Latest news with #NintendoWii
Tom's Guide
18-05-2025
- Tom's Guide
I exercised with the Meta Quest 3 and FitXR for two weeks — 3 things I learned
Can you get your sweat on with one of the best VR headsets? Workout apps have become very popular with the Meta Quest 3 for people who want to keep in shape, but don't have the space for a treadmill or some other big piece of exercise equipment in their home. Or maybe, they just want to try something different when it's time to exercise. Needing to get my lazy butt moving after a winter of overindulgence, I tried FitXR's app for the Meta Quest 3 for a few weeks to see if it would get me motivated. Here are three things I learned after trying out this VR workout app. If you sign up for an annual contract, FitXR costs $8.99/month ($107.99 total); if you go month-by-month, it's $12.99 per month. FitXR also gives you a 7-day trial to see if you like it. The Meta Quest 3 is our top pick among the best VR headsets. It has a much improved display over the previous version, color passthrough, and responsive controllers. There's a good variety to all of the workouts in the app, from HIIT to boxing to dancing. When you first launch the app, you're asked about your overall fitness level, as well as the sorts of exercises you want to concentrate on. Once in the app, you can search for workouts based on their type, length, and difficulty level. I bounced around a lot, trying different ones. The avatars for the trainers are a little better than Nintendo Wii in terms of graphics, but they did provide plenty of motivation and instruction during each session. Plus, each workout is gamified; you get points for streaks, and there's a leaderboard to see how well you're doing versus others in the class. Most of the workouts involve you hitting glowing balls that come out of you; in some cases, you'll have to perform uppercuts, jabs, or move to one side of the other to hit them, so you get a bit more movement. However, I did try a few dance-style workouts where I had to imitate the movements of the instructor. Without anything to specifically guide where to move my arms and hands, it was more difficult to know if I was doing the exercises correctly, although the controllers would vibrate if I moved in the right way. All of the workouts rely on the movements of the Meta Quest 3's hand controllers in order to provide feedback, so by necessity, most of the exercises concentrate on your upper body. There were a few that required me to squat down to hit a target, or shuffle back and forth a little, but I felt as if my lower body didn't get quite as much exercise as my torso. Maybe some company will come up with foot attachments for a kickboxing workout; until then, I'll keep running outside and doing some of the best lower body exercises. Most of the workouts in FitXR last from 5 to 10 minutes — there are a handful that last 20 minutes or longer — so I would string together two to three workouts, with a brief pause in between each. Depending on the intensity of each workout, I would work up a good sweat. However, I rarely went longer than about 30 minutes in total. By that time, enough perspiration had built up on the Meta Quest 3's liner that it started to feel a bit icky. And, while I wouldn't call the Meta Quest 3 overly heavy, it did start to weigh on me a bit in a way it didn't when I was using it sitting down and playing Microsoft Flight Simulator or some other game. Finding time for workouts can be tricky, and if you don't have one of the best treadmills or exercise bikes, it can also be a challenge if the weather doesn't agree with your plans. FitXR on the Meta Quest does away with those would-be roadblocks to workouts. Because the FitXR workouts are fairly short, it's easy to sneak them in when you have the time — just make sure your headset is charged up. FitXR isn't the end-all, be-all for fitness apps, but for about $100 a year, it's a nice complement to other exercises you may do, and won't cost you much more than one of the best streaming services. At the very least, it's a fun way to use your Meta Quest headset for something other than gaming.
