'Northern Iowa just had everything I was looking for': De Pere basketball star Will Hornseth finds future home

Brian Winchester has coached plenty of NCAA Division I players during his tenure with the De Pere boys basketball team.

He has a feeling Redbirds senior forward Will Hornseth will make some programs regret not going after him before he committed to Northern Iowa last month.

“He’s going to be a kid that Northern Iowa at some point is going to beat a high major school,” Winchester said. “And every coach that got beat is going to look at him and go, ‘Why the hell didn’t we recruit that kid?’”

The 6-foot-8 Hornseth was an integral part of De Pere’s run to the WIAA Division 1 state championship last season, when it became the first boys team in state history to finish 30-0.

Hornseth averaged 16.6 points and 5.7 rebounds while shooting 76.4%. It came after a breakout sophomore campaign in which he averaged 17.7 points and 6.3 rebounds to put himself squarely on the recruiting map.

The University of Wisconsin-Green Bay and former coach Will Ryan was the first to offer him a scholarship in August 2021.

Sundance Wicks was hired by the Phoenix in March and reaffirmed the offer to Hornseth with hopes of keeping him close to home.

The University of St. Thomas, Toledo and Illinois State all offered Hornseth either before his sophomore season or entering his junior year. Princeton and Dartmouth were in the mix, although Ivy League schools don’t give athletic scholarships.

Hornseth had nothing but good things to say about those schools, but there was something about Northern Iowa that stood out when he made a visit to campus.

“I mean, the fit for me was a huge factor,” Hornseth said. “I got along with the coaching staff really well, and I just feel like I can work really well with them. To build off that, the players, I got to meet all of them. Super nice. I can see being able to go hard against them in practice but then being able to support each other during games.

“It’s just an environment where I feel like I could get a lot better. I had a lot of other good offers and places I was willing to go, but Northern Iowa just had everything I was looking for. Just a little bit better than all the other schools.”

How much did longtime Northern Iowa coach Ben Jacobson want Hornseth?

He doesn’t like to make offers on the phone, preferring to do them in person. He also didn’t want to be a distraction to Hornseth during the week he was preparing for state.

But he couldn’t help it. He called and made the offer, then was at the Kohl Center in Madison a few days later watching Hornseth put the finishing touches on the Redbirds’ championship season.

Hornseth scored a team-high 19 points and grabbed eight rebounds while shooting 9-for-12 in a semifinal win against Kettle Moraine.

He had 17 points and 11 rebounds and shot 7-for-10 in the title game against Hartland Arrowhead the following night.

“He has a drive and a motor, and when you get him on the court, he loves to compete,” Winchester said. “A lot of big kids you have to really talk them into things. Even when the game gets started, they get a little lazy. Will has a motor, and he competes. That was evident in every bit of his high school career so far, and that will serve him really well in college.”

Will Hornseth showed potential at early age

Winchester is as involved as any prep coach in the feeder program. He saw Hornseth in middle school and knew a kid that big and skilled was going to be a good player at De Pere.

Projecting anything more so early was difficult, and things got complicated entering Hornseth’s freshman season in 2020-21.

The COVID-19 pandemic prevented De Pere from doing anything extensive that summer, which didn’t give the coaching staff a good chance to evaluate at what level to put the promising rookie.

Winchester thought the best place for his development was junior varsity, something both coach and player still believe he benefited from.

It was obvious by the middle of the year Hornseth could help the varsity team, but there was a COVID-19 policy that a player could not move up a level during the regular season.

“That drove me nuts,” Winchester said. “Because once you knew, it was like, ‘Dammit.’ We moved him up at the very end of the year because you could once the tournament started, but it was hard. He didn’t have enough time for team development at that point to really maximize what I thought he probably could have brought that year.

“By the time his sophomore year hit, the sky was the limit.”

Hornseth didn’t comprehend when he arrived in high school all the possibilities and opportunities that might be presented to him because of basketball, or that he would be good enough to play at the DI level.

When UWGB offered him and things started to progress, reality hit.

“Like, this is legit,” Hornseth said. “I’m going to be playing in college.”

Will Hornseth is more than just a basketball player

One of the things Winchester loves most about his pupil is the variety of interests he has away from the court and his vibrant personality.

Some players are consumed by basketball, so driven they don’t have time for much else.

Winchester always watches Hornseth display a quality effort on the court, but he doesn’t necessarily wake up each day thinking about the game or watching highlights.

“He has a unique balance in his life,” Winchester said. “I was wired like basketball 24-7, and in a lot of ways still am. I understand that approach. When you are around kids like that, you really understand them well.

“But when you are around kids like Will and a number of other guys we have, you also appreciate what makes them go. It’s kind of neat to have a mix of different personalities.”

Hornseth is willing to play almost any sport for fun. Frisbee golf has been getting a good run out of him this summer.

He enjoys playing board games with family. He often has headphones on walking around his house, listening to all sorts of music.

He also loves to paint. His grandma is the true artist in the family, and he is inspired by her.

His biggest struggle is deciding when a painting is complete. Most remain unfinished and stored in his bedroom, but a brush in his hand tends to be a stress reliever on those days when basketball doesn’t go well.

Yes, Hornseth will be well adjusted no matter what he decides to do when his playing days are complete.

“One of the biggest things I liked about Northern Iowa was the fact that they valued that from me,” Hornseth said. “I know that they look for that in players. It’s not just all basketball in this world. There is so much more beyond the court. That speaks true to me.

“I love playing basketball. I love the sport. There are times when you are going to be sick of basketball and you are going to need to do something else. You are going to need another outlet. … I love putting in work for basketball, but I definitely will take a break and entertain myself in other ways.”

This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: De Pere basketball star Will Hornseth finds home at Northern Iowa