Awards Thread

[Goillinikobd]

https://twitter.com/x/status/2033972309086605395

I am not convinced he is even the best player on Michigan’s team

 

[lstewart53x3]

I don’t get how anyone could enjoy watching Brad Underwood teams play basketball. Maybe you just don’t understand the game?

https://twitter.com/x/status/2034313621841260964

 

[IllinoisIntegrity]

Hope that second paragraph is true?

https://twitter.com/x/status/2033958732866982027

Unpopular opinion apparently, but unless Wagler and this team gets to the Sweet 16 (at a minimum), there should be no talk of hanging of jerseys. No B1G championship and B1G tournament flop. Ayo and Terrence brought hardware and tourney results. Well deserved recognition for Wagler but permanent rafter talk is premature.

 

[Fly Illini Fly!]

https://twitter.com/x/status/2033964630813331532

 

[FGCUIllini]

Unpopular opinion apparently, but unless Wagler and this team gets to the Sweet 16 (at a minimum), there should be no talk of hanging of jerseys. No B1G championship and B1G tournament flop. Ayo and Terrence brought hardware and tourney results. Well deserved recognition for Wagler but permanent rafter talk is premature.

I understand your take/opinion.

However, I feel like your take greatly underscores his individual success/growth/results, all things considered.

Jersey Numbers hanging in the rafters = individuals and their results/awards/accolades.

Team & Year hanging in the rafters = Team Results/Success.

Both can be mutually exclusive. Let's not take anything away from this young man and the greatness we all witnessed from an 18-year-old freshman +150 recruit.

 

[rtbritt]

Unpopular opinion apparently, but unless Wagler and this team gets to the Sweet 16 (at a minimum), there should be no talk of hanging of jerseys. No B1G championship and B1G tournament flop. Ayo and Terrence brought hardware and tourney results. Well deserved recognition for Wagler but permanent rafter talk is premature.

There are literally criteria for this so that folks can’t just make their own hot take and opinions of who gets it.

 

[Fly Illini Fly!]

That game can just never be done justice:

https://twitter.com/x/status/2034033615554728370

 

[skyIdub]

Unpopular opinion apparently, but unless Wagler and this team gets to the Sweet 16 (at a minimum), there should be no talk of hanging of jerseys. No B1G championship and B1G tournament flop. Ayo and Terrence brought hardware and tourney results. Well deserved recognition for Wagler but permanent rafter talk is premature.

Uhhhh….what?
You don’t understand the difference between honoring a team vs individual honors??

 

[wpr]

In less than a year, Keaton went from someone regarded as 'one for the future' and a redshirt candidate to being on his way to achieving the criteria to have his jersey in the rafters at one of the most historic institutions in college basketball. Nothing in college basketball matches that story. And there's still time to do something really, really special

The fun part is when he said he his goal when he walked on campus was to not be redshirted.

 

[Fly Illini Fly!]

SO, officially 2nd team on all four ballots:

https://twitter.com/x/status/2034299180005363965

https://twitter.com/x/status/2034284218671354076

https://twitter.com/x/status/2033960599206387765

https://twitter.com/x/status/2031747527716811249

RAFTERS.

 

[PleaseMakeABowlGame]

Unpopular opinion apparently, but unless Wagler and this team gets to the Sweet 16 (at a minimum), there should be no talk of hanging of jerseys. No B1G championship and B1G tournament flop. Ayo and Terrence brought hardware and tourney results. Well deserved recognition for Wagler but permanent rafter talk is premature.

Has precisely 0% to do with your or anyone else’s opinion.

There’s literal, specific criteria set in place. He met those qualifications.

 

[fatboyslim]

Unpopular opinion apparently, but unless Wagler and this team gets to the Sweet 16 (at a minimum), there should be no talk of hanging of jerseys. No B1G championship and B1G tournament flop. Ayo and Terrence brought hardware and tourney results. Well deserved recognition for Wagler but permanent rafter talk is premature.

 

[Oldskoolkoach]

Take a look at this list of "Top 50" players in the tournament and tell me what is wrong other than ESPN is trash.
https://www.espn.com/mens-college-b...aa-tournament-cameron-boozer-aj-dybantsa-2026

 

[WhereDoWeStandWithStorr?]

His pro career will be even better. Trust me.

 

[Fly Illini Fly!]

Unpopular opinion apparently, but unless Wagler and this team gets to the Sweet 16 (at a minimum), there should be no talk of hanging of jerseys. No B1G championship and B1G tournament flop. Ayo and Terrence brought hardware and tourney results. Well deserved recognition for Wagler but permanent rafter talk is premature.

The issue is you’re clueless in knowing HOW the procedure works.

