Basketball season is in full swing on all levels from prep ball to the NBA and native Wisconsinites are at the center of the sport.
Some of the top-ranked players in Wisconsin over the past few years have been making their mark on the national stage both in college and the NBA.
Iowa State (9-0) is ranked #10 in the country by the Associated Press following a stunning 81-58 victory over previously undefeated #1 ranked Purdue.
The Cyclones were led by former Pewaukee standout Milan Momcilovic, who had 20 points against Purdue and is averaging 18.3 points per game on the season.
Momcilovic led Pewaukee to three consecutive Division 2 WIAA state championships from 2021-2023, was named Wisconsin’s Mr. Basketball, and is Pewaukee’s all-time leading scorer.
Iowa State also features freshman Jamarion Batemon playing in a reserve role. Batemon was the #3 ranked prep player in Wisconsin in 2025, starring at the Milwaukee Academy of Science.
Batemon was class valedictorian at MAS and once scored 52 points in a single half. Batemon led MAS to a Division 3 WIAA state championship in 2025. Batemon is averaging 6.9 points per game on the season.
Xzavion Mitchell, who was Wisconsin’s #1 ranked player in 2025, and Anthony Rise, who starred at Brookfield Central, are also freshmen for Iowa State.
Iowa State coach T.J. Otzelberger, a Milwaukee native and former player at UW-Whitewater, has coached the Cyclones for ten seasons and created a Wisconsin-to-Iowa State pipeline.
Meanwhile, former Sun Prairie East star is has been steadily rising at College of Charleston.
Davis Jr. had 14 points in Charleston’s last game, a loss to Belmont, and is averaging 8.1 points per game on the season.
Charleston’s coach Chris Mack has praised Davis Jr.’s performance so far, including awarding him a “gold jersey”, a gimmick received by the most productive player in practice.
And at the highest level of basketball, the NBA, former Wisconsin Lutheran star Kon Knueppel is a leading candidate for NBA rookie of the year.
Knueppel is helping change the culture for the Charlotte Hornets (7-17), who have not made the playoffs since 2016. Despite the Hornets record, they are competitive on a nightly basis in a way they have not been for more than a decade.
Knueppel is averaging 18 points and nearly 6 rebounds per game and leads all NBA rookies in scoring.
Arguably, the best player in the state currently is Donovan Davis, a junior from Freedom. Davis led Freedom to the Division 3 state championship game last year, but has not yet declared where he will attend college. He has offers from Cal, Iowa, Iowa State, Syracuse and Wisconsin.