Scottish Sun
12-05-2025
- Health
- Scottish Sun
Inside the million-pound machine that will soon be performing keyhole surgery on Brits
IT is 10am, surgeon Jeffrey Ahmed has just finished his first operation of the day. His patient will go home to recover in her own bed within hours. 6 Mr Ahmed says: 'This is the future. The benefits are so profound we can't not do it' Credit: Jon Bond 6 Surgeon Jeffrey Ahmed with The Sun's Sam Blanchard next to the surgical robot Credit: Jon Bond 6 The million-pound robot performs a hysterectomy in just 40 minutes Credit: Her hysterectomy, a major surgery, only took 40 minutes thanks to the million-pound robot used by Mr Ahmed and his team at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in London. Advertisement Done by hand, the same procedure would have taken two hours or more, involved an overnight stay on the ward and could have cost an extra £2,000. Health Secretary Wes Streeting has told Sun Health that robot- assisted surgery is the 'future of the health service' as our figures show its use is skyrocketing. Robotic assistance was used in 70,000 procedures on the NHS in England last year. That was double the 35,000 two years earlier in 2022, and a ten-fold increase on the 6,600 performed in 2014. Advertisement The machines, which are operated by surgeons, are capable of increasingly complex and major operations. They benefit doctors, patients and the health service. An NHS report last week said the adoption of robots is now 'in the exponential phase', meaning it is rapidly increasing. Officials say it will soon take over the majority of keyhole surgeries — such as gallbladder or appendix removal — and an increasing number of orthopaedic operations. Advertisement Mr Ahmed conducts the hysterectomy — the removal of the womb — from a console in the corner of the operating room, where he sits with his shoes off and dance music playing in the background. He uses hand controls as if he is playing on a Nintendo Wii to manoeuvre the Da Vinci Xi Robotic Surgical System. Robot doctor that can perform surgery in space is destined for ISS Tiny mechanical forceps and scissors slice the womb free from the bladder a millimetre at a time, cauterising the flesh as they go to prevent internal bleeding. The robot's instruments are more compact than a surgeon's, so incisions are smaller, reducing infection risk, scarring and bleeding. Advertisement 'Blood loss is way less now,' Mr Ahmed tells Sun Health. 'It's about 25ml, so the patients lose more from the blood tests beforehand than the operation itself.' A thin camera shows the inside of the body, and Mr Ahmed, the anaesthetist and nurses who are standing close to the patient to keep her safe watch the procedure on TV screens. Mr Ahmed, 40, says: 'This is the future and I don't think there's any way of going back. The benefits have been so profound that we can't not do it. 'We're doing about 1.5 times the amount of cases we were able to do with traditional keyhole surgery, and the patient outcomes are better, so our patients are staying in hospital for a shorter time.' Advertisement Not only does this mean people can recover at home and resume their daily life quicker — it also frees up vital beds in hospitals. And patients need less anaesthetic because the operation is shorter — another risk reduction. Mr Ahmen said: 'Previously, their average length of stay was 1.8 days, but our patient will go home today after a cup of tea and a sandwich in the recovery room. We've finished that case at 10 o'clock in the morning and, across the UK, there are a lot of surgeons who still don't have their first patient on the table.' The first robot-assisted operation in the NHS was carried out in the year 2000. Now, there are more than 140 machines in use across the country. Advertisement Health spending watchdog the National Institute For Health And Care Excellence last month gave the green light for hospitals to choose from 11 robotic systems. This signals top-ranking officials believe they are worth the money. Robo ops first took off in men's urology, operating on prostates and the pelvis, and are now increasingly used in gynaecology. 6 The robot performs surgery as medics watch on screens Credit: Jon Bond 6 Surgeon Mr Ahmed manipulates the robot arms by remote control Credit: Jon Bond Advertisement 6 The robot arms can be viewed on the screen Credit: Jon Bond It is particularly beneficial here because unwanted damage or mistakes can have devastating effects on patients' lives, leaving them with sexual dysfunction, fertility issues or incontinence. Urological surgeon Ben Challacombe is the head of robotic surgery at Guy's and St Thomas' NHS trust in London. He operated on TV legend Stephen Fry's prostate cancer using a robot and has also treated film director Steve McQueen. Advertisement He says: 'In some hospitals, you'll get an experienced surgeon doing operations with a robot but in other hospitals, they won't even have the robot yet. 'We need to democratise it because it's a postcode lottery. The NHS should negotiate to buy them at a national level to level up.' New departments are getting the help of robots all the time. They are now capable of heart surgery, mouth and throat operations, cancer treatment, hernia repair and even hip and knee replacements. 'Postcode lottery' Mr Challacombe says: 'The next generation will be single port robots where everything can go through one incision and cause even fewer side effects. Advertisement 'In the future I think we will be able to train robots to do parts of the tasks automatically. 'They're a long way off being able to do an entire operation but we expect that sort of step up.' Orthopaedic surgeon Al-Amin Kassam is trialling robotic hip replacements at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital. He uses a machine to create 3D scans before a robotic arm implants the new hip socket. Advertisement The physical bone work is done manually by surgeons. Mr Kassam said: 'The robot essentially works like a spirit level. 