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BY MIKE LUCAS
UWBadgers.com Senior Writer
MADISON, Wis. – Nigel Hayes was asked about his sleep habits, an odd request, for sure. But it will make more sense in the context of what's next for a Wisconsin basketball program that made 'em believe.
"Six to seven hours a night," replied Hayes who then opined, "I think Einstein, Edison and those guys got like four. And you see what they did with their lives, so maybe I'm sleeping too much."
Just don't sleep on Hayes. That's something opposing players and NCAA tournament stenographers learned about the ebullient junior forward and 20-year-old logophile from Toledo, Ohio.
With the loss of Frank Kaminsky, Sam Dekker, Traevon Jackson, Josh Gasser and Duje Dukan, it may also have application for this season's team which has been projected for fifth or sixth in the Big Ten.
If the pundits are right on their preseason forecast for the Badgers, it would break a 14-year streak of never finishing lower than fourth place in the conference under head coach Bo Ryan.
"That's just a reality, a fact," Vitto Brown said of the doubters. "We're going to get some respect because Coach Ryan has proven time and time again that he can make something happen with anybody.
"But in terms of high goals and aspirations, I don't know how much they (outsiders) truly expect from us. Last year, we were expected to do a lot because of the previous year."
In 2014, the Badgers made it to the Final Four for the first time since 2000. Although they were beaten in the semifinals by Kentucky, they lost just one starter, Ben Brust, from a 30-win team.
"This year," continued Brown, a junior from Bowling Green, Ohio, "we've lost so much with guys graduating and going on to the NBA, people don't really know what to expect."
Hayes and Bronson Koenig are the only returning starters from the team that fell to Duke in the NCAA championship game. Brown and Zak Showalter are the only returning subs from the rotation.
They now make up the "Final Four." They're the only players on the current roster to have stepped on the floor for a Final Four game, however limited that experience is for Brown and Showalter.
They're not about to go down without a fight, either. That would seem to be their mindset after back-to-back trips to the national semis and finals. Don't sleep on them. Don't sleep on the Badgers.
Sounds like it has the makings for a slogan, a rallying cry; not unlike Make 'Em Believe.
Don't Sleep.
"That relates to the questions that I'll be getting asked throughout this whole season," Hayes said, "and the questions everyone else will continue to ask of us.
"How are we going to be anywhere near as good given the losses? And you can throw in the numbers: the percentage of our scoring (34 percent coming back) and rebounding (31 percent), things like that.
"I do take offense to it. But I think it's more offensive to the other guys, 'Wait a second. I've been waiting X-number of years to come out and play, don't write me off yet.'
"So it's kind of our internal motivating force as well.Â
"It's kind of a spin-off of Make 'Em Believe."
In all honesty, it hasn't completely caught on yet with everyone.
Don't Sleep.
"Is that it?" Brown inquired sheepishly Monday. "We've thrown out some ideas, but none of them seemed to stick the way Make 'Em Believe did. That was more natural. It just kind of happened.
"We've tried to manufacture one this year. Something better may come to us during the course of the season, we'll see. Don't Sleep is saying, 'Keep watching. Don't ignore us. Expect goodness again.'"
Showalter had a similar interpretation.
"People might have hopped off the bandwagon from last year, I guess," he said. "And we want them to know that we're still working and we're going to keep competing every day.
Koenig has also approved this message.
"All that it means is, don't sleep on us because a lot of people don't have us picked very high (in the Big Ten)," he said. "To me, they're sleeping on us because we lost so many guys.
"Everyone is pretty unsure with all of the youth and inexperience that we have. I can see why people are sleeping on us. But we're trying to wake them up."
What if the phrase doesn't catch on?
"It really doesn't matter but time will definitely determine that," said Hayes, who opined again, "Pressure either bursts pipes or makes diamonds. We can be either a diamond or a pipe."
Maybe it's a pipe dream to think that they can be as good. Just don't tell them.
They know they have a Long Way to Go. Hip hop artist Joe Budden, for one, completed that lyric -- on pressure bursting pipes or making diamonds -- with a potential catchphrase.
"No matter how high up the mountain, I stay climbin' …"
When they raise the 2015 Final Four banner before Friday's season opener at the Kohl Center, it will mean something special to everyone who went on the ride, especially these four returning players.
"I'll just remember the team success from last year, really the past two years," said Koenig, a junior guard from La Crosse. "So much went into it that people really didn't see."
Koenig will think of all of his former UW teammates that contributed to the memories. "And the tradition that we're building on -- the legacy -- and everything like that," he said.
Showalter, a redshirt on the 2014 Final Four team, averaged only seven minutes off the bench last season. But he came through in the clutch against Oregon and North Carolina in the Big Dance.
"A lot of hard work went into getting that (banner)," he said. "It's always good to see another banner go up. I know that was always our goal in high school (Germantown).
