shooting and ball-handling makes him a unique player that could dominate in any lineup.

NOT OVER YET

The recruitment of Holmgren is obviously far from over, for the Gophers and the rest of his suitors. A commitment from Holmgren would be program changing. He’s the type of player that could get Pitino a street name right next to Williams Arena.

We’ve seen this song and dance many times before, however, and Pitino is yet to prove he can land any high-profile Minnesota high schoolers. That has been well documented on this website.

Let’s hope Chet is different.

Jack Kewitsch | Minnesota Sports Fan

]]> https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/gophers-basketball/minnehaha-academy-2021-5-star-chet-holmgren-announces-final-seven-list/feed/ 0 Thu, 01 Jul 2021 14:33:21 +0000 Minnesota Gophers Basketball Minnehaha Academy Pulls Big Upset over Bronny’s Sierra Canyon at Target Center https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/uncategorized/minnehaha-academy-pulls-big-upset-over-bronnys-sierra-canyon-at-target-center/ https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/uncategorized/minnehaha-academy-pulls-big-upset-over-bronnys-sierra-canyon-at-target-center/#respond Sun, 05 Jan 2020 02:47:44 +0000 https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/?p=20444

You would have thought Target Center was holding a Timberwolves playoff game tonight (lol) or maybe a massive concert for some well-paid superstar, who’s selling millions of records on iTunes. Lines traveled the length of every wall as kids and adults alike, waited to get the best seat possible to watch a… high school basketball game.

But, when Lebron James’ kid comes to Target Center next to a star-studded cast of future NBA hopefuls, weird things happen. When Minnehaha Academy took the Target Center floor tonight, to face off against Sierra Canyon of California, the hardwood was packed with names that we’ll see playing at blue-blood colleges around the country over the next handful of years.

The crowd was a sight for sore Timberwolves’ fan eyes. In an arena that’s struggled to fill the lower bowl for 15 seasons, it was impossible to think two high school teams could nearly pack the place from wood floor to the painted concrete 100’s of feet above… but that’s exactly what happened. Target Center was the place to be in the Twin Cities on Saturday night.

Nobody left disappointed, either. Minnehaha played one of their best games of the season when lights were the brightest.

Minnehaha actually took down a stacked Sierra Canyon team that rosters enough 5-star talent to make Duke jealous.

Chet Holmgren was an absolute force down low defensively. He made Sierra Canyon think twice before going down low for the entire game… or at least he should have made them think twice… They clearly never learned their lesson. Chet finished the game with 12 blocks. Yeah, 12 blocks. He finished with 10 rebounds and 7 points to go with it.

Suggs was even more dominant. He went off for 23 points and 12 rebounds. Defensively, he was a handful too, racking up 5 steals to go with his big game, offensively.

In limited playing time, Bronny James finished with just 5 points and 1 rebound. Remember, he’s a Freshman playing on a stacked prep school team out of California. His time will come for Sierra Canyon. Brandon Boston Jr, a 5-star commit to Kentucky, carried most of the load for the CA prep school, with 27 points and 8 boards to go with.

In a game that I thought might be a 20-point victory for Sierra Canyon, which only had 1 loss coming into this game, Minnehaha Academy flipped the script and pulled off a 20-point victory themselves. Impressive.

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

]]> https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/uncategorized/minnehaha-academy-pulls-big-upset-over-bronnys-sierra-canyon-at-target-center/feed/ 0 Tue, 16 Apr 2024 03:17:44 +0000 Uncategorized