'During a manual implant, we put the replacement cup where our eyesight tells us to, but human eyes have a margin of error. It also means you have to open up the area more, cutting through more muscle and tendon so you can see. 'With the robot, you don't need the full view, so where most surgeons would cut three tendons at the back of the hip, we only need to cut one. It should improve patient recovery and get them back to activity and to work earlier.' The NHS also needs patients' co-operation before robotic surgery becomes standard. Many may still have visions of rogue Terminator-style cyborgs at the operating table. Advertisement But this could not be further from the truth, and the machines are not yet automatic. They can make only tiny movements controlled by qualified expert surgeons. Some patients are scared to begin with because they think the surgeon is going to be in the coffee room while it's happening Al-Amin Kassam Mr Kassam says: 'Some patients are scared to begin with because they think the surgeon is going to be in the coffee room while it's happening.' One patient who has been under the robotic knife is Ella Lacson, a 27-year-old from London. She has had the same endometriosis operation twice — once with a robot and once without. Endometriosis is a painful condition and causes the abnormal growth of womb tissue in other parts of the pelvis area. In severe cases, surgery is needed. Advertisement Client accountant Ella says: 'It felt like barbed wire in my pelvis and got so bad I couldn't go out with my friends or into the office. Smash waiting lists 'I first had the surgery in 2012 which was really uncomfortable for a few weeks and I was off school for months. But after my second surgery with the robot in December 2024, the recovery was so quick. 'I went home the same day, managed the pain by myself for about two weeks and then I was back to normal. I've started doing dance classes again, which I couldn't do before. 'I didn't feel like there were any downsides. I'd 100 per cent recommend it to someone in the same position as me.' Advertisement There are still some drawbacks, however, as machines typically cost upwards of £1million to buy and may initially disrupt efficiency. Mr Challacombe says: 'I'm very pro-robot but the downsides are the cost, and people get less efficient before they get more efficient. 'If the consultants are learning, the trainee surgeons can't learn from them. There is also some danger to operating a machine that is away from you, extending the time it takes to spot potential problems.' I'm very pro-robot but the downsides are the cost, and people get less efficient before they get more efficient Ben Challacombe He says reaction times with a camera view may not be as instant as up-close manual surgery. Advertisement But most procedures go smoothly and, once theatres are fully up and running, the benefits are clear. The ops are less physically taxing for surgeons, which could let them extend their careers, as many suffer back or shoulder problems. Their speed and ease of use mean the machines can be used for high-intensity sessions when surgeons ramp up procedures at the weekend to help slash waiting lists. England has millions of patients waiting for 7.4million procedures. Mr Ahmed's team in Fulham last year took part in a 'super surgery weekend', when two departments at the hospital operated on 59 patients in two days. Advertisement Professor Naeem Soomro, from the Royal College of Surgeons, said: 'Robot-assisted surgery is here to stay. 'Used well and for the right patients, it has the potential to bring benefits including greater precision, fewer blood transfusions, increased patient satisfaction and a faster return to work and family. 'To get the most out of these tools, it is essential to make sure that staff receive consistent, high-quality training to use them.' David Marante, vice president of Intuitive UK & Ireland, makers of Da Vinci robots, said: 'Innovative initiatives are bringing down waiting lists and improving productivity, helping save bed days, optimise staffing and improve efficiency.' Advertisement
South Wales Argus
22-04-2025
- Business
- South Wales Argus
The Loading Bay Newport receives five star hygiene rating
The Loading Bay, located on Road A in the Wern Industrial Estate, was inspected on March 28. The café was rated very good for hygienic food handling, and good for both the cleanliness and condition of facilities and management of food safety. This means the café has continued to meet the highest standards of cleanliness and food safety. The Food Hygiene Rating Act 2013 requires all food businesses in Wales to display hygiene ratings prominently, and provide the information over the phone if requested. Inspections are carried out by local authority officers, and ratings range from zero, meaning urgent improvement is necessary, to five, meaning standards are excellent. Each inspection is carried out under three categories: hygienic food handling, cleanliness and condition of facilities and building, and management of food safety. Hygienic food handling covers preparation, cooking, re-heating, cooling and storage. Cleanliness and condition of facilities and building covers having appropriate layout, ventilation, hand washing facilities and pest control. Management of food safety is defined as the system or checks in place to ensure that food sold or served is safe to eat, evidence that staff know about food safety, and the food safety officer has confidence that standards will be maintained in future. In a statement shared on Facebook on March 28, a spokesperson for the Loading Bay said: "We're proud to announce that we've received once again a grade 5 Food Hygiene Rating from the Food Standards Agency. "Congratulations to the whole team." The Loading Bay is a café that is located on the industrial estate. It is open from 9.30am to 5.30pm on weekdays and is closed on weekends. They serve breakfast, lunch, and hot and cold drinks. They also have a pool table, a Nintendo Wii, and an arcade machine for people to use. The café is cash only.