"We wanted to keep adding (state title) banners to the wall and to keep adding numbers under the conference championships title. To keep adding banners in this place is pretty cool.
"We'll definitely remember what we put into it to earn that banner."
Showalter's close friend, Dekker, is now in the NBA with the Houston Rockets. But Dekker's parents will make the trip from Sheboygan to Madison and attend the opener against Western Illinois.
"I'll be thinking of Sam and Frank and all of those guys that put in the hard work," Showalter said of the banner-raising, "and hopefully we can continue to keep this thing rolling."
All four will use the moment for reflection.
"It's going to be nostalgic," said Brown, who sang the national anthem along with students from Kentucky, Duke and Michigan State before the national semifinal session last year in Indianapolis.
"I'll think about my whole time here -- both years -- it will bring me back to not only last year's Final Four but the year before as well.
"There will be a lot of pride, obviously -- we're proud of what we accomplished. But it's also going to remind us that this year is a new year and it's time to take care of business again."
The banner will serve as a different reminder for Hayes, who pointed out, "It doesn't say national champion, it only says Final Four finalist, so we still have work to do."
But he will also embrace the spirit of those players who have moved on.
"We always talk about those guys," Hayes said. "I know every day I'm saying how much I miss Josh (Gasser). It was a great time that we had -- it was a great team that we had.
"We did a lot of things trying to make ourselves a legendary Wisconsin team and I think a lot of people would say we put ourselves in the history books with the things we've done."
That goes hand-in-hand, he said, "With the wins we've had and how good of a team we were."
They made 'em believe, after all. That impacted these very different players in different ways.
"I'm sure it reached its peak during our Kentucky win," Hayes said of UW's upset of the previously-unbeaten Wildcats in the 2015 semifinals at Lucas Oil Stadium.
"If you looked around the stadium, there was only a little speck of red in our corner. That's all we needed, though. All year we embodied Make 'Em Believe, regardless if we were supposed to win or not."
Showalter saw the bigger picture and envisioned the branding ramifications.
"Wisconsin has never really been talked about in conversations with the top programs in the country," he said, "even if Coach Ryan is considered the best around.
"Last year, we just wanted to build respect for our program. The more games we won, the more people realized what we were trying to do and started to appreciate what we were doing here."
Brown felt Make 'Em Believe started to catch on during the Big Ten tournament in Chicago.
"They had to give us some respect because we won the regular-season championship," he said. "But it's still tough to win it outright and then take care of business in the conference tournament.
"That's where we had to make 'em believe, and we did."
It became personal for Koenig after Traevon Jackson was injured in early January.
"The team had high expectations," he said, "and when Trae went down -- the veteran point guard -- I had to step in and I didn't have all that much experience being a starting point guard.
"So I had to kind of make 'em believe and show them how good I was."
How have the roles changed since then, if they have, for Koenig and Hayes?
"It has definitely changed," Koenig said, "being the veterans out there now, being the leaders. We have to be patient with the younger guys and kind of teach them.
"The past two years, everyone knew what to do basically. But these guys (the freshmen) don't always know, so we have to break everything down and teach them.
"We're still trying to feel that out a little bit, too -- when to be aggressive and take it ourselves and when to get others involved and get them going."
Hayes can understand how people might look at this team and assume certain things.
"It's the 'Nigel has to score more' type of thing, which is fine," he said. "But that's never been my MO on any team I've ever been on.
"I've never tried to score the most points or have the biggest stat line. But I think Bronson and I are looked on more as leaders and we need to teach the inexperienced and young guys on our team.
"And we need to educate them as quickly as we can."
That has already begun in earnest with a 55-point exhibition win against overmatched UW-River Falls. Last Saturday, the Badgers also had the upper hand in a closed scrimmage with Northern Iowa.
"To go against UNI," Brown said, "it was kind of a shocker in the beginning for some guys. They were a little quicker and stronger than some people expected. So they jumped out on us early."
Last season, Northern Iowa set a school record with 31 wins. The Panthers won the MVC tournament title and their first game in the NCAA tourney as a No. 5 seed before losing to Louisville.
"I was really impressed with how hard we played," Koenig said. "The younger, more inexperienced guys are really hungry to prove themselves and show what they have."
These baby steps are a part of the discovery phase, especially the scrimmage.
"We were able to learn a lot about ourselves and what we were able to do," Hayes said. "We saw our weaknesses, which is always good to see before it goes in the win-loss column."
Showalter was the leading scorer against Northern Iowa after failing to score against River Falls.
"Those games are always good to see where we stand," he said of the team outlook. "I think we're getting better, we're learning. Obviously, we've got a long ways to go. But we'll get there."
It begins anew on Friday night.
"It's time now," Brown said, "to write a new story."
With a new phrase: Don't Sleep.
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