projects that Wagler will be picked fifth by the Los Angeles Clippers<\/a>, and if he lands there, he will be the highest NBA Draft pick ever among U.S.-born one-and-done freshmen who ranked outside the top 100 of the Recruiting Services Consensus Index, which dates back to 1998. Only two other freshmen outside the top 100 (Zhaire Smith and Jaxson Hayes) were first-round draft picks after one college season.<\/p>\nHow Keaton Wagler came from out of nowhere to become a top NBA prospect<\/p>\n
Sam Vecenie<\/p>\n
Wagler is 6-foot-5, with vision, instincts, a beautiful jumper and footwork. That didn\u2019t just happen in the last year. But what\u2019s different about his story is that Wagler is the rare one-and-done freshman who didn\u2019t set out with that as the goal, and when it became a reality, he didn\u2019t change. No one around him changed.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wish I could write the manuscript on how this worked,\u201d Underwood said. \u201cBecause to me, it\u2019s the innocence and the parenting 101 lesson. They were very dialed in to Keaton\u2019s happiness and his ability just to play the game he loved and be a great teammate. You couldn\u2019t write a better manuscript.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jennifer Wagler pulls up a picture of her youngest son from four years ago at the Kansas state tournament. She rediscovered it recently while going through old pictures, and the thought of how quickly things change shocked her.<\/p>\n
In the picture, Wagler is a 5-foot-8, 130-pound freshman, looking extremely out of place.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis jersey and his uniform was just hanging off of him,\u201d Jennifer said. \u201cHis legs just look so tiny.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wagler is wearing a pair of scrunched-up decorative socks, the kind his dad would buy him if he got 10 or more rebounds in a game.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey don\u2019t go with the uniform at all,\u201d Logan said. \u201cThat\u2019s when you realize he\u2019s just a kid.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even now, Logan said, when Wagler comes home, he looks at his son and thinks he\u2019s still just a kid.<\/p>\n
The Waglers always wanted their three children to enjoy childhood. It goes fast, obviously. And college is the last stop before adulthood.<\/p>\n
The reality is that if Wagler had been projected as even a late lottery pick, he\u2019d probably be returning to Illinois.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe loved it there,\u201d Logan said. \u201cHe loved all his teammates, loved his coaches, loved being a college kid.\u201d<\/p>\n
When Wagler left for Champaign last June, the Waglers had no expectations for playing time or his eventual role. They just wanted him to grow and have fun.<\/p>\n
They realized their world was about to change when Logan\u2019s phone rang less than two weeks into summer practices, and Tyler Underwood asked if they had considered getting their son an agent.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had no intention of hiring an agent,\u201d Logan said. \u201cWe said, \u2018Where do we start?’\u201d<\/p>\n
Wagler wound up hiring Matt Bollero of ProMondo Sports, who represents six current NBA players, the biggest name of which is Milwaukee shooting guard AJ Green. That step, Tyler Underwood knew, would somewhat squash future distractions, because once everyone saw how good Wagler was, agents would flock to the family\u2019s doorstep.<\/p>\n
That was still the case. His parents received messages throughout the season. The agents would try to reach them through Wagler\u2019s brother and sister, or acquaintances, or sometimes wait for the Waglers in the parking lot after games.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was really strange,\u201d Logan said, \u201cand a lot more than we expected.\u201d<\/p>\n
But, mostly, Wagler\u2019s parents shielded him from those distractions and just let him play.<\/p>\n
While everyone around Wagler was surprised by how easy he made it look \u2014 \u201cYou were almost in awe of how good it was,\u201d Brad Underwood said \u2014 Wagler didn\u2019t seem surprised.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t really expect to be a one-and-done, but I kind of knew how good I was, and that I could be able to compete with anyone,\u201d Wagler said. \u201cI didn\u2019t really have a set, \u2018I\u2019m going to be here for one year or two years or four or whatever.\u2019 It was just going out there and not thinking about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wagler\u2019s career outlook changed rapidly. During the summer, the Illini coaches thought he was a potential starter and secondary playmaker. By October, \u201cIt appeared he had a chance to be a real engine of our offense,\u201d Tyler Underwood said.<\/p>\n
Then, at the end of November, following a loss to UConn in which Wagler scored just 3 points in 14 minutes, the Illini coaches decided to move Wagler to point guard.<\/p>\n