Fox News
03-04-2025
- Sport
- Fox News
The Legend of Kon: Inside Kon Knueppel's burning desire to be great
Kon Knueppel can remember sitting in his room on Duke's campus and watching the NBA Draft last June. Before he got to Durham, there was only one question on his mind: What can I do this summer to show that I deserve to get minutes as a freshman at Duke? But that night, as he watched one-and-done freshmen Reed Sheppard, Stephon Castle and Rob Dillingham get selected in the top 10, not to mention a Duke one-and-done player in Jared McCain land in the top 20, something hit Knueppel. "After watching the draft, I said to myself, 'I want that to be me next year,'" Knueppel told FOX Sports. "I started getting up at 5:30 a.m. every day during the summer except Sundays to work as hard as possible. I really, really enjoy just doing my work and getting out that extra work." This is Knueppel, the 60-year-old stuck in a 19-year-old's body, termed by his family as an "old soul" with maturity beyond his years. He possesses a relentless passion that matches the standards of Jon Scheyer and Duke in every way and the instincts and talent to help a team in a variety of ways when he's on the floor. The oldest of five boys, Knueppel comes from legendary basketball genes in the state of Wisconsin. His father, Kon I, was a four-time All-Lake Michigan Conference selection at Wisconsin Lutheran College, setting the school's record for career points with 2,064. His mother, Chari Nordgaard Knueppel, enjoyed an even more legendary career, being one of only three players in Green Bay women's basketball history to have her jersey retired as the Phoenix's all-time leading scorer with 1,964 career points. Kon I and Chari knew they were going to get married just 11 days into their relationship, and then came Kon II, who had a special aura to him that even the nurses at Aurora Sinai Medical Center noticed. "The day he was born, his eyes were bright, wide open and focused," Chari said. "The nurses said to me, 'He looks like he's two months old already with the way that he's looking at you.' He was taking everything in from Day 1, just so observant and aware of everybody. He's been that way his whole life." But Knueppel's love of basketball didn't come as immediate as his rapid maturation. "When Kon was 5 and 6 years old, he was not into sports at all," said Jeff Nordgaard, Knueppel's uncle on his mom's side, who was a second-round NBA Draft pick of the Milwaukee Bucks in 1996 before playing mostly internationally at the pro level for 13 years. "We are a sports family. But he was really smart, using words in his vocabulary that were beyond what any of the little kids would say. "We were starting to think he would be a non-athlete, which was totally fine, but still one of those things that surprised us." And then, one purchase made by the Knueppel family changed everything: The Nintendo Wii. His parents did not previously have a video game console in the house and made it a point to limit those types of things. But without that Wii, Knueppel might've never developed the love for the game of basketball he has now. "I didn't like basketball before the Wii. I just wasn't interested in it growing up," Knueppel said. "But we got that Wii and I started playing NBA Jam and 2K. I fell in love with players. From there, I was passionate to find out as much as I humanly could about NBA players. "My obsession probably kind of got ridiculous, but that's how I fell in love with the game. Obviously, when you couple that with great coaches and parents, they really encouraged it. But that Wii changed it all." In addition to his love for the Wii, Knueppel also developed a passion for reading about basketball, specifically the "Big Book of Basketball." "He read the Big Book of Basketball probably about four times, starting when he was 10 years old," Chari said. "So then he wanted to talk to people about everything he read. That's just who he is: an old soul." Knueppel took that passion from video games and reading to the court, and it didn't take long for Norgaard, who coached Knueppel in fourth and fifth grade in the AAU ranks, to understand that his nephew was different. "At that time, his feel and IQ was that of a high school kid," Norgaard said of Knueppel. "He was very skilled but not overly impressive physically. His feel, poise and composure, along with his shotmaking, made him stand out above the rest." For Knueppel, the thought of playing basketball, especially at the Division I level, had never crossed his mind. He was playing multiple sports and just embracing being a kid, even when he entered the ninth grade at Wisconsin Lutheran High School. "Even going into my freshman year of high school, I knew I was a good player in the state and in middle school, but I still thought I'd probably end up playing Division III ball at Wisconsin Lutheran College or something," Knueppel said. "But it became evident pretty early on that I probably could be a low-major to mid-major Division I player. And then, I just kept working and by the end of my freshman year, that summer of AAU is when things took off for me." For the proud Milwaukee native, it was a trip to his hometown Marquette University's team camp that changed it all. "I just remember Shaka Smart explaining drills for us, and then we'd jump into a couple of games followed by open practice," Knueppel said. "When our team was on the court and he was explaining stuff to us, I noticed he was looking at me a lot. Right after that, one of the assistants talked to me and the next day, I got an offer over the phone from them. And then, right after that, I told my