Though no local schools are in this year’s NCAA Final Four, plenty of Johnson Countians still have a rooting interest in Saturday’s national men’s basketball semifinals.
That’s because Keaton Wagler will be on the floor, leading Illinois University against the University of Connecticut in one of two games to determine who will go on to play for a national title on Monday.
Wagler, the Big Ten Freshman of the Year this year, was a standout at Shawnee Mission Northwest High School before moving on to college, helping lead the Cougars to back-to-back state titles in 2024 and 2025 and also earning Kansas Gatorade Player of the Year honors both seasons.
He’s been on big stages before but nothing like the Final Four.
Still, those who know Wagler and watched him develop his on-court skills in Johnson County say they’re sure he’s ready for the national spotlight.
“He always answers the bell, no matter how big the game or how much pressure there is. He doesn’t get scared of the moment,” said David Birch, Wagler’s coach at SM Northwest.
Wagler comes from a basketball family
Wagler comes by his basketball skills honestly.
His parents, Logan and Jennifer, met playing hoops at Hutchinson Community College in Hutchinson, Kansas, and his two older siblings also played basketball.
His older sister, Brooklyn, won a national junior college championship with Kansas City Kansas Community College and now helps coach the SM Northwest girls’ team. His older brother, Landon, is finishing up his senior year at Mid-America Nazarene University in Olathe.
Keaton’s still “our baby,” Logan Wagler said this week by phone, as Jennifer and their two older children made the road trip together from Johnson County to Indianapolis, where the Final Four is being played this year.
Despite his success at SM Northwest, Keaton Wagler was not recruited heavily out of high school, but his profile has risen this year as he’s led the Illini in scoring as a freshman.
Still, Jennifer said her youngest son still “looks authentically himself” on the court, the “same old Keaton” they watched growing up, from playing with his siblings in the driveway to leading SM Northwest to state titles.
“He does whatever it takes to win, whether that’s scoring points, playing a role, all the intangibles,” she said.
A “roller coaster of emotions”
Logan Wagler said he’s always been impressed by how “under control” his son appears on the court.
“He has this reputation for always making the right play, whether that’s shooting the ball, or passing out of a double team. He’s a team-first guy,” he said.
For the Wagler family, Keaton’s freshman year at Illinois — which has also established him as a projected top 10 pick in this summer’s NBA Draft — has been a whirlwind.
The Waglers estimate they’ve been to about 75% of Keaton’s games this season, while also still attending many of Landon’s games back home.
Logan joked that their post-game visits with Keaton are about the length of a “prison visit.” Jennifer started a private Snapchat account with Keaton this year, which she says they use to send messages to each other at least once a day.
The family committed to attend all of Keaton’s postseason games no matter how far that carried them, starting with the Big Ten tournament in Chicago, followed by consecutive weekends of NCAA Tournament games in South Carolina and Houston.
“We’ve never traveled this much. We’ve never been so out of sorts and living out of a suitcase,” Logan said. “It’s been fun but also just a little crazy.”
This weekend is likely to top it all for emotion and tension.
Jennifer said earlier this week she was already preparing herself for the “roller coaster of emotions” of Saturday’s game.
Logan added it’s heartening to know Keaton’s friends and supporters will be back in Johnson County, cheering him on.
“We are very proud that Keaton stuck with his same school [SM Northwest] all four years, and he was able to build a lot of great friendships along the way. It seems like there’s a lot of excitement around the community about it,” he said.
Childhood dreams being lived out
What David Birch remembers most about Keaton Wagler was a time his star point guard was sick.
It was the day before the Kansas 6A state championship game last year, Keaton’s senior year. He contracted the flu and was vomiting 24 hours before the Cougars were set to defend their title.
“We were scared, no doubt,” Birch recalled this week by phone from Indianapolis, where he has also traveled to watch Keaton in person on Saturday. “To have your best player come up sick like that.”
Birch recalled, though, that Keaton went to an IV clinic, took some vitamins and somehow got healthy enough to show up to the game “an hour-and-a-half” before tipoff. He went on to score 17 points and help SM Northwest secure a second crown.
“A lot of guys who have already signed [for college] might say, ‘I’m going to sit this one out, not ruin my body.’ But that’s not who he is. He wanted to be there for his teammates, his coaches and his school,” Birch said.
Tyler Salmon, a former SM Northwest teammate who has known Keaton since kindergarten, said of his friend, “I’ve never really seen him have a bad day.”
Playing together as kids, Salmon said, they would dream of being on the March Madness stage. Now, it’s “just really cool” to see Keaton living those dreams out.
From the time they were playing pickup games like “Knockout” and “Horse” on the playground courts at Rhein Benninghoven Elementary, Salmon said Keaton has always been confident and poised with the basketball in his hands, often playing against older kids and dribbling circles around them.
“I just always felt like he was going to go far in his basketball career,” Salmon said.
“Small little twig”
Another former SM Northwest teammate, Van Collins, has memories of Keaton as a “small little twig” of a freshman, 5-foot-8 and 135 pounds.
But he went through a major growth spurt in high school, eventually topping 6-feet-5 by his senior year. (Illinois now lists him as 6-foot-6 and 180 pounds.)
On a Cougar team laden with college-level talent (six players from those title teams would go on to play in college, including Collins and Salmon), Keaton Wagler stood out.
“He never made mistakes or had mental errors. We could always lean on him in crunch time. You wanted him to have the ball in his hands at the end of the game,” Collins said.
What Johnson Countians will see on their TVs Saturday is only part of the story, though, Collins said.
He recalled all the sleepovers as kids, the post-game trips to Raisin’ Cane’s and the seemingly endless times spent hanging out with his friend who is now about to step onto college basketball’s biggest stage.
“As special as he is on the court, he’s an even better guy off it,” Collins said. “We’re pumped and hoping for a championship.”
