Tony Bennett on the trail of another Wisconsin prospect, 2024 sharpshooter Knueppel

By Jerry Ratcliffe

Nobody knows the state of Wisconsin better than Virginia’s Tony Bennett, who grew up there, played there, coached there and now recruits there.

Just of late, Bennett hauled in Leon Bond III, who grew up just outside Milwaukee, and Reece Beekman, who actually went to grade school with Bond before Beekman’s family relocated to Louisiana. Sam Hauser, now with the Boston Celtics, another Wisconsin kid, transferred to Virginia from Marquette.

Now, Bennett is on the trail of another Milwaukee prospect, 6-foot-5 shooting guard Kon Knueppel, a top-100 player in the recruiting class of 2024. Knueppel has lots of offers already from Virginia, Wisconsin, Marquette, Minnesota, Notre Dame, USC, Stanford, Miami, Iowa, Illinois, Georgia Tech, Ohio State and Texas A&M.

Knueppel comes from a true basketball family. His father, Kon Knueppel, posted more than 2,000 points at Wisconsin Lutheran College from 1994-98. His mother, Chari Nordgaard, was the all-time leading scorer in UW-Green Bay (Bennett’s alma mater) history with 1,964 career points. His uncle, Jeff Nordgaard, was a second-round pick by the NBA’s Milwaukee Bucks.

As a sophomore last season, Knueppel led Wisconsin Lutheran High School, scoring double figures in 22 of 28 games, averaging 14.1 points and 6.5 rebounds per game. As a freshman, he put up 10.6 and 4.7.

Over the summer, when his game advanced while playing for Phenom Universe, an AAU program on Nike’s EYBL 16U circuit, Knueppel averaged 20.9 points, 5.6 rebounds and 3.6 points per game, while shooting 52 percent from the field, 43.6 percent from the 3-point line and 80 percent from the free-throw line.

“I’m a 3-point shooter, but I like to get to the rack and surprise people athletically,” Knueppel told On3.com. “I watch a lot of Luka Doncic.”

Described as a smooth shooter with deep range, Knueppel has good vision and is a strong passer.

247Sports has him rated the No. 52 player overall nationally in its composite, the No. 16 player at his position, and the top prospect in the state of Wisconsin. You can check out some of Knueppel’s recent highlights below, along with an updated recruiting chart.

Meanwhile, UVA has shown interest in a class of 2023 shooting guard, 6-6 Aaron Clark of Brewster Academy. He has a 4-star composite ranking by 247Sports, rated the No. 123 prospect nationally, the No. 19 shooting guard, and No. 6 in New Hampshire.

Clark holds offers from Maryland, Georgetown and BYU.