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BY MIKE LUCAS
UWBadgers.com Senior Writer
MADISON, Wis. — After a late-night/early-morning flight from Washington, D.C. and the Big Ten tournament final, Nigel Hayes got back to his apartment after 1 a.m. Even though he had an early wake-up Monday for an 8:15 a.m. meeting with a professor, followed by a couple of classes, another meeting with a prof, and treatment in the training room, all on his "off" day, he wasn't counting on getting to sleep right away.
"No, you never do sleep after games," said the 22-year-old Wisconsin senior. "Especially the big games. If you win, you're up because of the adrenaline and excitement. And if you lose, you're up thinking about what went wrong and what you could have done and should have done better.
"I just lay there and try to think about something else. If it gets real bad, I get up and drink some water and walk around a little bit. But usually, you just end up laying there. It's hard to turn off your brain sometimes, especially when you're trying to reflect on a loss, a loss in a championship game."
Winning championships is something that he always thinks about.
"Everyone who knows me knows that I don't care about personal stats or accolades, I'd rather just my team win," he said. "I've been a part of some good wins where I haven't had a double-double or scored 20 points. I've been a part of some losses when I've had those (numbers) and I would trade it in a second for a win. If you know me, you know that about me."
Once you get to know Hayes, even just a little bit, even a drive-by the last four years, you get a sense of his expectations and a feel for how much thought he puts into everything he does and says. He puts himself "out there" fully knowing the consequences, though he refutes being a "celebrity."
Take this John Wooden quote that he can loosely recite as if on speed dial: "Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are while your reputation is merely what others think you are."
Fans in opposing arenas can be pointed with their suggestions. Some are more personal than others. "This year," he said, "it has been, 'Nigel cares more about getting paid than winning games … Nigel cares more about going to the NBA … Nigel can't focus on this or that …'"
Hayes understands that for every action — "When you put your name out there for something that is going on, especially when it's a just cause (speaking out against racial injustice) or when you're going against the grain, for instance, the whole NCAA paying athletes" — there's a reaction.
Like this one that he got on the road, "Nigel, shut up about race issues and pay for play and make a free throw." While recounting what he heard, he looked up and made eye contact, something he doesn't always do, particularly during interviews.
"I've tried to fix it," he said. "In the business school, we have some classes, professional communication, and that's always one of the things that they talk about: making eye contact. My mother gets on me all the time about not looking people in the eye when I'm talking to them.
"But I'm listening. I promise I am. I'm not ignoring you."
It's hard to ignore Hayes' steady evolution since his freshman year. It's to the extent that he referred to how a "young Nigel" might have been affected by negative scrutiny or handled a situation differently than he does now.
Given this backdrop, how would he best describe what he has experienced?
"I need a word for wonderful and dynamic and changing at the same time," said Hayes, a noted logophile. "What's one word that describes all of that? Because it was wonderful and there was also dynamic growth and a changing period — all put together."
How about renaissance?
Pondering it for a few seconds, he said, "That's a great word because it was a renaissance with the basketball program. We were always really good. But we were always lacking the necessary resume, if you will, to be mentioned nationally with other programs."
The Badgers put themselves in the discussion with back-to-back Final Fours.
"Renaissance would be a good word for basketball and also myself," said Hayes. "I've changed drastically from my freshman year. You can just look at me. My hair cut when I walked in was like Vitto's (Brown). Now here I am."
He was smiling and motioning to his head and his current grooming.
Yes, here he is, shuffling off to Buffalo, getting ready for another Big Dance.
"Fourth and final try," he said, sighing.
He still remembers his first.
"I was wide-eyed and just excited to be there," he said. "You watch them (the NCAA tournament games) growing up. And once you're in it, yourself, you see what comes with it. I was fortunate enough to get to a Final Four my first year and I have great memories from that.
"The first time I've stormed the court because of such a good win would be the Arizona win in the Elite Eight. There were some other moments we were excited on the court after a win. But that was huge. That was genuine, pure excitement because we just accomplished something incredible."
He also remembered the selfies with his classmates and the Twitter mirror.
Others will remember Hayes wielding a microphone in the locker room and interviewing teammates on a variety of topics throughout the 2014 NCAA tournament. Hayes did so as "Nigel Burgundy" — a take-off on Will Ferrell's character Ron Burgundy in the movie, "Anchorman." The popular videos introduced a national audience to a playful Hayes during the first Final Four run.
Reflecting on that chapter of his young life, Hayes said, "It was just something that happened, a one-year thing. It wasn't something that was planned. A lot of people, I guess, enjoyed it. I'm glad that they enjoyed me sharing a part of my personality. The beauty of something fun, especially with what goes on during the tournament, is that it just happens, not because you try to force it."
