The summer of Chet Holmgren was clearly no fluke.
The 7-foot, 190-pound high school prospect who took the recruiting circuit by storm and rocketed up the 2021 rankings over the past few months was back at it again this past weekend at the USA Basketball minicamp in Colorado Springs, Colo.
His unique style of play left his peers (and their parents) shaking their heads and chuckling in disbelief.
During one scrimmage Saturday afternoon, Holmgren took a defender off the dribble from just inside the arc, and _ seemingly in one quick motion _ managed to spin around another opponent and glide through traffic for an easy bucket. Several people in the parents' seating section laughed at the absurdity of a 7-footer pulling off such a move.
A few minutes after that, Holmgren grabbed a defensive rebound and set out on a fast break, barreling full speed down the court before unleashing a behind-the-back dribble to get past one opponent and then taking it right at a much bigger defender at the rim. Holmgren ended up on the floor, but he drew the foul call. He also drew more "aahs" from the parents' section.
"He's not afraid," one of them said, matter-of-factly.
By the end of the USA minicamp, Holmgren had more than confirmed his status as one of the best young prospects in America.
247Sports, which ranked him No. 2 in the 2021 class going into the weekend, included the Minneapolis native in its rundown of the event's top 10 players.
Rivals.com national analyst Eric Bossi, whose recruiting service ranks Holmgren at No. 4 in the class, wrote Tuesday that he was "real tempted" to move him into the No. 1 overall spot after watching him in Colorado Springs.
More praise for a 17-year-old recruit whose stock continues to soar.
"It's been big," Holmgren told the Herald-Leader of his summer. "It's just all come down to the work I've put in to get where I am right now. And it's just kind of like my coming out party, I guess. I was balling all summer _ that's a lot of props to my teammates and my coaches and my parents for putting me in the positions to be successful. And it's been kind of crazy, going from being pretty much unranked to top five in the nation."
