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Welcome to “Good Morning, Illini Nation,” your daily dispatch of college basketball insights from Illini beat writer and AP Top 25 voter, Scott Richey. He delivers fresh perspectives each morning on Coach Brad Underwood’s team and the broader college basketball landscape:
The established criteria for an Illinois basketball player to have their jersey honored at the State Farm Center are quite specific. A player must satisfy one of the following conditions:
- Achieve National Player of the Year recognition
- Be inducted into the National Basketball Hall of Fame
- Be named Big Ten Player of the Year
- Be selected as a Consensus First- or Second-Team All-American
- Be a designated member of the Illinois All-Century Team
- Be an individual whose pioneering contributions significantly influenced Illinois and global basketball
Illinois, of course, exercised some flexibility with these guidelines when honoring Terrence Shannon Jr. by raising his No. 0 to the SFC rafters (initially upside down, naturally). And that’s perfectly acceptable. The rules the Illini establish are also the rules they are permitted to bend.
Keaton Wagler, however, is swiftly meeting these qualifications, having earned Second Team All-American distinctions from the Associated Press on Tuesday and the National Association of Basketball Coaches on Wednesday. This marks a perfect 3 for 3 for the Illinois freshman in Second Team All-American accolades, as the Sporting News also included him among the nation’s top five second-best players.
The only remaining step for him to achieve consensus status is to be named an All-American by the United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA). I cast my vote for the USBWA and included Wagler among my top 15 national players. It’s highly probable he will garner enough votes to secure this final All-American recognition.
This achievement would place Wagler in truly distinguished company. Not only among players with honored jerseys—his No. 23 would join Jerry Colangelo’s as the second—but also among consensus All-Americans. Illinois has previously celebrated eight consensus First Team All-Americans and eight consensus Second Team All-Americans.
Wagler would become the third player during the Brad Underwood coaching era to reach this status, following Ayo Dosunmu and Kofi Cockburn.
Consensus First Team All-Americans
- Bill Hapac, 1940
- Andy Phillip, 1942
- Andy Phillip, 1943
- Walt Kirk, 1945
- Rod Fletcher, 1952
- Dee Brown, 2005
- Ayo Dosunmu, 2021
- Kofi Cockburn, 2022
Consensus Second Team All-Americans
- Andy Phillip, 1947
- Bill Erickson, 1949
- Ken Norman, 1987
- Kendall Gill, 1990
- Luther Head, 2005
- Deron Williams, 2005
- Dee Brown, 2006
- Kofi Cockburn, 2021