Kon Knueppel, a 6-foot-5 sophomore forward from Wisconsin Lutheran (WI) High, is one of the top players in the Midwest in the Class of 2024 and is ranked as the number one sophomore in the state by Wis Sports. Knueppel has seven scholarship offers, including one from Minnesota.
Knueppel is averaging 16.1 points and 6.6 rebounds per game this season as the Vikings are off to a 14-1 start. He has scored in double figures in 13 of 15 games with three games of more than 20 points, including a career-high 28 points versus Racine Case.
Knueppel averaged 10.6 points, 4.7 rebounds and 2.2 assists for the Vikings as a freshman. He scored a career-best 23 points in a win over Pius XI Catholic.
Knueppel comes from a basketball family with both his father and mother having been stars in college. His uncle, Jeff Nordgaard, was a standout at Dawson-Boyd and Wisconsin-Green Bay and was a second round draft pick by the Milwaukee Bucks.
Knueppel scored 17 points to helped lead the Pirates to a 78-60 win over Minnehaha Academy in the Breakdown Border Battle Saturday.
GopherHole caught up with Knueppel after the game to learn the latest on his college recruitment, his Minnesota offer and sophomore year.
Gopher Hole: You guys are off to a great start. How pleased are you with how well the team has been playing this year?
Kon Knueppel: We have been doing really good. Been moving the ball well. Playing well as a team. Playing good defense. Got some good talent on this squad and we battled through some injuries and stuff. Some stuff that was unfortunate that happened, but we have come together as a group and we’ve played some really good basketball.
GopherHole: How hard has it been to overcome some of the things that you have had to so far this year?
Kon Knueppel: One of our players (Jordan Glenn collapsed in a game versus West Allis Central) went down against one of our conference opponents. He is doing all good, so that has been good. He has had a great attitude, so he has kept us up and kept us in good spirits that way.
GopherHole: He was one of your top players, too. Has that been difficult not having him on the court?
Kon Knueppel: Yes. It is difficult when one of your best players goes down. He is a leader, too. A senior, so that’s always hard. We’ve been able to have some guys step up and play some big roles, so that’s good for them to prepare us for the long run.
GopherHole: Do you think that will help you, because you look at the box scores, you have had different players step up in different games. Josh (Knueppel) had 29 points last night. Jimiir (Allen) has had a couple of really good games. Do you think that could be very helpful down the road?
Kon Knueppel: Yes. It gives those guys confidence that they can go and put the ball in the basket in other games and step up for us, so that’s awesome.
GopherHole: You come from a basketball family. Your dad, (Kon Knueppel) scored more than 2,000 career points at Wisconsin Lutheran College (from 1994-98) and your mom (Chari Nordgaard, the all-time leading scorer in UW-Green Bay history) had 1,964 career points. Any rivalry between the two that your dad got a few more points than your mom?
Kon Knueppel: My dad would be the first to tell you, he played Division III, so he’ll be the first one to tell you my mom’s is more impressive.
GopherHole: Is it kind of neat though that you can see how successful they were in college?
Kon Knueppel: Yes. It’s awesome. They’ve brought me up in basketball. It’s really cool to be around them and what they’ve showed me.
GopherHole: If you would have told them you wanted to play football or baseball, would you have been disowned?
Kon Knueppel: (Laughing) For sure, I have to play basketball, but they are very supportive, if I wanted to play other sports, too.
GopherHole: Is that where you got the love of the game?
Kon Knueppel: Yes. They always push it on me and I grew to love it more and more as I got older.
GopherHole: Have you seen any of their highlights?
Kon Knueppel: Yes. My dad used to play in some three-on-three tournaments with his brothers around the country, so there are tapes of that all over YouTube, so I like to go on and watch those sometimes.
GopherHole: What is your scouting report on your mom and dad?
Kon Knueppel: My dad is a shooter. Got to get a hand in his face. Mom, up and under. That’s her move. Don’t let her get you on the low block.
GopherHole: Your cousin Josh is on the team, too. What is it for you to play together?
Kon Knueppel: Awesome. He went to my grade school, too, so we’ve been best friends my whole life, so I love playing with him. He’s really awesome to play with. Really good leader. Talks in practice. Love playing with him.
GopherHole: He had a big game last night and scored 29 points. What’s your career high?
Kon Knueppel: 28.
GopherHole: So he’s got you now?
Kon Knueppel: Yes, he’s got me by one.
GopherHole: Did he say anything about that to you?
Kon Knueppel: (Laughing) He had me on a fast break, so he decided not to pass it. He decided to lay it up. I was ahead of him. I think he was maybe thinking about that in his head.
GopherHole: You are so young, but have some good scholarship offers from Georgia Tech, Illinois, Marquette, Minnesota, Texas A&M, Toledo and Wisconsin. That has to make you feel pretty proud to have that many schools looking at you this early.
Kon Knueppel: It’s awesome, but I just like to have fun out there and play with my teammates.
GopherHole: Does that even make you want a little harder to hear from even more schools?
Kon Knueppel: 100%. I want to be able to be able to get to that level, because I know that I still got a lot of work to do. I’ve got a lot of work to put in.
GopherHole: Where do you think that your game has changed the most from your freshman year to now?
Kon Knueppel: Just confidence. That’s a big thing with being a freshman. You are kind of timid out there and that confidence to go out there and shoot shots that maybe aren’t the best shots, but you have confidence that you can make them. Also just getting a little bit bigger. Being able to rebound a little better. Play a little better defense.
GopherHole: Even tonight, to be honest, you started out a little bit slow, but picked it up throughout the game. Is that something you know that you might start out slow, but you know that it is eventually your game will come to you?
Kon Knueppel: Yes. I haven’t been shooting the greatest lately, so I just got to keep shooting and keep attacking and being aggressive and stuff will come.
GopherHole: You play a really tough team in your conference in defending state champion Pewaukee. You lost to them all three times last year, but got them this year at their place (101-99) recently. You have one more conference game against them and might have to beat them in the postseason. I know that is a goal, if you are going to get to the state tournament, you are going to have to get through them. What did you guys learn from that last game and the games that you played against them last year that can maybe help you get past them?
Kon Knueppel: They are obviously a really good team. They move the ball really well, so we have to defend in the halfcourt. They are awesome in transition, so we have learned that you have to sprint back. Just play hard. Keep playing. They had us down nine, but we kept battling with them. They are a really good team.
GopherHole: What is it going to mean to you the first time you walk onto the court as a college freshman ?
Kon Knueppel: That’s the dream right there. That’s something I’ve dreamed about since I was a little kid. That’s going to be awesome.
GopherHole: I know that college is a long time away. You still have a couple years of high school left, but have you thought much about what are going to be the main factors that are going to make you pick School A over School B or C?
Kon Knueppel: Right now, I don’t know. I don’t really have sort of clue. I’m just trying to play and have fun.
GopherHole: Did you have a chance to go to many college football games or college basketball games so far this year?
Kon Knueppel: I went to an Iowa football game. I went to a Wisconsin football game and then I went to a Marquette basketball game and a Wisconsin basketball game. I visited Illinois and Minnesota, too.
GopherHole: I know that Minnesota offered you awhile back. What are you hearing from the Gophers?
Kon Knueppel: “Just keep working hard.” They are obviously having a really good season right now, so I have been following them quite a bit.
GopherHole: Now that you are getting recruited, when you watch college basketball games, do you watch them a little differently than you did two years ago?
Kon Knueppel: For sure. I just look at their offensive schemes. See where I could fit and just how the game is played now with pick and roll being the dominant college basketball factor, so just getting better at the things that college basketball really emphasizes.