As a sophomore, Hayes' curiosity and fascination over the role of a stenographer at an NCAA tournament press conference led to a funny exchange following Wisconsin's win over Costal Carolina. When asked about his improved 3-point shooting, he said, "Before I answer the question, I would like to say a few words — catawampus, onomatopoeia and antidisestablishmentarianism."
That was for the stenographer's benefit. And it got a lot of play during another Final Four run.
"It seems like it was something I came up with," said Hayes, who had co-conspirators in Frank Kaminsky and Sam Dekker. "We were sitting there at our first press conference and one of us pointed at that lady (the stenographer) and said, 'Look at her go.' We were like, 'There's no way she's possibly keeping up with what we're saying.' Afterwards, we saw how it worked and the lady gave us an idea."
She pointed out that there were certain words that weren't programmed into the machine's memory/dictionary and others that just weren't easy to process, no matter how skilled the stenographer. "She said, 'Would any one of you want to read them?'" Hayes recalled. "Frank was like, 'No.' Sam was like, 'You can Nigel.' And I was like, 'All right.' And it just blew up from there.'"
There was an awkward moment at the Los Angeles regional, where Hayes was unaware that he was sitting in front of a hot mic when he turned to Kaminsky and commented on the attractiveness of the stenographer ("Gosh, she's beautiful"). He quickly covered up his face with both hands. Later, he apologized to her on Twitter and she responded, "No apology necessary. U've created quite the buzz."
Hayes has always been surprised by the shelf life of his actions on the post-season stage. "It still happens all the time. I was just somewhere and some guy walks up to me and says, 'I've got a cool word for you,'" he related. "People still text me, 'Is this the word of the day?' Or some other people will see me on the street and ask, 'Nigel, do you have a word for us?'"
Last season, Hayes was at a loss for words after Notre Dame scored the final eight points of the game to stun the Badgers, 61-56, in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament. "We should have won that game," he said. "If I take care of the ball, I get fouled. And that year I was 90-plus percent under four minutes from the free throw line, so chances are that I was making both of those free throws."
And the Badgers would have been advancing, not going home. Hayes came away from that disappointing loss "knowing how fast it ends and how fast it can be over" — something that will be on his mind Thursday when the Badgers take on Virginia Tech in a first round game of the NCAA tournament.
"It really comes down to playing your best basketball," he said. "You have one game in front of you and you need to play the best game of your life and of that season to this point. If you're fortunate enough, and things happen in your favor, you get another chance to do the same thing."
In retrospect, Hayes has no regrets about returning for his senior year.
"Coming back, I was able to develop more as a player, get smarter with the game of basketball and learn more from the coaches and my teammates," he said. "I've picked up other intangibles and I've grown and matured on and off the court. That's the point of staying in college for those four years. You try and develop not only in basketball, but in your life as well."
Through his activism, he has learned some important lessons.
"I've learned that by putting my name out there when standing up for issues," he said, "there's always people who want to talk to me to further their agenda by attaching my name to something. It's something you have to learn the hard way … people don't always have your best interests at heart."
His teammates do — he knows that for a fact — and it's mutual. Hayes is going to miss them all.
"I'll miss my guy, Jordan (Hill)," he said. "We're best friends, brothers now."
He'll also miss Brown. Since their prep days in Ohio, they've shared a bond.
In addition, Hayes will miss the friendly banter between Aaron Moesch and Matt Ferris.
"Ferry is my guy, he's a great guy, he really is," Hayes said.
Pausing, he added, "His mother loves me more than him."
It's part of their give-and-take, their shtick together.
"It's like opposites attract," Hayes said, "but we're kind of the same."
Hayes was a tendered recruit from Toledo, Ohio. Ferris was a walk-on from Appleton, Wisconsin.
"Everybody jokes that Ferry is here to help the team GPA," Hayes teased.
Both are in the School of Business majoring in finance and investment banking.
"We have the same interests in learning and trying to get smarter," Hayes said. "He's a very intelligent individual and we try to bounce ideas off each other. We'll bring up something that we know the other will disagree with, so that we can learn more about it, 'Why do you think that way?'
"Not only does it help you understand the other person better, but you also check yourself. It helps change views. That's how you grow as a person as far as what you believe in or what you think. You can't just go through life saying, 'This is the only way.'"
He concedes that the narrative that some have written for him might not read the same way.
"But I know who I am," he said, "and I know what I'm trying to do."
Is there a word that would best describe who he is?
How about earnest? As in possessing a sincere, intense conviction to a cause.
"That's a good word," he said. "But I think there's a better word out there."
In the past, he has used such words as engaging and charismatic.
But Hayes, the fourth-leading scorer in school history, came up with a new one: impactful.
"I started to realize that recently, especially on Senior Night," he said. "There was a lady who came up to my mother and she was saying how much she loved me and how much they would miss me and how they enjoyed having me around."
That touched him. Maybe more so than he will ever let on.
