Greg Gard plans to sign Wisconsin Badgers basketball recruits to long-term contracts

That proverbial tug-of-war Gard and his staff are experiencing has resulted in near-daily conversations. Doing so with a 15-player roster limit blends the line of conversation and argument.

Wanting to continue to recruit domestically and retain players year over year, Gard and Wisconsin have come up with a solution.

Multi-year contracts are coming soon

The Badgers have landed commitments from two players in the class of 2026: Australian guard Jackson Ball and Racine native LaTrevion Fenderson.

Though Gard didn't explicitly say they'll be the first to sign multi-year contracts as freshmen, the deals will be implemented soon.

"We're in the process of assigning [incoming freshman high school recruits] to multi-year contracts," Gard said. "To tell them that we're committed to them, we're not going to throw them out after one year, right? We want to commit to your development."

The deals would offer incoming recruits a strong sense of commitment from the staff and program, while the program receives a much-needed level of stability.

But it runs deeper than that. It's hard for a program to maintain an identity and build chemistry without that continuity to make a team better than the sum of its parts.

That's why in an era of college basketball riddled with uncertainty, Gard is looking to break the trend.

"We don't want this to be a one-stop, just a layover," he said. "If we're coming after you, we want you here. It's for the long haul."