“I think somebody says, ‘Slow is smooth and smooth is fast’, I try to play that way.” Knueppel said. A phrase coined by the Navy SEALS, it fits Knueppel’s game perfectly. While he might be deceptively athletic, his fundamentally sound skill set and court awareness set Kon apart. There were a lot of doubts about how this Duke team would gel with 10 freshmen joining at the start of the season. But Kon has proven to be an essential cog in the ruthless Duke machine. Never one to shy away from big moments, when Cooper Flagg and Maliq Brown were ruled out of the ACC Tournament, it was Knueppel who stepped up and helped Duke win their 28th conference tournament title while also taking the ACC Tournament MVP home.
Eldest of five brothers who all play basketball, it’s no wonder Kon knows how to share the ball well. He even played with his younger brother, Kager, while he was a freshman and Kon was a senior in high school. Other than Kager, though, the remaining Knueppels have several years to go. Kinston just entered high school in the fall, and Kash is completing middle school ahead of seventh-grader Kid. Sons of a couple sharing legendary basketball résumés, the Knueppel family displays athletic talent at every level. While Kon continues to impress, something about Kager makes me believe this won’t be the last Knueppel to take over the NCAA.
Who is Kon Knueppel’s father? Was he a professional basketball player?
His dad, also named Kon Knueppel, played at Wisconsin Lutheran College in Wisconsin and scored more than 2,064 career points, earning him the title of the all-time top scorer for the Warriors. He also guided the Warriors to three consecutive conference championships between 1996-1998 and was inducted into the Wisconsin Lutheran College Hall of Fame just 10 years ago.
As Kon had a basketball savant for a father, he knew all that he needed to do was observe. “My dad’s been playing for a long time, still plays,” Knueppel said. “Just watching what he does out there and how he makes his teammates better”. Inheriting a sharp basketball mind, it wasn’t long before he started participating in his dad’s games. “My dad has a men’s league in Milwaukee that he’s been running for 20 years, so I started playing in that in eighth grade,” Knueppel told The Fayetteville Observer/USA TODAY Sports Network.
Kon’s dad knew he would need to toughen up if he wanted to play Division 1 basketball, and putting him in games with older players who would rough him up was exactly what he needed back then. Before he became a five-star recruit from Wisconsin Lutheran High School, Kon Knueppel couldn’t figure out how to counter a player in his father’s men’s league. Ben Brust, a former Wisconsin basketball player and the Badgers’ all-time leader in 3-pointers, kept frustrating Knueppel by beating him with the same move.
“I was in ninth grade and he’s just beating me on all these backdoor cuts,” Knueppel said. But, over time, Knueppel started learning the nuances of the game from Brust and others in the league. “By the time of my senior year, I’m beating him on backdoor cuts, learning how to play off the ball, how to play together as a team, stuff that’s not taught so much anymore,” Knueppel said. So the next time you see Knueppel make the right play, just the way he always does, don’t forget to send some credit his dad’s way.
Who is Kon Knueppel’s mother, Chari? How good of a college basketball player was she?
Chari Nordgaard Knueppel, Kon’s mother, played at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay and was an All-Horizon League member for the Phoenix. In her four years with the Phoenix, Chari Knueppel finished as the program’s all-time leading scorer at 1,964 points and was inducted into the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay Hall of Fame in 2004. Chari, an All-League member every season at Green Bay, had her No. 33 retired in January of this year during the team’s 77-59 win over Wright State. She joined Jeanne Barta and Mary Quigley in the rafters as the only three women’s basketball players to receive the honor.
As parents, she and Kon have not only done a fine job at fostering the love of basketball within their five children, but are also constantly on the go, trying not to miss even a single game their sons play in. Despite living in Wisconsin, Nordgaard Knueppel watched every Blue Devils game in person this season, and still found herself in the crowd for her middle sons Kager and Kinston’s Wisconsin Lutheran high school varsity games.
This was on display when the NCAA Tournament kicked off. Chari Knueppel was flying back and forth from Raleigh, North Carolina, and Madison, Wisconsin, last week, as Kon Knueppel and Duke were playing in the first round of the NCAA Tournament while his brother, Kager Knueppel, played in the Division I Wisconsin State High School championship.
Let’s go Kash (8th gr State Championship), Kager & Kinston (HS State Tourney), & K2 (NCAA Tourney)! Just. Keep. Winning! pic.twitter.com/r11MEATUV8
— Chari Nordgaard Knueppel (@ChariNKnueppel) March 20, 2025
What makes things truly insane is that hoops go further back in the family. Chari’s maternal grandfather, Arthur “Bud” Rose, played football and gained Honorable Mention All-American status in basketball at North Carolina State in 1931-32. Arthur was also the first All-American ever from North Carolina State.
What is Kon Knueppel’s parents’ ethnicity?
Kon Knueppel’s exact ethnic heritage remains unconfirmed, but his family’s deep roots in Wisconsin—a state with a significant population of German, Polish, and Scandinavian descent—might offer clues. The surname ‘Knueppel’ itself has Germanic origins, potentially pointing to a Central European lineage. This aligns with the demographic history of Milwaukee, where German immigrants historically settled in large numbers. Without official confirmation from Knueppel or his family, however, this remains speculative, and his ethnicity could well be a blend of various European ancestries common in the Midwest.
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