Basketball standout Nordberg comes full circle at Fairfield

Coming full circle, Nordberg has been competing for the Knights’ track team this spring. He participates in the jumping events and has posted jumps good enough to be ranked in the top 10 in the Times Area in all three disciplines. He’s currently third in the high jump at 6-feet, 1-inch, fourth in the triple jump at 40-5 and ninth in the long jump at 18-10.

“I remained a student at Fairfield, even while playing for Scotland, so I have always been in Fairfield academics,” he said via email. “But since I have joined the track team at Fairfield, I have reconnected with friends that I will graduate with in May.”

As a freshman, Nordberg burst onto the scene, averaging 9.8 ppg and connecting on 85 percent of his free throws while nailing 39 3-pointers.

He was even better during the 2020-21 season, when he bumped his average to 15.7 ppg and he buried an amazing 44 percent of his attempts from beyond the arc, while hitting on 78 percent of his charity tosses.

That 20-21 Knight team went 10-7, in a Covid-shortened season and just missed the district playoffs. But almost the entire team was returning in 21-22.

Nordberg left the Knights and enrolled at Scotland prior to his junior year, though he still wonders what could’ve been, at times.

“It was pretty hard at first, going to a new school and not seeing your friends that you have known for all your life,” he said. “But I understand that I had to make sacrifices to achieve my goal of playing college ball.”

He continued, “Sometimes I do wonder how that team might’ve done, but I still knew that was another thing that I had to sacrifice.”

Loaded with seniors, the 21-22 Knights went 12-10 and qualified for the district tournament.

No longer physically attending school at Fairfield, Nordberg enrolled in the online program that the school offers and will receive a diploma from Fairfield next month with the rest of his class.

At Scotland, Nordberg averaged 21 ppg. as a junior, connecting on five 3-pointers each contest. He holds the Scotland record with 11 made 3-pointers in one game.

He attributed his success and continued development to a rigorous training program and high-end competition, be it in practice or competitions.

“I wanted to get better as a basketball player and be surrounded by a challenging environment,” he said. “At Scotland, our season began in August and went through March.”

He continued, “We worked eight hours a day — strength and weight training, individual training, conditioning, film and team practice. My teammates and I did that seven days a week. I enjoyed the hard work and being surrounded by other kids that wanted to get better just like myself.”

The players that Nordberg played with at Scotland came from not only all over the United States, but from all over the world. There are six players currently playing NCAA Division I basketball that finished their high school careers at Scotland.

Nordberg played for Scotland’s national team as a senior, facing teams from around the country.

“The guys at Scotland are very, very talented,” he said. “With the majority of the players being post-graduates, practices and games were tough when facing those older, faster, stronger and quicker guys.”

In the fall, Nordberg will attend Norwich University, an NCAA Division III program in Northfield, VT. The Cadets play in the GNAC Conference. He also considered The Citadel and The Coast Guard Academy. He plans to major in International Business with a minor in Cyber Security.

“I chose Norwich because I really liked the head coach,” he said. “The school offered my majors and I liked the players on the team.”

Follow Tom Sixeas on Twitter at @TomSixeas