By Larry Smith - IlliniGuys Co-Founder

April 6, 2026

(Editor's note: Larry has covered 13 Final Fours and more than 70 major championships around the world in a career that has spanned nearly four decades. He has won an Emmy Award, a Peabody Award, and an Edward R. Murrow Award during his illustrious career.)

He's a basketball player that fans will talk about forever as one of the greatest success stories in sports history.

A skinny high school prospect that most scouts missed and coaches ignored, rising to All-American status just weeks before leading his team to a nationally-televised NCAA tournament game in a giant stadium built for football. The future NBA lottery pick would put up another 20-point game as his team saw their season end with a loss to one of college basketball's bluebloods.

The player, of course, was Stephen Curry.

If you're not much of a hoop historian or if you root for a certain Big Ten team, my opening paragraph might have pointed you to another player who is half Curry's age.

And it's that similarity that has Keaton Wagler quickly rising up my personal list of my all-time favorite players.

I love underdogs and, as a result, I've always rooted for Curry. He entered the NBA in 2009 looking like somebody's 12-year old little brother but had already proven in three years at tiny Davidson College that he was a lethal assassin; scoring more than 2,600 points and becoming a two-time All-American. He then resurrected the Golden State Warriors' franchise, leading them to four world titles in an eight-year period in the league's most recent dynasty.

It took Curry two years of college ball to gain the nation's attention. Wagler did it in less than one.

The cover photo for this story is intentional, taken on a visit to Champaign before Wagler's senior season in high school. He was fresh off the first of two Kansas prep state championships and had yet to be named his state's Gatorade Player of the Year.

The 6-foot-6 wing's story has now been told by so many during Illinois' run to the Final Four. The baby boy of a basketball-crazed family dropped off on campus last June with the usual well-wishes of loving parents; their parting thought something along the lines of 'well, hopefully you'll get to play some this season'.

As IlliniGuys co-owner and our insider/analyst Brad Sturdy noted this weekend while covering the Final Four in Indianapolis, unlike the other talented freshmen who earned All-America status this season, Wagler didn't arrive on campus last summer expecting to have to choose between the NBA and returning to college this spring. He was a non 5-star who played like a superstar; doing things no Illini rookie ever has.

-No Illini freshman had ever scored more than 500 points in a season. Wagler became the first to score 600. In fact, only fellow All-American Terrence Shannon Jr. and former pro Don Freeman scored more in one Illinois campaign than Wagler's 643 points.

-No visiting player at Purdue's Mackey Arena has scored more than Wagler's 46 points back in January. It was the most points ever scored by a Big Ten freshman and the most ever against a top-10 team on the road.

-Wagler's nine three-pointers at Purdue set an Illinois record, regardless of class. And he did two weeks before his 19th birthday.

I joked in an earlier piece about Wagler that he'd need a moving truck to carry all of his hardware back to Kansas. Oscar Robertson Player of the Month in January. Big Ten Freshman of the Year. The NCAA South Region's Most Outstanding Player. A first or second teamer on nearly every All-American list. And this past weekend, the Jerry West Award as the nation's top shooting guard. Not including several player of the week honors throughout the season.

His bevy of accomplishments qualify him to have his name on a banner high atop the State Farm Center floor, fittingly placing him among the university's all-time great basketball players. None of those names got there based on what they did solely as an Illini freshman. None of them achieved this as a (barely) 19-year old. And it's a very select list who can say they led the Illini to a Final Four.

But before all of that comes "The Decision" and you can guarantee it will have none of the fanfare of a LeBron James career call. Our Matt Stevens spoke to Keaton's parents late last month and they admitted to some apprehension about his ascending to the world's top league so quickly. Even Keaton himself said after Saturday night's loss to UConn in the national semifinals that he hadn't really thought about his future beyond this season.

Remember...the only history the Waglers thought would happen in this school year is the kind that gains you class credit toward graduation.

There is a school of thought that Keaton could return for his sophomore year. He will be offered a sizeable bump in his NIL compensation; he earned more than $1.5 million this season on the strength of massive jersey and apparel sales. He could obtain a lucrative insurance policy against injury while he focuses on getting stronger as the potentially number one overall pick in a weaker 2027 draft. He's known for being fiercely loyal, bypassing the higher-profile shoe-sponsored summer teams to stay with his same AAU club while in high school. It's been a dream season in every sense and it's difficult to imagine him playing for another school.

But he's a bonafide top 10 pick this year and many have him going in the top six in the June draft. That would mean an average salary of about $7 million dollars on his rookie deal and would start the clock on a second NBA contract that would pay him well into eight figures per season.

I think it's a no-brainer, but I will join the rest of you while the Waglers seek advice and make the best decision for him. For what it's worth, Curry returned to Davidson for one more All-American season after his breakout year.

If his three-pointer in the final minute of the game Saturday night turns out to be his last basket in an Illinois uniform, his legacy is assured. High school prospects in both football and basketball commit to the Illini by telling everyone that they are the next Keaton Wagler. His family, as down to earth and unassuming as he is, was featured in a People Magazine article.

I've spent a career meeting people and telling their stories and I can't think of one like that of Keaton Wagler. None of us know what's next other than he is going to wind up on an NBA team as the fourth Illini to be picked in the first round this decade. But Illini Nation - and college basketball fans across the country - will talk for years about how we were a witness to the greatest Illini freshman ever.

For me, the timing is perfect. Steph is nearing retirement. I need a new favorite player. Hello Keaton!