4/23/2016 basketball Edit

Wisconsin snags two from IMG Academy during official visits

Jon McNamara • BadgerBlitz

Editor

Jon McNamara is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He has covered UW athletics since 2002 and has worked at Rivals.com since 2006.

Wisconsin had two scholarship openings in the 2016 class at the start of the weekend.

By Saturday afternoon, both were snatched up by a pair from IMG Academy in Florida. During official visits to UW, 2016 point guard D'Mitrik Trice and small forward Aleem Ford committed to the Badgers.

A 5-foot-11, 165-pound lead guard, Trice chose UW over offers from Ohio State and Vanderbilt. He was offered by head coach Greg Gard earlier this month and will provide depth behind Bronson Koenig and Jordan Hill next year.

"They really want me to come in and play behind Koenig for a year and then run the show as a sophomore," Trice said. "They compare me to (former UW point guard) Jordan Taylor, who was there a few years ago. They really like my game because it fits what they want to do."

Ford, a 6-foot-6, 180-pound three-star forward, picked up an offer from the Badgers on Friday during his official. He was also hearing from Michigan and Butler, and listed offers from Richmond, Saint Louis, Wofford, Rutgers and American, among others. Ford will provide some depth on the wing behind starter Nigel Hayes and reserve Khalil Iverson at small forward.