BY MIKE LUCAS
UWBadgers.com Senior Writer
MADISON, Wis. — In the final seconds of last Saturday's second round NCAA tournament game, Wisconsin's Vitto Brown was fouled after stripping the ball from Villanova's Josh Hart. Brown walked to the other end of floor and calmly made his first free throw. He was about ready to shoot the second one — which would have staked the Badgers to a four-point lead and sealed another trip to the Sweet 16 — when Ethan Happ got Brown's attention, maybe even distracted him by shouting out "4321."
Brown missed. The Wildcats rebounded, but they couldn't get a shot off.
"I told him not to do it," Brown said.
Moments later, the 65-62 win safely tucked away, Happ was doing a courtside radio interview and saying, "When you get into March, everyone needs to play well for you to advance. And we had everyone stepping up (including) Vitto, my roommate, my brother, 4321 …"
• • • •
The numerical sequence is not a password. But it is code between Brown and Happ, friends and teammates. "4321 was our room number in Ogg Hall," said Happ, who then rattled off "1205 and 101" and explained, "Those were all different places that we've lived together … I consider him my best friend here on campus. It's awesome to have that type of relationship with your roommate."
Although they hail from different parts of the Midwest — it's a six-hour drive (400 miles) between Happ's home in Milan, Illinois and Brown's in Bowling Green, Ohio — they bridged any differences when they roomed together the summer before Happ's freshman year. "Even before I got here," Happ said, "I was texting him about things I needed for college and he has been helping me out ever since."
Going into his sophomore year, Brown was planning on renting an apartment with some UW teammates. "But things changed and some guys wanted to live alone," said Brown, who roomed with Nigel Hayes, a fellow Ohioan, as a freshman. "I saw that Ethan was the only scholarship athlete coming in, so I decided to stay in the dorms again. As soon as he set foot on campus, I've been with him since."
There were some understandable early adjustments because they were not in the same class. "It was kind of different because he already had his friend group," Happ said. "And when most freshmen come in, they room with another freshman. I didn't have that someone to go to all the freshmen orientations. So it was different in that sense. But we were friends right away."
Over the last three years, the friendship has blossomed. "We've grown more and more similar to each other as we've been together," Brown said. "We both appreciate a lot of the same things. We aren't used to being spoiled — having the resources and the access to things that we have now. And we don't take it for granted. We don't take anything for granted."
Happ redshirted as a freshman meaning that he occupied his time on the scout team banging heads with Frank Kaminsky. "Coming from high school, he wasn't used to sitting down like that and having to watch the whole time (during games)," Brown said. "I was able to kind of walk him through that. I just kept telling him, 'Keep working because your time will come.' And it has paid off."
As a sophomore, Brown averaged six minutes of playing time and 1.8 points in 34 games. "There were a lot of times on the court my freshman year when we would get into it and scrap — with elbows flying," said Happ. "Once we got into the locker room, it was over and done with."
Brown confirmed as much. "We had our own little competitions," he said. "We were playing a lot more one-on-one at that time. We definitely made each other better in those years. That's one thing about us. We're both tenacious and relentless. We're not just going to accept failure."
Happ and Brown have lived with Riley Dearring (who has since transferred), T.J. Schlundt and Andy Van Vliet. They don't have any other roommates this year. Both are into the same video games (Super Smash Bros.) and the same types of music, generally speaking. Brown, an accomplished artist, has sung the National Anthem before games and has taped his own rendition of "One Shining Moment."
Has Happ tried to singalong?
"I do," he said, smiling. "But I'm just joking."
"I say, 'Ethan just let them sing,'" Brown said. "Let them sing the song."
While the Badgers were enduring a rough stretch of five losses in six games, Happ was having trouble making free throws and Brown was out of tune at both ends. "That was a time when we had to do our own self-reflecting," said Brown. "We were both struggling. But I was struggling a lot worse than he was and I knew that I had to do some deep thinking about what it is I should be doing different."
Brown has started to come around. He was 3-of-6 from the 3-point arc against Villanova. "Is it a senior hearing the clock ticking maybe a little bit and understands that there aren't many (games) left and trying to do all he can to help?" posed UW coach Greg Gard.
"Specifically, on the glass, I've noticed him being more aggressive, trying to be more physical. His nose for the ball has been better in terms of going after things on the offensive end. By and large, he hasn't forced too many, he hasn't taken too many bad shots here in the last two to three weeks.
"When he can contribute and help us, that's an added bonus."
Brown and Happ try not to bring the game home. "We'll talk about other basketball, the NBA and other college teams, but we don't really talk about Wisconsin basketball that much," Happ said. "We don't talk about it outside of the court or the locker room or whatever it is. There's still stuff that gets brought up. But it's usually not heavy stuff like our actual play. We'll joke that we're both bad."
Some discussion is inevitable. "Sometimes if we've had a rough game, we might talk about what happened and all of that," Brown said. "Or, we might reflect on the good things that happened in the good games. But for the most part, we get our work down here (at the Kohl Center) and we really get away from basketball when we go home."
They haven't been home much lately thanks to their Sweet 16 run.
"There's not a lot of times we're not in the same vicinity," Happ said. "That's very cool."
"I don't really get tired of him," said Brown. "He's a cool dude."
4321.