In his first game at that position, he scored 16 points and had five assists in a win over Tennessee, outperforming Nate Ament, a five-star recruit projected to be a one-and-done lottery pick.<\/p>\n
Wagler scored in double digits every game the rest of the season. He was Illinois\u2019 highest usage player, even though he didn\u2019t attempt the most shots for his high school team as a senior.<\/p>\n
The summit was that 46-point performance at Purdue, when the Boilermakers decided to switch ball screens and Wagler made them pay, burying nine 3-pointers.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was crazy, something I definitely didn\u2019t expect to do,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was kind of like I was out there playing a regular game, and I was just feeling it, like in a flow state where I couldn\u2019t miss.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Illinios](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/GettyImages-2258015406.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n Keaton Wagler\u2019s 46 points at Purdue came on an efficient 13-of-17 shooting. (Justin Casterline \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Wagler had never topped 40 points in his life \u2014 his high school career-high was 32. But what was quintessential Wagler was the final four minutes. With the Illini trailing by 3 points, Purdue started double-teaming him when Wagler came off a ball screen. For four straight possessions, Wagler passed to his teammates for four straight buckets.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s on an all-time heater,\u201d Tyler Underwood said. \u201cA lot of people would want to shoot it, and he just made the right play.\u201d<\/p>\n
The aftermath? Wagler picked up about 8,000 Instagram followers in one night, and he saw the \u201cSportsCenter\u201d highlights, but \u2026<\/p>\n
\u201cJust because I got all of this new stuff doesn\u2019t mean I have to change who I am or how I act or anything,\u201d he said. \u201cJust go be the same person that I am.\u201d<\/p>\n
At that point, it was hard for the Waglers to ignore the NBA mock drafts. Their social media algorithm filled up with hype about their son.<\/p>\n
But they kept not talking about the NBA, and Wagler kept hooping. He followed his 46-point performance with 22 points and eight assists in a win over Washington, then 28 points and five assists in a win at then-No. 5 Nebraska.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s guys that you can see the pressure building and mounting and this and that, and they can\u2019t handle it,\u201d Brad Underwood said. \u201cMost of it comes, to be quite honest, from internal, the people within those players\u2019 groups. If he felt it, he did an incredible job of hiding it. But I just took on the mom and dad\u2019s lead.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wagler finally had a bad game compared to the standards he\u2019d created \u2014 scoring 13 points on 2-of-16 shooting with three turnovers in an overtime loss at Michigan State \u2014 and the Illini began a late-season tumble, losing five of their final nine games entering the NCAA Tournament.<\/p>\n
At that point, some coaches might have pulled the freshman star aside to see where his head was at before the most pressure-packed moments of the season. Brad Underwood didn\u2019t see any reason to do that with Wagler.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s never doubted his abilities,\u201d the Illini head coach said. \u201cHe\u2019s never doubted his game. And I think that\u2019s one of the fine lines we deal with as coaches is, what buttons do we push? And sometimes you\u2019ve got to convince them they\u2019re great. Sometimes you\u2019ve got to convince them they\u2019re not so great. And with Keaton, it was always about the process.\u201d<\/p>\n
With Wagler at the controls and the Illini finally at full strength from a health standpoint as the tournament began, a run felt possible despite the late-season struggles.<\/p>\n
The tournament was likely going to be Wagler\u2019s only March Madness experience, but he said he never thought about that, either.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did enter my mind is this season could come to an end,\u201d Wagler said. \u201cThat\u2019s something that I don\u2019t think anyone wanted on our team, especially because of how special our team was and how connected a group we were and how good we were. We knew that we couldn\u2019t waste that.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the biggest stage, with a chance to go to a Final Four and his team trailing 9-0 early, Wagler made a difficult one-footed shot off a deceleration move in the paint and went on to score a game-high 25 points in an Elite Eight win over Iowa.<\/p>\n