parents I had to get a whole lot better because I didn't think I was that good yet." Two more years went by, and with it came offers from Alabama, Wisconsin, Virginia, Notre Dame, USC and more. Being from such a tight-knit family, Knueppel thought long and hard about staying close to home. "It was a super-tough decision because I did want to stay near home," Knueppel said. "That was my original thought process — until I visited Duke. I loved how small the campus was. There was such appeal to it, not to mention the staff being great people and being able to play on a great team, so I told myself: 'If a campus was in Milwaukee, where would I go?' Ultimately, that was Duke." Knueppel's parents made it clear that the decision was up to him, and in the end, Duke was the clear choice. "When he told us he wanted to go to Duke, we said 'Why?' And he responded: 'I want to play against the best players every day in practice, because that will make me better. I want to keep it fun and playing on a big stage in every game I play in, with a soldout crowd, is a lot of fun.' "The third thing was to compete for a national championship. It was that simple, and we were sold. Between playing road games in packed houses, the atmosphere of Cameron Indoor Stadium and when you have to guard Cooper Flagg or try to drive on Khaman Maluach or playing with veterans like Mason Gillis and Sion James, that's the ultimate test." Fast-forward to present day, and Knueppel has enjoyed a standout freshman season. He has helped lead the Blue Devils to a spot in the Final Four, combining for 41 points, nine rebounds and eight assists in wins over Arizona (Sweet 16) and Alabama (Elite Eight). The 6-foot-7 sharpshooting guard has shown why he's projected to be a top-10 selection in this summer's NBA Draft, but not everything has looked like a Hollywood movie script for Knueppel this season. "I was really homesick when I got to Duke," Knueppel said. "Obviously, I'm really close with my four brothers [Kager, Kinston, Kash and Kid] so I missed them. But you know, I was able to really lean into basketball, and I was in the gym all the time in the summer, leaning into the guys, managers and coaches. Eventually, I got comfortable." Knueppel relied upon his classmates: Flagg, Muluach and Darren Harris, along with a sixth-year grad student in Neal Begovic, who Knueppel got to know when he went on a visit to Stanford as a sophomore in high school. "Neal really helped me," Knueppel said. "He's a great friend and got me accustomed to college life. He invited me over every Sunday to watch football. Those types of things really helped." Knueppel's road to being one of the top stars heading into this year's Final Four has been a fascinating one. He started his college career with 22 points on 8-for-14 shooting from the floor against Maine. Two games later against Kentucky, he was done in by a 5-for-20 showing in a loss. In Duke's win over Auburn in early December, he only took three shots. However, in his last 13 games, Knueppel has notched 14-or-more points in all but one of them, the Blue Devils' first-round tournament win over Mount St. Mary's. "I think a lot of it is learning," Chari said. "I think you're in a different place in college as a freshman in December than you are in March and April. He had a lot of great people helping him to be aggressive and to play more freely. The staff wants him to do that and I think he's gotten better and better at that as the year's gone on. "I like 5-for-22 better than 2-for-3, personally. But there were definitely ups and downs, ebbs and flows to a college season, but that made him stronger, and now he's got two games left to let it fly in a Duke uniform." Knueppel has been playing his best basketball of the season as late, shooting 11-for-22 from the floor and 4-of-6 from 3-point territory over his last two games. His presence for this Duke team on both ends of the floor is vital because he plays mostly mistake-free basketball while being a solid defensive presence and a better passer than the numbers show. "This guy's a stud right here," Scheyer said of Knueppel on the TBS postgame interview after Duke's 85-65 East Regional Final win over Alabama. "He's the ultimate warrior, competitor, and he really carried us throughout tonight. "Kon's versatility is huge for us, and his size. He's able to pass. He's able to finish. You feel he's always going to get off a good look because he has great pivots in the paint and great patience." That competitive nature comes from growing up in a blue-collar household, with Chari running a daycare since 2006 and Kon I working as a school counselor in the Milwaukee public schools system. Chari does have plans to retire this summer to focus on all of her five boys and their busy basketball schedules. "We knew we wanted lots of kids and we had five in five and a half years," Chari said with a laugh. "I certainly wasn't paying for daycare with how much that was going to cost, so I decided to stay home and run the daycare." Even when running that daycare, though, Chari was motivating her children to hit the gym to get more shots up. "I am really fierce about getting to the gym every day," Char saidi. "My husband could sometimes be like, 'Hey, they already had practice. They already got their lift in. Can't we give them the day off?' And I'm like, 'No way!' We're going to get at least 100 shots up. We're for sure doing that." That work ethic instilled in the Knueppel boys is what drives them to be great, and in return, has created a dilemma heading into Final Four Week. Kager, 17, and Kinston, 16, both have their opening weekend of AAU ball. While