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BASKETBALL Greg Gard comments on 2025 recruiting class

MADISON, Wis. — High school seniors Will Garlock, Hayden Jones and Zach Kinziger each signed a national letter of intent to attend the University of Wisconsin, as announced by men's basketball head coach Greg Gard on Wednesday.

Will Garlock

7-0 | Center
Middleton, Wis. (Middleton HS)


Will Garlock, a 7-foot center from Middleton, Wisconsin, is a three-star prospect playing for Middleton High School. According to 247 Sports, he is the No. 5 prospect in Wisconsin. In his junior season, Garlock averaged a team-leading 16.9 points per game, shooting an impressive 66.5 percent from the floor, including 31.2 percent from beyond the arc. He also led the Cardinals in rebounding (8.5), while also averaging 2.4 assists per game and blocking 19 shots. As a sophomore, he averaged 11.4 points per game with a 66.3 percent field goal percentage. Garlock's performance earned him first-team all-Big Eight honors as a junior and honorable mention all-state in Division 1 by the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association.


Gard on Garlock:
"We are happy to have Will joining our Badger family. Growing up as a hometown kid located in our backyard, wearing the Wisconsin jersey and being a part of this program means a lot to Will. He has a lot of potential and we see him fitting into our long line of successful big men here at Wisconsin. Will has the size and the athleticism to compete at a high level, and he will fit right in with our style of play and with how the college game has evolved in recent years. Coming off an injury last season, we are excited to watch Will continue to keep trending towards his immense potential. We look forward to seeing him continuously throughout the upcoming season before he joins us in the summer months ahead. Our staff is eagerly waiting to start helping Will develop into a really good front line addition."

Hayden Jones

6-7 | Guard
Nelson, New Zealand


Hayden Jones, a 6-foot-7 guard from New Zealand, has played for the Nelson Giants in the New Zealand NBL for the past two seasons. Last season, he averaged 2.9 points and 1.3 assists per game. In February, at 17 years old, Jones debuted for the New Zealand men's national team, becoming the fourth-youngest player to do so. He helped lead New Zealand to a fourth-place finish in the FIBA Under-17 World Cup, averaging 11.6 points and 2.7 assists per game, marking the highest finish by a New Zealand national team at a FIBA tournament since 2002. Jones also served as team captain for New Zealand at the New Zealand Foot Locker U18 Nationals, earning MVP honors. Additionally, he registered 12.2 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 4.3 assists per game during New Zealand's runner-up finish at the 2023 FIBA U16 Asian Championship in Qatar. Hayden's father, Phill Jones, was a teammate of current Wisconsin assistant Kirk Penney on the New Zealand national team.

Gard on Jones:
"We are excited about the addition of Hayden to our program. He has really grown in terms of his actual size, and at 6-foot-7 he is very versatile. Hayden has developed himself into a player that can play point guard, plus the two and three positions. Defensively, he's long and does an excellent job of guarding players and disrupting shots at the rim with his natural size and ability. He's also a great rebounder at his position. He has 20-plus rebound games at the guard position, which is really hard to do and shows that he has a nose for the ball. Hayden has a high basketball IQ and we are looking forward to him coming into our program and absorbing what we do here. He comes from an athletic family, which includes his father, Phill, who was an elite shooter for the New Zealand senior national team and one of the leading scorers in the 2004 Olympics. We are thrilled to have Hayden joining our program and we are eager to help him grow."

Zach Kinziger

6-3 | Guard
De Pere, Wis. (De Pere HS)


Zach Kinziger, a four-star prospect from De Pere, Wisconsin, is a consensus top-150 recruit nationally and was recently ranked No. 68 in the ESPN Top 100. According to 247 Sports, he is the No. 3 prospect in Wisconsin. The 6-foot-3 guard plays at De Pere High School. As a junior last season, Kinziger averaged 19.9 points (49.9% FG, 42.5% 3FG), 5.4 rebounds, and 3.8 assists per game, leading De Pere to a 26-2 record and an appearance in the sectional finals. In June, he led De Pere High School to a 5-0 record at the WBY Tournament in Kaukauna, Wisconsin, earning All-Tournament honors. As a freshman on varsity, Kinziger averaged 8.2 points per game (46.3% FG, 42.2% 3FG). He made a jump in his sophomore season, increasing his scoring to 15.4 points per game, shooting 56.3 percent from the field and 43 percent from beyond the arc. In 2023, Kinziger and De Pere won the Division 1 state championship with a 30-0 record.

Gard on Kinziger:
"We are very excited to have Zach joining our program. Growing up in the state of Wisconsin, playing for this program is a dream for him. While evaluating him, it did not take long for my staff and I to identify Zach for his shooting, competitive drive, basketball IQ, and the effort that he competes with on the defensive end. Zach has been one of the best shooters in all of high school basketball, which will remind Wisconsin fans of many former Badgers that have helped our program sustain a high level of success. As the son of a coach, Zach plays the game the right way, and he has earned everything that has come his way. Just as impressive is Zach's preparation in the classroom and the hard work that he puts into academics. We are excited for Zach to join our Badger Family and we can't wait to begin working with him to help him reach his goals."

My thoughts on the BBall game today

Tonje is a STUD! He's going to get us 15-20 a night
Gilmore (right now) is a black hole on offense. He does provide good defense though
Winter is providing more than what I thought
Blackwell is a good player, and getting better
Janicki is OKr
Illver has improved. I think that he's a nice sub
Greppi Big body, but right now I don't see him as much of a contributor
Freitag, I can't tell in 3 minutes
Janicki, the next pain in your ass
Amos, started off slow, looked lost on both ends, but REALLY came on late!
Hunter No idea!
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Mike Tressel

I think that seat needs to be warm starting this moment. His linebackers have significantly underperformed expectations both seasons, and there have been too many games where the defense has not played within the vicinity of its potential. I love to blame the shortcomings of this staff on Paul Chryst as much as the next Fickell homer, but you can't pin Iowa on Paul Chryst recruiting two weeks after the same fricking team capped off a trouncing of three consecutive B1G opponents. Absolutely no excuse for getting completely obliterated by a now 6-4 Iowa team filled with 3 star athletes. UCLA just conclusively demonstrated how grossly unprepared Tressell's defense was a week ago.

I know he has deep ties to Fickell. I know that Longo is probably on the way out and that canning two coordinators in one offseason would probably be an optical nightmare and fiscally insupportable. But the week-to-week inconsistency of Tressell's defense isn't going to fly forever.

FOOTBALL RECRUITING Tristian Phillips on Wisconsin: 'It was beyond what I thought it would be'


Oregon will be tough to beat, but it sounds like Wisconsin will get an official this summer, possibly a junior day before that as well.
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