Wisconsin basketball recruiting: UW offers 2022 SG Josh Dix out of Iowa

Recruiting is the lifeblood of any major college athletics team, but following it closely as a fan can sometimes be difficult and can often be time consuming. We’ll try and condense all the recruiting news you can use into this bi-weekly (or more often since we are in Uncertain Times and there aren’t actual sports going on) post. It’ll include updates on current commits, including stats from their high school games, as well as news on players the Badgers are still pursuing. Let’s get down to business!

New offer

• After visiting Madison on Aug. 5, 2022 3-star SG (247 Sports only) Josh Dix (Council Bluffs, Iowa) out of Abraham Lincoln High School earned an offer from the Wisconsin Badgers and coach Greg Gard. Dix has offers from Iowa, Colorado State, Drake, Minnesota, Northern Iowa, Purdue, South Dakota State, UMKC and Wake Forest. Both major recruiting services have Dix listed as an Iowa lean currently.

Standing at 6-foot-4 or 6-foot-5 and weighing around 185 pounds, Dix is rated as the No. 24 SG in the country and the No. 1 player in the state of Iowa by 247 Sports. Dix told Evan Flood at Badger247 ($) that he was planning on returning to Madison for an official visit this fall.

He was named first team all-state last season and has been first team all-conference the last two years. His numbers were impressive last year where he averaged 19.4 ppg, 7.4 rpg, 4.3 apg, 2.5 spg and 1.3 bpg while shooting 54.5% from the field and 37.8% from deep.

This might be a simple comparison since they’re both from Iowa, but Dix reminds me of a shorter Joe Wieskamp. Dix is athletic and can finish at the rim and he can shoot from anywhere on the court too. He has a smooth and repeatable stroke and makes threes off the dribble, off screens and in transition. He definitely has the ability to be a secondary creator as well, showing good court vision and decent handles.

While it sounds like Iowa might be tough to beat here, the Badgers are definitely in the conversation and can hopefully make a good impression when he visits Madison again.

Badgers make top-seven

• After extending a scholarship offer one week ago, the Badgers made the top-seven for 3-star SG Connor Essegian (Albion, Ind.). The other six schools that made the cut are Butler, Creighton, IPFW, Loyola (Ill.), Minnesota and Wake Forest.

If he makes another cutdown list, I’d expect the Badgers to be on that list too so we’ll see where things go with Essegian moving forward.