mom thought it would be best for the two boys to join their younger brothers for Saturday's showdown with Houston, the ever-competitive Kon II stepped in. "I always say, 'You don't miss basketball to watch basketball,' Knueppel said. "I get it's the Final Four, but if they want to play the game, I think they should play. I think they're counting on us to get it done on Saturday, but that's going to be an absolute battle." But Chari and Kon I's parenting goes beyond teaching their children about having a correct work ethic. Having character and strong moral and ethical qualities is extremely important to Knueppel, who is also very attached to his faith. "When Duke was playing Louisville in the ACC Tournament, the Louisville strength coach asked all of our managers who was the best player to them? Who was it that treated them the best? And they all said Kon," Chari said. "After Kon won the ACC Tournament MVP, he texted his dad and I saying, 'I just wanted to share this little nugget with you.' And we were more proud about that than the ACC MVP. "For his dad and I, that's what really matters to us. That means more than anything that has to do with basketball, that you're a good Christian and that you treat people the right way." As for what lies ahead for Knueppel on the basketball court, it's a date with a Houston team that enters the Final Four having won 30 of its last 31 games while owning the No. 1-ranked defense in America and holding Tennessee to 15 points in the first half, the fewest by a top-2 seed in NCAA Tournament history. Knueppel brought up how much he has admired Houston's DNA over the years. "They're machines, man," Knueppel said. "They play for him. They just play so hard and it's very, very admirable watching them play. Sometimes it's not the prettiest offensively, but it doesn't matter one bit because they play so hard on defense. L.J. Cryer can fill it up and on the boards. They're unreal." Not bad for a scouting report from Knueppel. Not bad for a kid who thought he would be lucky to get a D3 offer as a freshman in high school, only to become a five-star prospect and one of the most sought-after recruits in the nation. Not bad for an old soul who has those same wide eyes born out of Aurora Sinai Hospital set on a national championship. John Fanta is a national college basketball broadcaster and writer for FOX Sports. He covers the sport in a variety of capacities, from calling games on FS1 to serving as lead host on the BIG EAST Digital Network to providing commentary on The Field of 68 Media Network. Follow him at @John_Fanta. Want great stories delivered right to your inbox? Create or log in to your FOX Sports account, and follow leagues, teams and players to receive a personalized newsletter daily!
Fox Sports
03-04-2025
- Sport
- Fox Sports
The Legend of Kon: Inside Kon Knueppel's burning desire to be great
Kon Knueppel can remember sitting in his room on Duke's campus and watching the NBA Draft last June. Before he got to Durham, there was only one question on his mind: What can I do this summer to show that I deserve to get minutes as a freshman at Duke? But that night, as he watched one-and-done freshmen Reed Sheppard, Stephon Castle and Rob Dillingham get selected in the top 10, not to mention a Duke one-and-done player in Jared McCain land in the top 20, something hit Knueppel. "After watching the draft, I said to myself, 'I want that to be me next year,'" Knueppel told FOX Sports. "I started getting up at 5:30 a.m. every day during the summer except Sundays to work as hard as possible. I really, really enjoy just doing my work and getting out that extra work." This is Knueppel, the 60-year-old stuck in a 19-year-old's body, termed by his family as an "old soul" with maturity beyond his years. He possesses a relentless passion that matches the standards of Jon Scheyer and Duke in every way and the instincts and talent to help a team in a variety of ways when he's on the floor. The oldest of five boys, Knueppel comes from legendary basketball genes in the state of Wisconsin. His father, Kon I, was a four-time All-Lake Michigan Conference selection at Wisconsin Lutheran College, setting the school's record for career points with 2,064. His mother, Chari Nordgaard Knueppel, enjoyed an even more legendary career, being one of only three players in Green Bay women's basketball history to have her jersey retired as the Phoenix's all-time leading scorer with 1,964 career points. Kon I and Chari knew they were going to get married just 11 days into their relationship, and then came Kon II, who had a special aura to him that even the nurses at Aurora Sinai Medical Center noticed. "The day he was born, his eyes were bright, wide open and focused," Chari said. "The nurses said to me, 'He looks like he's two months old already with the way that he's looking at you.' He was taking everything in from Day 1, just so observant and aware of everybody. He's been that way his whole life." But Knueppel's love of basketball didn't come as immediate as his rapid maturation. "When Kon was 5 and 6 years old, he was not into sports at all," said Jeff Nordgaard, Knueppel's uncle on his mom's side, who was a second-round NBA Draft pick of the Milwaukee Bucks in 1996 before playing mostly internationally at the pro level for 13 years. "We are a sports family. But he was really smart, using words in his vocabulary that were beyond what any of the little kids would say. "We were starting to think he would be a non-athlete, which was totally fine, but still one of those things that surprised us." And then, one purchase made by the Knueppel family changed everything: