When Logan and Jennifer Wagler dropped off their youngest son in Champaign, Ill., over the summer, their hope was that he would put on 5 pounds, adjust well to college life and work hard so he could find a way to contribute to the Illinois basketball team.

They’ve always tried to be realistic about their three kids’ sports careers, not to look at things through “rose-colored glasses.” So they were happy enough with the low-key reports they received from their son.

Keaton Wagler keeps his thought processes internalized, like he does his emotions on the basketball court. He sometimes shared fun stories of his team, but mostly he told them everything was good and he was enjoying it. Nothing more, nothing less.

So Logan was confused a few weeks in when Illinois assistant coach Tyler Underwood called to talk about some of the things the family needed to start considering for the future, given what the Illini envisioned for Keaton.

“Well, what do you mean?” Logan asked.

“Logan, he’s going to play in the NBA,” Underwood said.

“And I didn’t even know how to react,” Logan told the Chicago Tribune. “I’m like, ‘I mean, are you serious?’ ”

Wagler has caused more than his parents to utter that question during his rapid ascension to stardom in his freshman season for No. 5 Illinois.

The college basketball world watched, jaws dropped, as the 6-foot-6 guard scored a Mackey Arena opponent-record 46 points against then-No. 4 Purdue, hitting many of his nine 3-pointers from well beyond the arc.

As he scored 23 second-half points to fuel the Illini’s upset victory at then-No. 5 Nebraska.

As he banked in a three-quarter-court shot at the halftime buzzer in a blowout of Northwestern, part of a 13-point, seven-rebound, five-assist performance that has become just average for him.

Are you serious?

The player who received only two Power Four offers coming out of Shawnee Mission Northwest High School near Kansas City, Mo., has been called an NBA lottery pick by reigning Big Ten Player of the Year Braden Smith of Purdue. Nebraska coach Fred Hoiberg, the former Chicago Bulls coach, said Wagler is playing like a first-team All-American.

Even Wagler — the 261st-ranked recruit in the 2025 class, per the 247Sports composite — is a little surprised to hear such projections.

“It’s probably surprising to most people, if not everyone,” Wagler told the Tribune. “Really, I don’t think anyone thought I would come in here and by this time of the season be projected as a lottery pick or whatever. So it is really crazy to think about.”

The signs were there, of course, before he stepped on Illinois’ campus — in his smooth shooting, in the decision-making that is both innate and bred in a basketball family, and in that stoic makeup that hasn’t cracked even in the heat of Big Ten battles.

‘Play the game the right way’

David Birch first saw Wagler in the men’s league open gyms where he played with Logan. Keaton was maybe 10 — and tiny — yet he would score against high school players, even guys who had played in college.

“I would be getting frustrated,” said Birch, the Shawnee Mission Northwest coach. “Like, why are you letting this little kid score out here?”

Logan and Jennifer met playing basketball at Hutchinson Community College, and Logan went on to play at Division II Rockhurst in Kansas City. Son Landon, three years older than Keaton, is a senior guard at NAIA MidAmerica Nazarene. Daughter Brooklyn, 10 years older, also played there and now coaches at Shawnee Mission Northwest.

Keaton, who dabbled in football, soccer and baseball early on, was as basketball-crazed as any of them, asking his mom when he was in preschool if there was a job he could do where he just shot baskets.

He tagged along with his brother to pickup games and got pushed around, which he said developed his toughness. He watched his sister and brother play in the state playoffs, which his parents think helped develop his understanding of how to handle big moments.

And Keaton, who said he was mainly just a shooter as a young kid, also had his dad pushing him, not just to score but to make the right play at all times. Logan, who recognized his son’s advanced understanding of the game, issued challenges to Keaton before games, offering a cool pair of basketball socks or $5 if he completed the task.

“But it was never like, ‘If you get this many points…,’ ” Keaton said. “It was always something like, ‘If you get this many rebounds or assists.’ So just trying to teach me how to play the game the right way.”

All of that translated to his start at Shawnee Mission Northwest, where he played his freshman season with his brother. Birch remembered how opponents would play a triangle-and-two defense that season to try to stop Landon and the team’s other best player. Birch needed shooters to combat that defensive approach, and he turned to Keaton.

