Breakout Freshman Visits Bruins Saturday

UCLA's men's basketball team has had a tough and eventful week, and it doesn't get any easier as the Bruins welcome No. 10 Illinois to town on Saturday. The Fighting Illini present many challenges for UCLA, but one particular player has caught head coach Mick Cronin's attention because of his emergence as an overlooked recruit.

That's freshman guard Keaton Wagler, who has taken the Big Ten by storm by becoming Illinois' leading scorer and most important player.

"He's changed their season," Cronin explained as he met with local media members on Friday. "You put a guy like him on their team, and it just changes the world. ... since he's taken the reins, they're one of the best teams in the country."

Wagler's Freshman Year

Wagler has had an outstanding freshman season at Illinois, leading the team with 18.1 points per game, adding 4.9 rebounds and 4.3 assists, and becoming a frontrunner for Big Ten Freshman of the Year and one of several freshmen in the running for the Wooden Award as the nation's top player.

ucla basketbal — Feb 15, 2026; Champaign, Illinois, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini guard Keaton Wagler (23) drives the ball against Indiana Hoosiers guard Conor Enright (5) during the first half at State Farm Center. Mandatory Credit: Ron Johnson-Imagn Images | Ron Johnson-Imagn Images

Wagler wasn't as coveted a player as the other candidates until now. Most of his scholarship offers were from schools outside the power conferences. Recruiting services had the 6-foot-6 freshman as the No. 1 player in Kansas, but they also had 24 fellow shooting guards and 142 overall recruits from the 2025 class ranked ahead of him, which looks silly now. Wagler has clearly been a difference-maker for Illinois, and there have been plenty of similar situations in the sport over the years.

"It tells you how important it is to evaluate players, whether it's the transfer portal or high school," Cronin said. "... It just goes to show you how important that is."

Cronin has been around the college game, and he's had his share of underrated recruits throughout his career at UCLA, Cincinnati, and elsewhere. Because of that, it's never a surprise when an overlooked recruit becomes a star, whether it's early in his college career or he's a late bloomer.

The hidden gems, imperfections, and unpredictability of the practice are part of what makes the sport so great and brings us stories worth telling.

"Nobody threw parties when we signed Jaylen Clark, just like I'm sure nobody at Illinois on their recruiting staff threw parties when they signed him (Wagler)," Cronin said. "It just shows you the importance of evaluation when you're evaluating a prospect. Rankings, although you have to do them, you're never going to be right. I've talked to [former Golden State Warriors president] Bob Myers about this. You're never going to be right in all of your decisions about evaluating players, but your pursuit of being right in player evaluations has got to be relentless."

Apparently, teams weren't relentless enough in their pursuit of Wagler, and now he's a problem the rest of the Big Ten has to deal with, including UCLA on Saturday.

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