WIAA Division 4 state boys basketball: Kodi Miller powers Knights to Kohl Center

He had grown up playing basketball and hanging out with the same group of friends in West Salem, but finding faith-based education was important to him. Miller put the transfer off a year before making it happen after his sophomore season.

“Religion is very important to my family,” Miller said during a break as the Onalaska Luther High School boys basketball team practiced for its upcoming WIAA Division 4 state tournament. “It made me start to think about where else I should go.”

His older brother Jayden attended Coulee Christian, but Kodi didn’t have any friends there. A basketball game at the La Crosse Center helped him make up his mind.

“I remember watching Luther play in the state tournament at the La Crosse Center,” he remembered of the 2021 game. “The team they were playing (Prairie School) had three guards hounding Isaiah (Schwichtenberg), and I knew Isaiah because I played AAU with him.

“I had pretty much made my decision to go to Luther but not officially. When I saw that, I knew I had to go help him and use my gift for that team.”

The transition to Luther was a smooth one according to all involved. Leaving West Salem was a bit of an issue.

“They kind of looked at me as a traitor,” Miller said of his former teammates. “But we started hanging out again a little more (down the road), and it’s important to not lose bonds like that. I hang out with them every weekend. Some of my best friends are there.”

The bond is strong enough that Miller posed for pictures with his former teammates and was included in a team photo after the Panthers beat the Knights in West Salem to secure the Coulee Conference championship.

They all head to Madison together — not technically but figuratively — for Thursday state semifinals.

The second-seeded Knights (26-2) play third-seeded Whitehall (22-6) after the first Division 4 semifinal that tips off at 6:35 p.m. at the Kohl Center. Miller’s former teammates are the No. 1 seeded in Division 3, and the Panthers open with fourth-seeded Milwaukee Academy of Science (18-6) at 1:35 p.m. Thursday.

Schwichtenberg, Gabe Huelskamp and Synclair Byus all said Miller’s addition was a simple addition to team chemistry. The positivity he brought — in addition to his basketball skills — has been a benefit ever since.

When coach Brad Schaper wants the mood lightened, Miller can do it. If he wants the tone serious, Miller can handle that, too.

“He’s a very outgoing person, and he’s a vocal guy on the basketball court,” Huelskamp said. “He’s great at encouraging people and good at making sure everyone’s on the same page.”

Schwichtenberg was thrilled with his friend’s decision, and the two have combined to form one of the area’s top backcourts for the past two seasons.

“We first played together in fifth or sixth grade,” Schwichtenberg said in reference to the Coulee Country program. “We were both point guards, so whether it was playing together with him in games or against him in practice, we made each other better.

“He’s tough to guard.”

That’s because defenders never know when Miller’s going to let the basketball fly. The senior is a threat the moment he steps across the halfcourt line, and Schaper loves it.

“A lot of coaches might try to push him down when he pulls up (for a shot) from a long way away from the basket,” Schaper said. “I love that about him. I’ve been waiting for 16 years for one of those, and he knows he has our confidence.”

Huelskamp said it’s exciting not knowing when or where Miller might shoot that kind of shot that an entire team can rally around.

“If he’s shooting it, I know he thinks he can make it,” he said. “If it doesn’t happen to go in that time, you live with those because he will probably make the next one.”

Byus said he remembered a time when Miller made two straight shots from half-court at an AAU tournament last summer in Chicago.

“My mouth was just wide open,” Byus said. “We were just like, ‘Holy cow.’”

Miller, a 6-foot senior, averages a team-high 17.6 points per game, shoots 48.6% from the floor and has made 37.5% (48 of 128) of his 3-point attempts. He also averages 3.8 assists and 2.1 steals per game.

If he isn’t lighting up an opponent — Miller averaged 29.5 points in the team’s only two losses to West Salem and had a season-high 36 in a win over Arcadia — he can find other ways to be effective.

“He is the most cerebral basketball player I have ever had,” Schaper said. “He thinks through plays, he thinks through defensive schemes, he thinks through ways we screen. Very cerebral and been around the game a long time.”

But much of what Miller offers his team is of the lighthearted variety. He likes pranks and to make sure everyone is having fun.

Whether that’s jokes while playing video games with Byus or someone else or acting up a bit on a team meal after a game, Miller is up for it.

“It’s about being positive and being kind,” Miller said. “You can’t be the quite kid and not talk. You want to make friends, and I always feel like talking.

“To talk, you need someone to talk to, so you have to get out there and make friends.”

And with good friends at both his new school and old school, Miller hopes the season turns out golden for all of them.