In his first varsity game, Keaton made four 3-pointers, Birch said.

“We stopped seeing the triangle-and-two,” Birch said.

Birch said Keaton’s shooting, decision-making, passing, retention of plays and defensive coverages and his ability to learn quickly all helped him lead his team to back-to-back Kansas 6A state titles as a junior and senior. The three-time captain averaged a team-high 12.5 points and 3.5 assists on a talented squad during an undefeated junior season.

He also played for the VWBA Elite AAU team, and that summer after his junior year, he started to believe he was a high-level player, something his AAU coach Victor Williams instilled in him.

But his college recruiting didn’t gain a lot of traction early on.

Birch said colleges watched Wagler play in high school on a team with Michigan State-bound center Ethan Taylor, now a high school senior.

“Everybody in the United States watched us play,” Birch said. “We had a five-star, 7-1 center. There wasn’t a single college that didn’t come in and watch us play.”

Wagler received plenty of offers, about 20 to 30 from mid-major Division I schools during that strong AAU season after his junior year, his parents said. But he didn’t receive similar interest from Power Four programs.

Birch would hear that Wagler wasn’t strong enough or athletic enough. He suspects recruiters thought his high school team’s success was due to Taylor. Tyler Underwood said Wagler’s exposure maybe wasn’t as high playing for a public high school and an AAU team that wasn’t shoe-sponsored, a decision Wagler made because he trusted Williams’ guidance.

The Waglers tried not to overthink it. Keaton’s coaches and well-connected people they knew kept telling them the high-level offers would come. His parents, with their grounded mindset, just wanted him to have options.

“I wouldn’t say I was frustrated because I felt like I could play at the high level,” Keaton said. “I knew that if I kept playing well, then they would come. I just trusted the process, believed in myself and my coaches, and it ended up working out.”

For both Wagler and Illinois.

‘Yo, he is insanely good.’

Every time Wagler hits a new goal weight, Illinois strength and conditioning coach Adam Fletcher has the same response:

“That’s good, but I want more.”

Wagler’s parents said he never was the best eater, and putting on weight always has been a focus.

Tyler Underwood said Wagler was 160-some pounds when he arrived at Illinois, but with Fletcher’s help he has put on 20. Wagler said it’s not a specific diet. He just has to eat a lot, consistently and smartly, and stay hydrated. It’s about not skipping breakfast or the shakes he is given. And it’s consistent maintenance work in the weight room during the season.

One reason the Illini felt comfortable bringing Wagler on board — when perhaps others thought he wasn’t strong enough — was their faith in Fletcher.

“Physicality is super important in college basketball and a lot of people talk about it, so that was probably a thing that people worried about,” Underwood said. “I think we have a unique ability to take kids that are a little physically undersized.

“We have the best strength coach in the country. He’s super meticulous. He has a plan, and we have great confidence in him to add that weight. And I think that was a huge factor in not only getting (Wagler), but why you’re able to see him do what he’s doing now.”

Underwood flagged Wagler after watching film sent by Williams, who shared an Oklahoma State connection with Tyler’s father, Illinois head coach Brad Underwood. Wagler’s passing, shooting, positional size and natural feel for the game were intriguing. And Tyler Underwood said the film from Wagler’s high school junior season to AAU just kept getting better and better.

“You saw his confidence growing, his ability to shoot off the bounce, his ability to play in high-level games,” Underwood said. “You could just tell, nothing rattled him. He was always in control. Someone who had a really high assist-to-turnover ratio, made really good decisions with the basketball, all skills that we value.

“And then you get to know the person, and you’re like, ‘This could be something pretty special.’ ”

The Illini offered Wagler on Aug. 22, 2024, and when he visited campus a few weeks later, he said it felt like home. Everyone was nice. People took photos with him at a football tailgate. Logan and Jennifer fell in love with the school too, believing Keaton would be taken care of there, but they let their son come to the decision on his own.

He picked Illinois before his senior season, with his only other Power Four offer from Minnesota. He went on to average 18.5 points, 6.7 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 1.8 steals as a senior and arrived in Champaign with no real expectations except that he would work hard, have a good attitude and be the best version of himself.