The Nintendo Wii. His parents did not previously have a video game console in the house and made it a point to limit those types of things. But without that Wii, Knueppel might've never developed the love for the game of basketball he has now. "I didn't like basketball before the Wii. I just wasn't interested in it growing up," Knueppel said. "But we got that Wii and I started playing NBA Jam and 2K. I fell in love with players. From there, I was passionate to find out as much as I humanly could about NBA players. "My obsession probably kind of got ridiculous, but that's how I fell in love with the game. Obviously, when you couple that with great coaches and parents, they really encouraged it. But that Wii changed it all." In addition to his love for the Wii, Knueppel also developed a passion for reading about basketball, specifically the "Big Book of Basketball." "He read the Big Book of Basketball probably about four times, starting when he was 10 years old," Chari said. "So then he wanted to talk to people about everything he read. That's just who he is: an old soul." Knueppel took that passion from video games and reading to the court, and it didn't take long for Norgaard, who coached Knueppel in fourth and fifth grade in the AAU ranks, to understand that his nephew was different. "At that time, his feel and IQ was that of a high school kid," Norgaard said of Knueppel. "He was very skilled but not overly impressive physically. His feel, poise and composure, along with his shotmaking, made him stand out above the rest." For Knueppel, the thought of playing basketball, especially at the Division I level, had never crossed his mind. He was playing multiple sports and just embracing being a kid, even when he entered the ninth grade at Wisconsin Lutheran High School. "Even going into my freshman year of high school, I knew I was a good player in the state and in middle school, but I still thought I'd probably end up playing Division III ball at Wisconsin Lutheran College or something," Knueppel said. "But it became evident pretty early on that I probably could be a low-major to mid-major Division I player. And then, I just kept working and by the end of my freshman year, that summer of AAU is when things took off for me." For the proud Milwaukee native, it was a trip to his hometown Marquette University's team camp that changed it all. "I just remember Shaka Smart explaining drills for us, and then we'd jump into a couple of games followed by open practice," Knueppel said. "When our team was on the court and he was explaining stuff to us, I noticed he was looking at me a lot. Right after that, one of the assistants talked to me and the next day, I got an offer over the phone from them. And then, right after that, I told my parents I had to get a whole lot better because I didn't think I was that good yet." Two more years went by, and with it came offers from Alabama, Wisconsin, Virginia, Notre Dame, USC and more. Being from such a tight-knit family, Knueppel thought long and hard about staying close to home. "It was a super-tough decision because I did want to stay near home," Knueppel said. "That was my original thought process — until I visited Duke. I loved how small the campus was. There was such appeal to it, not to mention the staff being great people and being able to play on a great team, so I told myself: 'If a campus was in Milwaukee, where would I go?' Ultimately, that was Duke." Knueppel's parents made it clear that the decision was up to him, and in the end, Duke was the clear choice. "When he told us he wanted to go to Duke, we said 'Why?' And he responded: 'I want to play against the best players every day in practice, because that will make me better. I want to keep it fun and playing on a big stage in every game I play in, with a soldout crowd, is a lot of fun.' "The third thing was to compete for a national championship. It was that simple, and we were sold. Between playing road games in packed houses, the atmosphere of Cameron Indoor Stadium and when you have to guard Cooper Flagg or try to drive on Khaman Maluach or playing with veterans like Mason Gillis and Sion James, that's the ultimate test." Fast-forward to present day, and Knueppel has enjoyed a standout freshman season. He has helped lead the Blue Devils to a spot in the Final Four, combining for 41 points, nine rebounds and eight assists in wins over Arizona (Sweet 16) and Alabama (Elite Eight). The 6-foot-7 sharpshooting guard has shown why he's projected to be a top-10 selection in this summer's NBA Draft, but not everything has looked like a Hollywood movie script for Knueppel this season. "I was really homesick when I got to Duke," Knueppel said. "Obviously, I'm really close with my four brothers [Kager, Kinston, Kash and Kid] so I missed them. But you know, I was able to really lean into basketball, and I was in the gym all the time in the summer, leaning into the guys, managers and coaches. Eventually, I got comfortable." Knueppel relied upon his classmates: Flagg, Muluach and Darren Harris, along with a sixth-year grad student in Neal Begovic, who Knueppel got to know when he went on a visit to Stanford as a sophomore in high school. "Neal really helped me," Knueppel said. "He's a great friend and got me accustomed to college life. He invited me over every Sunday to watch football. Those types of things really helped." Knueppel's road to being one of the top stars heading into this year's Final Four has been a fascinating one. He started his college career with 22 points on 8-for-14 shooting from the floor against Maine. Two games later against Kentucky, he was done in by