UWGB men's basketball recruit and former U.P. star Foster Wonders joins familiar faces with Phoenix

When Preston Ruedinger committed to the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay men’s basketball team earlier this month, the former Oshkosh Lourdes guard vowed to do his best to get others to join him.

It appears Ruedinger wasn’t messing around.

Just ask Foster Wonders, the 6-foot-5 shooting guard who announced his commitment to the Phoenix on Sunday after a two-day visit to campus to meet with new coach Sundance Wicks.

“He was hitting me up all the time, telling me how awesome it would be to be teammates again,” said Wonders, who has spent the past two years at Southern Illinois. “We both kind of got goosebumps thinking about that because we had such a tight bond when we played together in high school.

“To be able to do it on the college level is going to be special.”

Wonders and Ruedinger were part of the Pack Attack AAU team, a program former Green Bay Packers coach Mike McCarthy helped start.

Wonders also spent time with the Phenom University AAU squad and practiced every day against notable talents such as Jalen Johnson and Patrick Baldwin Jr.

Foster Wonders had record-breaking high school career

When he wasn’t playing summer ball, Wonders was dominating for Iron Mountain High School in Michigan.

He finished his career as the Upper Peninsula’s all-time leading scorer with more than 2,200 points while leading his team to a combined 83-5 record during his four seasons.

Iron Mountain finished runner-up at the Division 3 state tournament during Wonders’ senior year in 2021, a season in which he averaged 34.5 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists and 2.5 steals.

Wonders received 13 scholarship offers during his prep career, including one from UWGB and former coach Linc Darner.

The Phoenix wasn’t the only Horizon League team that wanted him, with Wright State, UW-Milwaukee, Cleveland State and Oakland also extending offers.

But any chance of staying closer to home and playing at UWGB was made more difficult when the school fired Darner months before Wonders was set to begin his senior season.

Wonders instead committed to SIU in July 2020.

“There was a lot of things up in the air,” Wonders said. “I heard rumors about whether or not Coach Darner was going to be able to stay. Initially, I definitely had a lot of interest in Green Bay. Just not knowing how secure things were as far as him staying as coach definitely played in my decision out of high school.

“Obviously, now with Coach Wicks coming in and kind of starting fresh, I thought it would be really special to be part of that.”

Per NCAA rules, Wicks is not allowed to comment on potential recruits until all their paperwork has been filed.

Wonders is no stranger to UWGB coaching staff

Ruedinger isn’t the only person at UWGB who already knows what Wonders can bring to the team.

One of the three assistant coaches Wicks hired last month was Pat Monaghan, who served in the same position under SIU coach Bryan Mullins the past four seasons.

Monaghan recruited Wonders throughout his prep career, including when he was an assistant at UWM from 2017 to 2019 before being hired at SIU.

When Wonders learned Monaghan was joining the Phoenix, it made playing at UWGB even more intriguing and ultimately helped him decide to commit.

“I’ve gotten pretty close to him throughout the years,” Wonders said. “I’m familiar with the way he coaches and everything, so that was definitely a factor.”

Wonders redshirted his first year at SIU in 2021-22 before making his collegiate debut for the Salukis last season.

He played 24 games off the bench, averaging 2.6 points in 7.3 minutes while shooting 39% overall (23-for-59) and 34.7% from 3 (17-for-49).

Those percentages were a bit low for a player who historically has been a great outside shooter and was named U.P. Mr. Basketball three times, but there is little question the Phoenix is confident he can help solve some of the team’s offensive woes the past few seasons with his ability to create shots.

Wonders showed glimpses of that in one of his best games with SIU when he scored 11 points and went 3-for-5 from 3-point range against Indiana State in December.

Wonders excited to play in front of family

There were a few factors that went into Wonders’ decision to enter the portal.

It was difficult to be so far away from home and not get the opportunity to play in front of family and friends on most nights, something that won’t be the case as much now that he’s at UWGB.

Wonders comes from a basketball family.

His father, Matt, scored 1,538 points at Division II Northern Michigan from 1990 to 1995 while starting 114 of 115 career games.

His mother, Julie, scored 1,208 points in two seasons at NMU in the early 1990s and still holds several program records. It includes most points in a single season (715), highest scoring average in a season (25.5 ppg) and the most points in a single game (52).

His brother, Carson, also played for the Wildcats.

The game always has been part of Wonders’ life, and he is fond of the times he attended UWGB contests growing up and watching former Phoenix stars Keifer Sykes, Alec Brown and Sandy Cohen III.

He had visits to other schools scheduled after UWGB. But by the second day of the trip here, and after talking about it with his parents, they all agreed it felt like the spot for him and there was no reason to wait.

“Preston was there as well with his family,” Wonders said. “I ended up committing on the visit, and Coach Wicks was going crazy as soon as I told him. Everybody was kind of going wild. It was awesome. An awesome moment.”

Along with the family aspect, Wonders didn’t think his fit at SIU was right for him and that he could find a system that was better suited for his style.

“I think I definitely found that with Green Bay,” said Wonders, who has three seasons of eligibility remaining. “We talked quite a bit about what they saw my role being next year and throughout my Green Bay career. Obviously, being able to shoot the ball as well as I do, they want me to have a big role in doing that and do that to the best of my abilities and have a lot of opportunities to make shots.

“And also be a high IQ player offensively and defensively, like I know I can.”

This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Men's basketball recruit Foster Wonders feels at home with UWGB