As Wagler got going with the team over the summer, veteran guard Kylan Boswell told the coaches, “Yo, he is insanely good.” Boswell didn’t necessarily say as much to Wagler every day, but Wagler could tell the team leader was interested in him, always wanting them to guard each other in practices.

By all accounts, it was an important step to get Wagler ready for Big Ten play, as was a closed-door scrimmage against defending national champion Florida that made him realize the physicality he would need.

“(Boswell) is probably the best on-ball defender in the country, and he pushed me every day in the summer,” Wagler said. “We were going at it each and every day, and he really got me used to the physicality because he’s super physical. He really taught me how to use my body well, being not as strong as everyone else, but being able to use my body to create separation.”

Preseason injuries to guards Andrej Stojaković and Mihailo Petrović made Wagler realize the Illini would need him to step up when the season began. Everything Illinois coaches had seen was promising, but they needed to see the mental component, the toughness, the ability to respond to adversity in action.

“That’s been beyond anything I would have expected,” Brad Underwood said.

Wagler had a few bumps early on. He scored only three points in Illinois’ loss to Connecticut at Madison Square Garden, one of only three losses this season. He wasn’t involved enough on offense in that game, so Illinois put him on the ball more.

He has scored in double figures every game since, bringing his average from 13.5 points to 17.9. And he has 82 of his 98 assists since then, including two games with 10 and two games with eight.

Some of his biggest performances have come in the biggest games.

‘Not afraid of the moment’

Wagler took the inbounds pass with two seconds to play in the first half Wednesday against Northwestern, dribbled twice and then launched the basketball from well beyond the half-court line. When the ball banked into the basket, he raised both hands and then jumped to body-bump teammate Jake Davis.

So, yes, Wagler does celebrate in games sometimes.

But many times this season he has knocked down a shot — a more crucial one than his Hail Mary in a 40-point win — and backpedaled with a straight face.

Logan and Jennifer said their son is hilarious, fun-loving and caring. But they tried to instill in Keaton that he doesn’t need to be flashy, that there’s no reason to trash-talk, and that has manifested in his on-court persona.

“Keaton’s really turned it into his own thing,” Logan said with a laugh. “I mean, he has no emotion, pretty straight-faced. I’ve always appreciated that about him.”

Logan thinks his son wants to avoid showing frustration to opponents so it doesn’t compound. Neither Birch nor Tyler Underwood has seen Wagler get very rattled or angry.

His Illinois coaches and teammates use different words for it: nonchalant, stoic, cold.

“I’ve never been a guy that talks a lot on the floor or does a bunch of celebrations,” Wagler said. “I’ve kind of always been level-headed and just trying to be focused on the game. But, I mean, there’s some times where I do show emotion.”

Staying level-headed is easier said than done in a conference that has five teams in the top 12 of this week’s Associated Press rankings. Yet Wagler has piled up 21.3 points, 4.3 rebounds and 5.3 assists per game in 12 Big Ten games. He’s shooting 47.6% from 3-point range with only 1.9 turnovers per game in conference play.

There was no bigger example of Wagler’s ability to keep calm in the big moment than his performance at Purdue, Illinois’ second game after Boswell was sidelined with a fractured right hand.

Tyler Underwood called it the “power of the flow state” as Wagler hit shot after astounding shot in an 88-82 win. He went 13 for 17 from the field, including 9 for 11 from 3-point range.

But some late adjustments as Illinois tried to build a lead were just as crucial. The Illini hit four straight 3-pointers — all by players other than Wagler — as he worked against a Purdue defensive change.

“(It’s) where he’s so unique for an 18-year-old,” Tyler Underwood said. “Purdue showed coverage for 36 minutes that was a switch. And then the last four minutes of the game, they change their coverage and they go to a hedge, and he doesn’t even blink and makes the play, gets it out of his hand right away.

“To show that level of decision-making and maturity, it’s a lot harder than it sounds, especially for someone who hasn’t seen a ton.”

Wagler said he has improved the most since joining Illinois with on-the-ball decision-making and reading defenders, especially out of a pick-and-roll.