a 5-for-20 showing in a loss. In Duke's win over Auburn in early December, he only took three shots. However, in his last 13 games, Knueppel has notched 14-or-more points in all but one of them, the Blue Devils' first-round tournament win over Mount St. Mary's. "I think a lot of it is learning," Chari said. "I think you're in a different place in college as a freshman in December than you are in March and April. He had a lot of great people helping him to be aggressive and to play more freely. The staff wants him to do that and I think he's gotten better and better at that as the year's gone on. "I like 5-for-22 better than 2-for-3, personally. But there were definitely ups and downs, ebbs and flows to a college season, but that made him stronger, and now he's got two games left to let it fly in a Duke uniform." Knueppel has been playing his best basketball of the season as late, shooting 11-for-22 from the floor and 4-of-6 from 3-point territory over his last two games. His presence for this Duke team on both ends of the floor is vital because he plays mostly mistake-free basketball while being a solid defensive presence and a better passer than the numbers show. "This guy's a stud right here," Scheyer said of Knueppel on the TBS postgame interview after Duke's 85-65 East Regional Final win over Alabama. "He's the ultimate warrior, competitor, and he really carried us throughout tonight. "Kon's versatility is huge for us, and his size. He's able to pass. He's able to finish. You feel he's always going to get off a good look because he has great pivots in the paint and great patience." That competitive nature comes from growing up in a blue-collar household, with Chari running a daycare since 2006 and Kon I working as a school counselor in the Milwaukee public schools system. Chari does have plans to retire this summer to focus on all of her five boys and their busy basketball schedules. "We knew we wanted lots of kids and we had five in five and a half years," Chari said with a laugh. "I certainly wasn't paying for daycare with how much that was going to cost, so I decided to stay home and run the daycare." Even when running that daycare, though, Chari was motivating her children to hit the gym to get more shots up. "I am really fierce about getting to the gym every day," Char saidi. "My husband could sometimes be like, 'Hey, they already had practice. They already got their lift in. Can't we give them the day off?' And I'm like, 'No way!' We're going to get at least 100 shots up. We're for sure doing that." That work ethic instilled in the Knueppel boys is what drives them to be great, and in return, has created a dilemma heading into Final Four Week. Kager, 17, and Kinston, 16, both have their opening weekend of AAU ball. While mom thought it would be best for the two boys to join their younger brothers for Saturday's showdown with Houston, the ever-competitive Kon II stepped in. "I always say, 'You don't miss basketball to watch basketball,' Knueppel said. "I get it's the Final Four, but if they want to play the game, I think they should play. I think they're counting on us to get it done on Saturday, but that's going to be an absolute battle." But Chari and Kon I's parenting goes beyond teaching their children about having a correct work ethic. Having character and strong moral and ethical qualities is extremely important to Knueppel, who is also very attached to his faith. "When Duke was playing Louisville in the ACC Tournament, the Louisville strength coach asked all of our managers who was the best player to them? Who was it that treated them the best? And they all said Kon," Chari said. "After Kon won the ACC Tournament MVP, he texted his dad and I saying, 'I just wanted to share this little nugget with you.' And we were more proud about that than the ACC MVP. "For his dad and I, that's what really matters to us. That means more than anything that has to do with basketball, that you're a good Christian and that you treat people the right way." As for what lies ahead for Knueppel on the basketball court, it's a date with a Houston team that enters the Final Four having won 30 of its last 31 games while owning the No. 1-ranked defense in America and holding Tennessee to 15 points in the first half, the fewest by a top-2 seed in NCAA Tournament history. Knueppel brought up how much he has admired Houston's DNA over the years. "They're machines, man," Knueppel said. "They play for him. They just play so hard and it's very, very admirable watching them play. Sometimes it's not the prettiest offensively, but it doesn't matter one bit because they play so hard on defense. L.J. Cryer can fill it up and on the boards. They're unreal." Not bad for a scouting report from Knueppel. Not bad for a kid who thought he would be lucky to get a D3 offer as a freshman in high school, only to become a five-star prospect and one of the most sought-after recruits in the nation. Not bad for an old soul who has those same wide eyes born out of Aurora Sinai Hospital set on a national championship. John Fanta is a national college basketball broadcaster and writer for FOX Sports. He covers the sport in a variety of capacities, from calling games on FS1 to serving as lead host on the BIG EAST Digital Network to providing commentary on The Field of 68 Media Network. Follow him at @John_Fanta . Want great stories delivered right to your inbox? Create or log in to your FOX Sports account , and follow leagues, teams and players to receive a personalized newsletter daily! recommended Get more from College Basketball Follow your favorites to get information about games, news and more
