June 11, 2015

The following is excerpted from Patrick Herb's book "Make 'Em Believe: The inside story of the Badgers' Road to the 2015 Final Four," released on June 15, 2015 from KCI Sports Publishing. This hard cover, 160-page keepsake features over 100 color photos and first-hand stories from Wisconsin players and head coach Bo Ryan.

Order your copy of "Make 'Em Believe"

Excerpt: Story of a Slogan
Excerpt: The Promised Land isn't promise
Excerpt: A forgettable trip

Chapter 19: SOUNDTRACK LAUGHTER
On the eve of the national championship game, Bo Ryan took his perch behind a microphone atop a temporary stage in the Lucas Oil Stadium underbelly-turned-media-center. Flanked by his starting five, from left to right, Bronson Koenig, Frank Kaminsky, Josh Gasser, Sam Dekker and Nigel Hayes, Ryan settled in for a press conference as hundreds of media members sat with pens and cameras at the ready.

The format was the same as the media briefing he and his players had conducted the night before after their scintillating win over Kentucky. It was the same as the press conference they'd participated in the day before that and the one the day before that. In total, over four postseason weekends, Ryan and company had endured no fewer than 16 press conferences in four cities. The monotony could be suppressing.

Or not.

"Amidst a soundtrack of laughter, they would bounce their way through the NCAA tournament like it was one big trampoline. Welcome to the 2015 Wisconsin Badgers: ruthlessly-efficient assassins on the court, delightful misfits off it."

Before the first question was even uttered, the five Badgers players were all trying -- and failing -- to cover their full-toothed grins. Dekker was whispering something into Hayes' ear, barely able to keep his voice down through the laughter. Gasser and Koenig were doubled over, peaking around Kaminsky both struck with the same "did you see that?" inspiration, Kaminsky shaking his head in joking disapproval.

On the grandest stage of college athletics, on the precipice of the biggest game of their lives, here were the Badgers, giggling like they had just made eyes with a pretty girl.

Maybe they had. Or maybe they had seen something as mundane as a reporter with his shoe untied. Or maybe they were recounting an absurd video game battle from that morning. There was no telling what was behind those mischievous smiles. The only certainty was that they were having fun.

Against a backdrop of sincere answers and respect for their upcoming opponent, the next 30 minutes unfolded rapt with comedic quirkiness. Dekker peeled his paper NCAA water cup to fashion a bracelet, Kaminsky made faces into a small mounted camera affixed to the table in front of him, Hayes lounged with his size 15 shoes peeking through the black table skirting while playfully interjecting, "I don't really know how to answer questions, I just thought I was brought here to say some words and you guys might laugh." (More on Hayes' stenographer-teasing wordplay in a bit.)

These are the Badgers, laughing when Kaminsky's voice cracked during a response, efforting a straight face as Gasser leans his nose closer and closer to their face or scanning the crowd and then busting up like 12-years olds who had just heard the word "fart."

All the while, with the smirk of a parent watching his children play in the mud, the coach they call "Pops" is basking in his players' revelry.

You could say this press conference was off the rails, but could you be certain there was ever a track to begin with?

If this was how they acted in public, during the most pressure-packed moments of their careers, you should have seen them away from the lights and the cameras.

Amidst a soundtrack of laughter, they would bounce their way through the NCAA tournament like it was one big trampoline. Welcome to the 2015 Wisconsin Badgers: ruthlessly-efficient assassins on the court, delightful misfits off it.

"I heard a story once about a boxer or a UFC fighter who came out to the face-off right before the fight and tried to flex every muscle he could so that he looked big and tough," Hayes said after the season. "Then when the fight started he let go of his muscles and he had no energy left and got knocked out immediately. If a person were to try to flex every muscle in his body, eventually they would get to the point where they would pass out.

"That kind of relates to a team in basketball. If your team is uptight and tense all the time, eventually you will burn out. That's why you need to relax and not flex your muscles all the time, like our team did off the court. Then when it was time to get on the court, it's all business."

Hayes' quirky, yet astute analogy in itself is an illustration of the Badgers: smart and perceptive enough to understand the moment, yet goofy and grounded enough to see the humor in it.

Fitting that Hayes is the theorist who can explain the phenomena, because he just might be the instigator that sent the Badgers down this rabbit hole of silliness.

"People say we have a loose team and there is no doubt Nigel is a huge part of that. His relationship with Coach Ryan might have started it," Gasser admitted.

Patrick Herb, an alumnus of UW-Madison and seven-year veteran of the Kansas City Chiefs public relations staff, is the assistant director of athletic communications for the Badgers. He serves as the lead public relations contact for Wisconsin Basketball and is the sideline reporter for the Wisconsin Radio Network's broadcasts of Badger football. Herb and his wife, Lindsay, are both Appleton, Wis., natives and currently reside in Verona with their sons, Tyler and Austin.