Keaton Wagler is an Illinois Fighting Illini basketball legend. Yes, after just the one season, he’s a legend. We said what we said. Wagler led the Fighting Illini to their first Final Four appearance in over 20 years by averaging 17.9 points, 5.1 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game. The winner of the Jerry West Award (nation’s best shooting guard) shot close to 40% from three point range during his one collegiate season.
Wagler was only ranked the #179 rated recruited by On3 and just #143 by Rivals. Yet here he is, one of the nation’s best overall players, as a freshman, and the fifth overall pick in the NBA Draft to the L.A. Clippers.
So how did he do it? How did Keaton Wagler prove all the doubters wrong and far surpass even the most optimistic of expectations for him? How and why was his learning curve so strongly immediately positive? It wasn’t due to any sort of unnatural physical gifts, or anything like that, as he does have a bit of a slight frame.
And he’s obviously overcome that limitation through his strong motivation and top end work ethic. But that’s the more general sense of it all, if you want to get into specifics, look at what Keaton Wagler does in the gym, in the weight room, with his diet, etc.
His trainer, Victor Williams, explained the rapid rise of Keaton Wagler in an exclusive interview with Ratings.org. The excerpt below is incredibly informative and telling.
Beyond his strength work, what diet has he followed to help with that?
Williams: “He’s eating a lot of protein. He’s eating in the morning and then throughout the day. He’s burning a lot of calories. He’s working out three or four times a day. So it’s about keeping his calories up and consuming a lot of protein.”
When you started training Keaton, what were the major turning points that explain how he reached this point?
Williams: “I worked with him when he was in sixth or seventh grade. He comes from a great foundation with his mom, dad, sisters, brothers and uncle. They were all basketball players. They all played at some level. So he was already a very smart, intelligent and hard-working kid once I started working with him. A lot of the credit goes to them. They really set a great foundation. We just added to what he already was. He was already a very cerebral and smart player who could make open shots. I just wanted to add some things and put him in some positions where he could continue to develop his game. What I did was an addition to what those guys already had planned for him.”
And we should only expect the career trajectory of Keaton Wagler to continue upward.
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He currently contributes to USA Today’s NFL Wires Network, Ratings and RG. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes and the Washington Post.