When asked about his favorite moment of that run, Wagler said it was the celebration that night. Confetti on the floor. Water guns in the locker room. Not a word about his accomplishments.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe handles everything with grace and humility,\u201d Tyler Underwood said. \u201cI think that\u2019s his superpower \u2014 his humility, but also his aggressiveness. As soon as he steps in between the lines, he wants to rip your head off.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tyler Underwood picked up the phone earlier this month and sounded a bit melancholy.<\/p>\n
\u201cSad this is one of the last times we\u2019ll get to talk about Keaton Wagler before he\u2019s on another team that\u2019s not mine,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The Illini should be just fine. Their returning core should be good enough to earn a preseason top-five ranking, and they replaced Wagler with former Providence guard Stefan Vaaks, one of the top guards in the transfer portal. But the coaches don\u2019t know if they\u2019ll ever get to work with another player quite like Wagler.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was fortunate that I was around (Michael) Beasley, and he was one or two (ranked coming in) and then maintained it and just dominated it, and that was fun to see,\u201d Brad Underwood said. \u201cThis was drastically different because I\u2019m not gonna lie, I didn\u2019t expect it. It\u2019s so refreshing. It\u2019s just one of the beautiful things about college sports is the rise of somebody like that.\u201d<\/p>\n
It happened, they believe, because those around Wagler allowed him to experience college without worrying about anything else.<\/p>\n
The draft decision was left up to Wagler, and his parents believe he made the right choice.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor him, it was more about \u2018are you mentally ready to make that step,\u2019\u201d Logan said, \u201cbecause that\u2019s a big step for a kid that\u2019s just turned 19 years old.\u201d<\/p>\n
His parents plan to help him through the next phase. Jennifer, an elementary school teacher, decided to retire and plans to help her son find a home and get situated wherever he lands in the NBA. She\u2019ll stick around there to help as much as he needs.<\/p>\n
The Underwoods and the rest of the Illini coaches are still invested in his career. When Wagler told Underwood his plans to turn pro, the coach offered his congratulations and told him to \u201ckeep eating.\u201d<\/p>\n
That was the one thing the Illini coaches stayed on Wagler about \u2014 his weight. He rarely ever ate breakfast in high school and didn\u2019t like to eat before games. He arrived in Champaign at 168 pounds and wasn\u2019t allowed to miss a meal. He was 180 at the start of the season and 186 at the end. The last message from an Illini staffer on Wagler\u2019s phone was from assistant Orlando Antigua. It read: \u201cEat!\u201d<\/p>\n
Wagler proudly reports that he\u2019s up to 192 pounds.<\/p>\n
The draft process has been like a movie for Wagler. After he made his decision, he flew to Minneapolis, ProMondo\u2019s base, to begin daily workouts. At night, his parents said they would be FaceTiming with him when he would get a knock on his hotel door and a steak delivery. He told his agents he missed his mom\u2019s spaghetti, so ProMondo\u2019s Will Budenholzer called Jennifer to ask for the recipe.<\/p>\n
\u201cBrown burger,\u201d Logan said, laughing, \u201cpour this jar of sauce (has to be Rao\u2019s) and make the noodles.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was good, Wagler reported, but not as good as mom\u2019s.<\/p>\n
The innocence of Wagler\u2019s story hasn\u2019t gone anywhere, and that\u2019s the takeaway those around him insist is most important.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll never forget his story. That\u2019s why we got into this is to help better lives through the game of basketball,\u201d Brad Underwood said, noting that the hair on the back of his neck stands up just talking about it. \u201cThat\u2019s one you can just keep telling over and over and over.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s everything that\u2019s great about college basketball.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Keaton Wagler\u2019s dream freshman season ended in the Final Four, he quickly went from Indianapolis to Champaign,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":767523,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[7,7367,354,6,12],"class_list":["post-767522","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba-draft","tag-basketball","tag-illinois-fighting-illini","tag-mens-college-basketball","tag-nba","tag-nba-draft"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116793323523840011","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/767522","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=767522"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/767522\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/767523"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=767522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=767522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=767522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}