Eight days after Purdue, Wagler went into a Nebraska arena hyped by the Cornhuskers’ unprecedented success and scored just five points in the first half. But he came out of halftime to score 23 more and lift the Illini to the first back-to-back road victories over top-five teams in program history.

His parents have recognized the poise he is showing.

“Even at a young age, if the game was tied, it was on the line, he was a kid that wanted the ball in his hands,” Logan said. “He wanted to make the right play. He wasn’t afraid of the moment. He would make his free throws down the stretch to ice games.

“I think it really boils down to the fact that he just wants to win.”

‘Don’t drink the poison’

Jennifer reached her son on FaceTime after the Purdue game and was greeted with a big smile.

“It was so much fun,” Keaton told her.

They had to connect by phone because Logan, Jennifer and Landon watched the game on TV from home — Jennifer unable to sit during the entire “surreal” experience.

The winter storms that stretched across the United States that weekend were going to hit Kansas City and West Lafayette, Ind., before and after the game, and travel looked risky. Logan is the parks and recreation director for Lenexa, Kan., and Jennifer is a fifth-grade teacher. The Waglers have been stretched thin balancing the basketball schedules of Landon and Keaton.

“We were just kicking ourselves when that game was at halftime,” Logan said. “We’re like, what were we thinking? We should have just grinded it out and got out there.”

They made sure they were at Nebraska, though, along with a group of 38 people from Wagler’s hometown.

Birch and his assistant coaches try every year to attend college practices of some of their former players to get ideas for their team. They went to Illinois in November around the time of the Florida Gulf Coast game and got the idea to bring their team to the Nebraska game.

Tickets — before the Huskers started the season 20-0 — were $30, so the booster club, of which Jennifer was the president for seven years, helped arrange the trip. A bunch of teachers from Wagler’s elementary school, which sits right next to the high school, also attended, so Wagler had his own cheering section among the sellout, whiteout crowd.

Birch, whose young team has struggled a bit this season, thought his players gained some hope for what they could do in the future by watching Wagler — though Birch, like everyone else, has been surprised at the rapid rise.

“I thought he’d find a way to contribute,” Birch said. “I thought he’d get on the floor. I thought he’d have a good career.

“You talk about guys picking up things quickly. To think he was going to do it in about a week, and then all of a sudden, he’s treating the Big Ten like it’s our high school conference, I don’t know if anybody saw quite that.”

The whole Wagler crew now is navigating unforeseen territory.

Wagler said after the Purdue game he got a flood of congratulatory messages from family, friends, past Illinois players and others. The coolest, he said, was from NBA trainer Chris Brickley, who offered some nice words.

It was an experience Wagler tried to appreciate and then promptly ignore.

Brad Underwood tells his players, “Don’t drink the poison, bad or good.” Wagler is trying to listen to his coach as the outside attention skyrockets and his name continues to float higher and higher in NBA draft projections.

“That is a lot of months away,” Wagler said. “So knowing that isn’t for a while, I have to be focused because I can’t let my teammates down, being in my head thinking that I’m good enough already, which you can never be too good. So I’m just trying to try to keep my mindset the right way, trying to get better each day.”

The reality is Wagler won’t go 9 for 11 from 3-point range every game, Tyler Underwood said. So Wagler, who turned 19 on Tuesday, needs to focus on where he can improve.

Underwood said Wagler can reach another level of athleticism as he grows into his body. The Illini offense has become the most efficient in the nation after slowing its pace, but Underwood believes Wagler can play faster as he gets more experience. Wagler also believes he can get better defensively — being more comfortable on the ball and pressuring more — and on the boards.

He’ll have a decision to make come April about his next steps.

Logan and Jennifer always have tried to keep their kids humble. Underwood remembers Jennifer talking during Keaton’s official visit about how she told him not to let it go to his head after he got a fourth star from a recruiting service.

Their check-ins with their son have continued, but now they’re making sure he’s blocking out the noise that has come with his stunning success.

“Our saying to him is, ‘Just keep your foot on the gas,’ ” Logan said. “None of that matters. Nothing’s over till the season’s over. Just focus on what’s right in front of you. And he does a tremendous job of doing that.”

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