Ep. 1182 - Why CJ Moore has Illini basketball at No. 1 in his 2026-27 rankings
Illini Inquirer Podcast: An Illinois Fighting Illini athletics podcast
247Sports, Illinois, Illinois Football, Illinois Basketball, Illinois Athletics, College Football, C
4.9 • 577 Ratings
🗓️ 8 June 2026
⏱️ 38 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The Athletic college basketball writer CJ Moore joins Illini Inquirer's Jeremy Werner to discuss Illinois basketball's run to the Final Four and his hometown perspective on Keaton Wagler's rise to All-American and projected top-10 NBA Draft pick. Moore then breaks down what stands out about the Illinois staff and why he had Illinois at No. 1 in his post-NBA Draft withdrawal deadline 2026-27 college basketball rankings.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Today on the On Inquirer podcast, a special guest for you today, C.J. Moore, the athletic college basketball writer, one of the best in the business, |
| 0:22.0 | diving deep into the stories that make college basketball, ran into the final four, |
| 0:27.3 | really nice guy as well. And he was kind enough to give us 30 minutes of his time. |
| 0:31.7 | Speaking of one of the best stories in college basketball last year, the Ilanat, |
| 0:36.9 | he wrote great stories in |
| 0:37.8 | Davin Mirkovich and the Balkin connection for Illinois, but also Keaton Wogler. And he has |
| 0:42.9 | unique perspective when it comes to Keaton Wogler because he's from Shawnee, Kansas. Keaton |
| 0:48.5 | Wogler's hometown and knows the family pretty well, plays basketball with Logan Wogler, |
| 0:55.6 | Keaton's father, and got to see Keaton kind of come up through the high school ranks and see his story up close and watch this |
| 1:00.7 | amazing rise into what is a top 10 NBA draft pick, potential top five NBA draft pick. So really good |
| 1:06.7 | insight from CJ Moore on Keaton Wogler. He talks about the Illini as well what made that team special, |
| 1:13.1 | but also CJ is really high on the 2627 Alinai. In fact, he couldn't be any higher. He's got them |
| 1:19.6 | number one in his preseason, of course way too early poll or top 25 rankings going into |
| 1:27.1 | the summer here after the NBA draft withdrawal date. |
| 1:31.4 | He breaks down why. |
| 1:32.5 | He has Illinois number one. |
| 1:34.1 | While a lot of people have four, five, six, seven, whatever it is, he thinks they are |
| 1:38.6 | one of the top two returning rosters in college basketball. |
| 1:42.3 | And he explains why he gave Illinois the |
| 1:44.7 | slight edge over a Florida team that returns a lot of their talent from a number one seed |
| 1:49.6 | as well. So it's fun catching up with CJ talking college basketball, talking about the |
| 1:53.9 | Illinois. We also talk about Quentin Coleman, who's had a fantastic week with USA basketball, |
... |
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