Keaton Wagler leads deep group of talented freshmen still putting their imprint on March Madness

Yet, his seemingly sterling resume didn't translate into the kind of buzz surrounding flashier, more highly touted prospects in this year's star-studded freshman class. Now, as this weekend's Final Four approaches, Wagler finds himself squarely in the spotlight as one of college basketball's top March Madness newcomers.

“It's definitely crazy," he said after Thursday's practice at Lucas Oil Stadium. “Playing for a state championship (last year), like I thought that'd be like the biggest thing I'd ever play in. But getting to a Final Four is definitely a lot bigger.”

The spoils of success are readily apparent everywhere you look in Indianapolis from signs outside the stadium declaring “the road ends here” to banners of each team's top seven players hanging in the hallway outside the four locker rooms.

Clearly, Wagler is not in Kansas anymore. Rather, he's two wins away from capturing a national championship — just like the other young guns in town this weekend even if the script hasn't exactly been by the book.

The three freshmen apparently vying to be the NBA's No. 1 draft pick in June are all missing. Two first-team All-Americans, BYU forward AJ Dybantsa and Duke forward Cameron Boozer, were ousted during the first two tourney weekends. The third contender, Kansas freshman Darryn Peterson, also was eliminated early, as was first-team All-American guard Darius Acuff Jr. of Arkansas, another potential lottery pick.

Second-team All-American Caleb Wilson of North Carolina didn't even make it that far. He suffered a season-ending thumb injury before the tournament started.

But even with all those prominent headliners sitting at home, plenty of key freshmen are still here.

Wagler, also a second team All-American, leads South Regional champ Illinois (28-8) in scoring at 17.9 points per game and with 85 3-pointers made. His season really took off following a 46-point scoring performance at Purdue in late January.

Up next is East Regional champ UConn (33-5), which made it to Indy thanks in large part to a heroic 35-foot, 3-pointer from freshman guard Braylon Mullins with 0.4 seconds left Sunday. Mullins' basket sent the Huskies past Duke 73-72 and into their third Final Four in four years, turning the Indiana native into an instant star.

Now Mullins is expecting a large contingent of his hometown fans to make the 37-minute drive from Greenfield, Indiana, to Lucas Oil for Friday's open practice — just as he envisioned during his recruiting trip to UConn.

“That was the message coach (Dan Hurley) really wanted to get across — it was like the goal is Indy,” said Mullins, who overcame an early-season injury to become one of the five double-digit scorers on the team. “Everywhere we walked, it was like you saw Indianapolis. I think that was the whole message, the whole goal and we accomplished it. Now we've got to win it.”

Saturday's second game between Midwest Regional champ Michigan (35-3) and West Regional champ Arizona (36-2) also features two impressive freshmen — the Wildcats' dynamic duo of Brayden Burries and Koa Peat. They are the top two scorers on a team that spent much of the season ranked No. 1 and was unbeaten until early February.

Last weekend, they helped fuel a dramatic second-half comeback to beat Purdue to chase even higher aspirations in the same city Arizona won its only national title back in 1997.

“They recruited a lot of winners, and then they already have winners on this team,” Burries said. “So winning is a big part of our culture, and if you can find ways to win a basketball game, whether that's scoring, defending, rebounding or just being a great teammate, you can go a long way.”

The Wolverines might be the most experienced team in town.

But they still needed key contributions from Trey McKenney to navigate the journey. He is averaging 9.8 points and has 15 double-figure scoring games since mid-January in his first college season, including 17 points in the 90-77 regional semifinal victory over Alabama. And, unlike the other freshmen, he's already announced he'll be back at Michigan next season.

“I think I've definitely gotten better throughout the season,” McKenney said. “But I think my willingness to learn from my mistakes, stuff that I've done wrong, I think I've done a really good job of just getting back at it, getting better throughout the season.”

Wagler's numbers tell a similar tale despite being undervalued coming out of high school.

While others made the mistake of overlooking Wagler, Illinois coach Brad Underwood decided to take the risk — and now he's two wins away from seeing it pay off with the Fighting Illini's first national title.

“We signed him and I had not seen him play in person,” Underwood said. "I go see him play. The night before he had 36. The night I go see him, he has two. I was all smiles. I called (assistant coach) Tyler (Underwood) and said ‘We just found an absolute gem.’ I fell in love with him, and here we are a year later, and he’s the MVP of the South Region.”

AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-mens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness