CHAMPAIGN \u2014 The way Kylan Boswell describes Keaton Wagler is vivid.<\/p>\n
Not particularly safe to print in a family newspaper, but clearly the result of the impression the freshman Illinois men\u2019s basketball guard left on his veteran teammate this summer.<\/p>\n
Boswell got to experience Wagler\u2019s ability on the court for the first time with a blank slate.<\/p>\n
The Illinois senior didn\u2019t know what to expect from the former Shawnee Mission Northwest (Kan.) standout.<\/p>\n
Hadn\u2019t watched any film on the 6-foot-6, 180-pound guard before he arrived on campus this summer. Was only somewhat aware of what the Gatorade and MaxPreps Player of the Year out of the Sunflower State had accomplished during his senior season with the Cougars.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t expect anything of the freshmen,\u201d Boswell said. \u201cI always had this perception like, \u2018Freshmen this, freshmen that,\u2019 but they\u2019re all really, really good. Keaton\u2019s cold. He\u2019s going to be one of our best players on this team. There\u2019s not even a doubt in my mind.\u201d<\/p>\n
Not many doubts for Brad Underwood either.<\/p>\n
While the Illinois coach said he had to be careful discussing Wagler since he still hasn\u2019t suited up for a college basketball game, he immediately drew comparisons to three of the last four guards the Illini sent to the NBA.<\/p>\n
That Wagler\u2019s demeanor reminds him of Ayo Dosunmu. That his potential is just as high as Kasparas Jakucionis or Will Riley, with that duo notably becoming the first and second one-and-done first-round picks in program history in the 2025 NBA draft.<\/p>\n
\u201cKeaton\u2019s in that class,\u201d Underwood said. \u201cHe\u2019s a great playmaker, but he\u2019s a better decision maker. When you get below the free-throw line and you have to make decisions in tight quarters around a lot of size, that\u2019s been very impressive to me.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s an elite competitor. He\u2019s very unassuming \u2014 very quiet and stoic and reminds me a little bit of Ayo when he was a freshman \u2014 but he\u2019ll fight you. He\u2019s been a great listener and a great learner, and, really, has been pretty impressive from that side of things day to day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Illinois didn\u2019t have the luxury of easing Wagler into the program during summer workouts.<\/p>\n
Mihailo Petrovic\u2019s late August arrival from Serbia meant putting the ball in Wagler\u2019s hands from day one in June and pitting him against Boswell every single moment the two were on the court.<\/p>\n
Underwood called it a summer where Boswell made Wagler better. The Illinois freshman guard would tend to agree.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think him guarding me every day really helped me,\u201d Wagler said. \u201cHis physicality is out of this world. Taking bumps from him every time you\u2019re bringing the ball up and having to guard him, it\u2019s really good for me to keep on getting better.\u201d<\/p>\n
It didn\u2019t take long for Wagler to impress Boswell either.<\/p>\n
\u201cStraight off the rip when I saw him in the summer I knew he\u2019d be an immediate impact for us,\u201d Boswell said. \u201cHe\u2019s really, really good. He puts a lot of time into the gym, as well, continuously working on his game. I think the biggest thing I\u2019ve been appreciative of him is just trying to learn daily from us, from coach.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wagler said he feels like he\u2019s proved he can play with anyone since he joined Illinois this summer.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s aware there are levels to the college game \u2014 and the Big Ten exists at the top of that scale \u2014 but he\u2019s confident in his ability to hang with whomever\u2019s in front of him.<\/p>\n
Confidence that\u2019s received a boost before Sunday\u2019s exhibition game against Illinois State at State Farm Center because he\u2019s felt more of the same from the coaching staff and his teammates.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s just really good for my confidence just knowing that these coaches, they trust me, and my teammates, they trust me to come in here every day and do what I do, showcase my skill set and just help us keep on building a winning program,\u201d Wagler said. \u201cHonestly, for everyone, there\u2019s always pressure when you\u2019re playing at the college level. There\u2019s going to be days you don\u2019t play as well, but there will be days you play really well. It\u2019s keeping a level head and knowing the people around you trust you to do what you do and they know what you can do. Trust the work you put in, and everything will be good.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wagler put himself in position to impress at Illinois during his final two seasons at Shawnee Mission Northwest. The Cougars\u2019 undefeated 25-0 state championship season during the 2023-24 season was the first in school history, with Wagler leading the way by putting up 12.5 points, 5.9 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game. They added another state title last season with Wagner out front averaging 18.5 points as a 59\/45\/83 shooter to go with 6.7 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game.<\/p>\n
It was a launching pad for the four-star guard ranked as the No. 150 overall prospect in the Class of 2025 by 247Sports. A ranking about to be blown apart if Wagler\u2019s play on the court matches the exceedingly lofty expectations for his freshman season.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was always about finding his comfort zone \u2014 whether that was going to be on the ball, off the ball,\u201d Underwood said. \u201cWe knew he\u2019d played on it a decent amount. Surprised in his ability to handle some of that going against Kylan every single day. His decision making, it just continued to grow. \u2026 He gives us that luxury to still play on and off of it, but he\u2019s pretty doggone good on it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CHAMPAIGN \u2014 The way Kylan Boswell describes Keaton Wagler is vivid. Not particularly safe to print in a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":233643,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[68],"tags":[402,4690,398,400,401,99],"class_list":["post-233642","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ncaa-basketball","tag-basketball","tag-illini-sports","tag-ncaa","tag-ncaa-basketball","tag-ncaabasketball","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=233642"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233642\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/233643"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=233642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=233642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=233642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}