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Wisconsin men’s head basketball coach Bo Ryan announced the
signing of four high school seniors to national letters of intent Wednesday.

Unlike recent years in which Ryan and his staff have heavily
recruited and signed players from around Wisconsin and neighboring states, this
year’s class features players from Ohio and Texas, and no players from in-state.
The class also addresses an impending need for interior size — Wisconsin big
men Greg Stiemsma and Brian Butch will both run out of eligibility following
the season — with the addition of 7-foot-1 center Ian Markolf and 6-foot-10
center Jared Berggren.

Markolf, from San Antonio’s Churchill High School, was
recruited by the likes of Indiana, Auburn and Baylor before selecting
Wisconsin. The 2007 preseason All-State selection averaged 13 points and 8.5
rebounds per game last season.

"He is only touching
the tip of the iceberg in terms of the type of player he can be in the future,"
Ryan said in a release Wednesday. "He has tremendous size and brings a true
low-post presence to the future of Wisconsin basketball. He is quite agile for
his size, can rebound the basketball very well and is continually improving his
expansion of his offensive game."

Berggren is the most
highly-touted recruit in the class, rated by Rivals.com as the 11th-best center
in the nation and No. 58 recruit overall. The Princeton, Minn., native racked
up 21 points and 12 rebounds per game while blocking 150 shots to earn honorable
mention All-State honors last season.

"The first time we
saw him in our team camp following his sophomore year he showed all the little
things we look for in young players," Ryan said. "He understands the game,
passes well, can play either front line position and has developed his
perimeter shooting to accompany his low post and rebounding abilities."

Joining the two big
men are a pair of guards.

Jordan Taylor, a
6-foot-1 point guard from Bloomington, Minn. (Benilde-St. Margaret’s HS),
finished last season averaging 19.5 points, 6.5 assists and 5.2 rebounds per
game. Benilde-St. Margaret’s was the Minnesota Class AAA state runner up.

"Jordan has wanted
to be a Wisconsin Badger for a long time and has put in a lot of hard work and
effort to work toward that goal," Ryan said. "He has a presence and moxie about
him that Wisconsin fans around the country will enjoy watching develop during
his career as a Badger."

The final piece to
the class is 6-foot-4 Robert Wilson. The Garfield Heights, Ohio, senior
finished last season averaging 17 points per game. Wilson started garnering
more high-profile recruiting attention during the spring and early summer,
drawing interest from teams that included Ohio State.

"We had identified
Rob as a player with tremendous potential two years ago and it has been great
to see him blossom into one of the nation's better players," Ryan said.