Fans wonder why Illinois star Keaton Wagler wasn’t recruited by KU, K-State
Illinois freshman Keaton Wagler didn’t simply burst on the college basketball scene Saturday night.
Ten days before Wagler dropped 46 points on Purdue on just 17 shots, ESPN’s Jeremy Woo had the former Shawnee Mission Northwest star going 18th overall in his latest NBA mock draft.
Wagler was the 2025 Gatorade Kansas Player of the Year with the Cougars, and he helped Shawnee Mission Northwest win back-to-back state championships.
Despite his success, Wagler had only a smattering of interest from college programs. The 247Sports website had Wagler as the 261st best prospect in the nation, and it noted the Kansas City Roos offered him a scholarship. Ditto for Wichita State, Saint Louis, Colorado State and Tulsa, among others.
But nothing from Kansas or K-State, and that’s been a head-scratcher for fans of those teams.
KU already had a commitment from Darryn Peterson, who is a shooting guard like Wagler. So perhaps that’s why Wagler was overlooked. Still, fans weren’t happy.
“He wasn’t a take for Kansas despite being the No. 1 ranked HS player in Kansas and growing up 35 min from the University of Kansas,” the X account Another KU Burner wrote with a thumbs up emoji.
It’s not only Jayhawks fans who wonder how Keaton wasn’t considered for their team.
Tim Fitzgerald, the publisher of GoPowercat, expressed his displeasure in an X post.
“You’re not going to land every recruit but when you ignore the ones in your backyard because you’re eying portal vagabonds, it’s a program failure that I cannot accept,” Fitzgerald wrote. “This program went to Serbia and paid a young player millions to come to K-State when a more complete and vastly cheaper player was playing less than two hours down the road.
“Paying more for talent doesn’t magically make them better players.”
Here is more of what fans of the Wildcats, Jayhawks and other teams have been saying on X about Wagler, who is a freshman for the Illini.
This story was originally published January 26, 2026 at 10:59 AM with the headline "Fans wonder why Illinois star Keaton Wagler wasn’t recruited by KU, K-State."
