NCAA Basketball: 10 best players from state of Minnesota of last decade
By Joey Loose
2. Chet Holmgren – Gonzaga
The nation’s top high school player of 2021 was this 7’0 center from Minneapolis, and much like the star on our previous slide, Holmgren opted to take his talents west. Holmgren was a highly-touted prospect long before he arrived on campus at Gonzaga, and he spent his one and only collegiate season playing a starring role under the direction of Mark Few.
A freakish athlete, Holmgren averaged 14.1 points, 9.9 rebounds, and 3.7 blocks per game. He had a number of fantastic performances, including a 19-point, 17-rebound, 7-block effort in the first round of the NCAA Tournament against Georgia State. He helped lead the Bulldogs to a 28-4 while stockpiling double-doubles, especially late in the season. He even shot 39% from long-range for the season, numbers that didn’t exactly match a 7-footer blocking shots on a regular basis.
Holmgren was a Second Team All-American and won both WCC Defensive Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year. He led his conference in rebounding and blocks and led the entire nation in 2-point field goal percentage, knocking down nearly 74% of those attempts. A seemingly generational talent, Holmgren was drafted with the 2nd pick of the 2022 NBA Draft and looks to begin his professional career with the Oklahoma City Thunder next season.