For every Illinois player, there’s specific criteria laid out to have your jersey in the rafters (consensus 1st or 2nd team All American). Keaton met those requirements, fair and square. The requirements DO NOT mandate winning the B10 or making the Sweet Sixteen.

 

[Illini in Italy]

Unpopular opinion apparently, but unless Wagler and this team gets to the Sweet 16 (at a minimum), there should be no talk of hanging of jerseys. No B1G championship and B1G tournament flop. Ayo and Terrence brought hardware and tourney results. Well deserved recognition for Wagler but permanent rafter talk is premature.

Verrrrry unpopular opinion. @Dan, we still are looking for that Dislike button . . .

 

[New Creation]

Unpopular opinion apparently, but unless Wagler and this team gets to the Sweet 16 (at a minimum), there should be no talk of hanging of jerseys. No B1G championship and B1G tournament flop. Ayo and Terrence brought hardware and tourney results. Well deserved recognition for Wagler but permanent rafter talk is premature.

 

[IllinoisIntegrity]

Has precisely 0% to do with your or anyone else’s opinion.

There’s literal, specific criteria set in place. He met those qualifications.

Ray Woods:

-National player of the year 1917
-1st Team All American 1915, 1916. 1917
-First Team B1G 1915. 1916, 1917
-2004 named to “All Century Team”

-Jersey hung in 2008

91 years later.

Wagler: 2026 2nd team all-American.

Perspective.

 

[Illini2010-11]

Ray Woods:

-National player of the year 1917
-1st Team All American 1915, 1916. 1917
-First Team B1G 1915. 1916, 1917
-2004 named to “All Century Team”

-Jersey hung in 2008

91 years later.

Wagler: 2026 2nd team all-American and first team B1G.

Perspective.

FIFY. You could also include B1G freshman of Year as well.

Also there are nearly triple the schools in basketball now. Hard to compare over time, but it is silly to not applaud what Wagler has done in his one season here. Also, I suspect the team will advance to at least S16.

 

[The Galloping Ghost]

Ray Woods:

-National player of the year 1917
-1st Team All American 1915, 1916. 1917
-First Team B1G 1915. 1916, 1917
-2004 named to “All Century Team”

-Jersey hung in 2008

91 years later.

Wagler: 2026 2nd team all-American.

Perspective.

I mean, I look at this and all I see is us finally having an athletic director who doesn't suck. Both are clearly deserving. Thankfully, we do things the right way now.

 

[ChazzReinhold]

Ray Woods:

-National player of the year 1917
-1st Team All American 1915, 1916. 1917
-First Team B1G 1915. 1916, 1917
-2004 named to “All Century Team”

-Jersey hung in 2008

91 years later.

Wagler: 2026 2nd team all-American.

Perspective.

So you obviously have a problem with the criteria to have your jersey in the rafters and accordingly Ray Woods should be the only one up there.

 

[IlliniFan42]

Unpopular opinion apparently, but unless Wagler and this team gets to the Sweet 16 (at a minimum), there should be no talk of hanging of jerseys. No B1G championship and B1G tournament flop. Ayo and Terrence brought hardware and tourney results. Well deserved recognition for Wagler but permanent rafter talk is premature.

Hanging jerseys is about individual greatness and he has achieved that. When we talk about Illini freshmen having great seasons, from now on we'll compare them to Keaton Wagler.

 

[From the cheap seats]

Unpopular opinion apparently, but unless Wagler and this team gets to the Sweet 16 (at a minimum), there should be no talk of hanging of jerseys. No B1G championship and B1G tournament flop. Ayo and Terrence brought hardware and tourney results. Well deserved recognition for Wagler but permanent rafter talk is premature.

I can’t believe I’m going down this rabbit hole, but…in the two seasons Woods’ teams won the Big Ten titles, he averaged 3.6 points and 2.4 points. Which must have been really good back then. So kudos to Mr. Woods; the school should have honored him back in 1918, if they had rafters back then.

But the game has changed some since then. Wagler has met the school’s standard just as Mr. Woods did in his era of basketball. What the teammates around Woods and Wagler accomplished is beside the point of honoring individual excellence.

 

[BalloonsTheElephant]

Unpopular opinion apparently, but unless Wagler and this team gets to the Sweet 16 (at a minimum), there should be no talk of hanging of jerseys. No B1G championship and B1G tournament flop. Ayo and Terrence brought hardware and tourney results. Well deserved recognition for Wagler but permanent rafter talk is premature.

While we're at it, kick Dan Marino out of the hall of fame! He couldn't even keep the laces out for his kicker!

 

[artist3]

If Keaton played at Illinois for 3 years, I think his accolades would be similar to Ray Woods. Maybe no NPOY, but probably more 1st Team All B1Gs and more All American teams. Also when most, if not all, of us are gone in 74 years, he’ll be on the all 2000s century team.