Badgers basketball lands pair of IMG Academy teammates for 2016 class

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The No. 1 priority of the Wisconsin Badgers men’s basketball team on the recruiting trail was to find a fit at point guard. It may have taken way longer than anyone hoped, but after offering a pair of teammates from IMG academy earlier this month UW finally got their men.

After head coach Greg Gard offered PG D’Mitrik Trice and then F Aleem Ford took their official visits together and committed on Saturday afternoon.

Both were ranked as 3-star recruits by 247Sports, with Trice ranked as the No. 71 point guard in the country and the No. 22 player out of his home state of Ohio and Ford ranked as the No. 65 small forward and No. 21 player in the state of Florida according to the 247Sports composite rankings.

Trice, a 5-11, 165-pound point guard chose the Badgers over offers from the likes of Ohio State and Vanderbilt. In fact, Trice was scheduled to take a visit to Vanderbilt tomorrow, but clearly won’t be doing that after committing to UW today.

Ford was a bit of a mystery addition to the Badgers program, with him holding just one other “Power 5” offer from Rutgers. He did have a host of mid-major offers, but has stepped up his game in his final season of high school play.

The addition of Trice also fills a major hole in the rotation, as UW spent most of last season without a true point guard backing up Bronson Koenig. Jordan Hill filled in admirably, but is much more of a shooting guard at heart.

These two teammates are the only two scholarship players added for the 2016 recruiting cycle, and gives UW plenty of depth for the future.

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