In quest for Final Four, Wisconsin can play and is playful

Eric Prisbell | USA TODAY Sports

When the University of Wisconsin basketball program recruited Bronson Koenig out of high school, the guard recalls hearing about one of the hallmarks that defined every Badgers practice: That the only sound that ever emanates from players is silence.

That is not the case this season. And at a tradition-bound program like Wisconsin, that's a big deal.

Whether it's two-man passing drills or player-coach communication, there is a way of doing things within the basketball program under coach Bo Ryan that is as consistent as the state's fall foliage. To Ryan, the old-school coach with a peach basket in his office, it may as well be 1985. The reason the regimen doesn't change much? It works.

This year — as a seasoned team continues one of the most celebrated runs in program history — there is another calling card: Laughter. It may as well be the locker room soundtrack for a team that finds itself in its fourth Sweet 16 in five years.

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"We can flip a switch," senior Josh Gasser said. "It's important to have fun. With this team especially, the looser we play, the better we are. … We are all goofballs. We are all kids, but we can still be adults and take care of business on the court."

If you're looking for a stressed No. 1 seed buckling under the pressure of trying to reach a second consecutive Final Four, you've come to the wrong locker room. They may not be quite as free-spirited as the 2013 Florida Gulf Coast players — a No. 15 seed that laughed and dunked its way to the Sweet 16 — but good luck finding another Sweet 16 team this loose.

What distinguishes this Wisconsin team, which will play North Carolina in Thursday's West Regional semifinals, from the 13 others under Ryan is not necessarily the talent or experience (and the Badgers are rich on both fronts). Assistant Lamont Paris says the difference is the blend of personalities that creates a unique mood — at specific times — in practice, film sessions or even on rare occasions during games.

This team can toggle from laser-focused to light-hearted and back to ultra-serious as easily as they execute a jump stop.

"That is a unique trait this team has," Paris said. "Most teams cannot do that. For most teams, the water faucet is on or off. … It's a looser climate overall."

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Even in the waning moments of Sunday's victory against Oregon, with the outcome still in the balance, Sam Dekker managed a smile as one of the boys tasked with wiping the court had a small mishap.

Even in the locker room the day before the game, players roared in laughter as they spotted a media member they thought was a spitting image of Kaminsky. And there was sophomore Nigel Hayes — often the instigator of comedic shenanigans — tossing out challenging words — cattywampus, onomatopoeia and antidisestablishmentarianism — during the press conference to keep the NCAA site stenographer on her toes.

"I loved it," Gasser said.

When characterizing the looser mood of the Badgers, Hayes uses the apt metaphor of a muscle. Much like the team's intensity, a muscle cannot be flexed 24 hours a day, or it's not pliable. It needs to relax at times, and when you do flex it, the muscle is potent.

"If you were to just sit and flex all your muscles," Hayes said, "you'd just pass out or be lightheaded. Every now and then you need to let go and then, when you get on the court, flex again."

This approach works for this Badgers team because, well, it works. Under the spotlight and scrutiny of March — and through the grind of a season that, frankly, will be judged on whether they can reach the Final Four in April — a little levity goes a long way.

"I've seen a lot of teams in this tournament so far just come in really tight," Koenig said, "especially the higher seeds and with all these upsets. They are playing really tight. We do a really good job just playing loose."

This team has a little more leeway because of consistent results. The team has lost just three games all season, and only two with national player of the year candidate Kaminsky on the court. Paris said the team has not had consecutive games in which he has not felt good about the way they played.

When it comes to player-initiated levity, Paris said, "You can't do it and play average basketball because then it is a hoax." The light-heartedness happens "often enough, but not too often. If it's happening too much then it's a circus and loses its value. It happens when it needs to happen and only then."

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Players say the tone is set from the top. Film sessions are critical for constructive criticism; the tenor is serious. But occasionally, in an effort to keep things fresh and light, Ryan will remind players what can be lost amid the grind: This is fun.

On one occasion, Koenig said, Ryan showed a video clip of Kaminsky getting fouled and pouting. Ryan sneaked in a quick scene of "Napoleon Dynamite" because of similarities in the title character's appearance with the 7-footer. Everyone erupted in laughter. Then, quickly back to the next teaching clip.

Against Minnesota earlier this season, Hayes says he slipped and went down on his knee, kept his dribble and scored. Ryan used the clip in film session, then stopped it and started playing Harlem Globetrotters music.

"People on our team understand situations really well," Kaminsky said. "We know when to be really serious and to be hard on people. We know when to be light and when to take a step back and appreciate what we are doing. This is definitely one of the more interesting teams in the country because of the personalities and characters we have on the team. It's so much fun."

The biggest change can be seen during some teaching moments in practice. As players are getting scolded, possibly after consecutive turnovers, a player may break the silence with a question or perhaps even a carefully worded and placed light-hearted comment.

"These guys can get away with it just because of how their personalities are," Paris said. "No one would even try it in the past … Then 45 seconds later we go back to playing intensely. They only play one way."

Hayes says perhaps half-joking (it's impossible to know) that the lighter climate is a credit to his sophomore class because they arrived with a mix of personalities. He said they weren't the "uptight, keep-to-yourself type of guys and our personalities have definitely rubbed off throughout the whole team. We are a lot looser and have a lot more camaraderie."

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Players use a group app on their cell phones to send one another pictures, personal jabs and one-liners. Sometimes it 's personal, all the times it's hilarious.

"We love to give each other crap," Koenig said. "My roommate reads them and dies laughing. No filter. Nigel has more corny jokes to the media. Adults think he is funny. But I'm actually the funny one."

No cliques on this team. Gasser says he will stay in the Kohl Center up to 12 hours a day hanging in the locker room or playing video games. There is no rush to go home.

The Badgers excel in many areas, including minimizing fouls and turnovers. Keeping quiet is not one of them.

Though the light atmosphere may have been in the embryonic stage last season, Hayes showed what was to come as a freshman when Ryan applauded Hayes for coming early to an early-season practice by saying "Good job, the early bird catches the worm."

Hayes responded with, "Coach, do you know that the second mouse always gets the cheese?"

Looking back now, Ryan said, "I thought that was pretty good. I had never heard that one. He can tell you what a big group of geese are, he can tell you what a big group of sheep are. He has all those names they give to groups of animals and still has time to make the Dean's List. That's amazing."

Hayes says if they preface one player's name with the word "uh", it will trigger immediate laughter. The reason? Top secret.Players now have almost as many inside jokes as they do ways to attack defenses with the nation's most efficient offense. Hayes calls sophomore Vitto Brown a storytelling maestro who can spin a compelling, if not embellished yarn as soon as he enters a room.

He said players will spontaneously strike a runner's pose, as if ready to burst out of the starting block, for another personal joke. Another antic is attaching nonsensical accents to random words they come across.

"We make the words sound nothing like they are supposed to," Hayes said. "Take 'federal prison.' Frank may walk in and say, 'Feder-ah-ley Pri-zone.' It may not be funny to anyone else. It's really funny to us."

If these cast of characters win four more games, it's anyone's guess how they'll pronounce two other words: National champions. That remains the singular goal. And by laughing at times in pursuit of it, they believe their muscles will flex best when most needed.

"Don't tell any other team that!" Hayes warned. "They may start doing it too, and play better."