Wisconsin players stunningly loose before clash with unbeaten Kentucky
Let's get this out of the way up front: Wisconsin's basketball team will play a national semifinal NCAA tournament game Saturday night against arguably the most talented collection of college basketball players in decades. There are story lines about the Badgers avenging last year's Final Four loss to Kentucky, about the stark contrast in styles with one-and-dones against four-year players, about whether UW can end an attempt at the first perfect season in 39 years.
But Tuesday, during the Badgers' pre-Final Four news conference, it's safe to say all remotely serious topics took a backseat to whatever Wisconsin's contingent of Sam Dekker, Frank Kaminsky, Nigel Hayes and Josh Gasser felt like discussing. And it began before they answered a question, with Dekker and Kaminsky arguing about the taste of Badger Max, a university-issued sports drink, which rested on the podium before them.
"This is so refreshing," Kaminsky said sarcastically, commencing one of many ridiculous exchanges over the next half-hour.
Dekker: "It is good."
Kaminsky: "No, it's not."
Dekker: "How can you say it's not? It's like juice. When it's warm, it tastes like All-Sport. Remember All-Sport?"
Kaminsky: "It's trash in a bottle, that's what it is."
If you're expecting a group full of uptight players ready to crack under the weight of the moment, find another team. This Wisconsin bunch has thrived thanks to a breezy, light-hearted nature with little care for how it will be perceived. And that demeanor won't change just because Wisconsin (35-3) will play Kentucky (38-0) on Saturday in a Final Four game from Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.
Whether it's Kaminsky wearing a GoPro vest to chronicle his senior season or Hayes uttering mind-bendingly long vocabulary words for the NCAA tournament stenographer or the entire team racing go-karts the day before a tournament game, the team has managed to remain carefree despite producing the best single season in school history. And Tuesday represented yet another example of the theater of the absurd, unlike anything many see at most cliche-riddled news conferences.
"It's like being a kid again being around them," Badgers coach Bo Ryan said. "But when we get on the floor and we do anything basketball-wise, I never have to worry about them. They can separate."
At one point, Dekker was asked about some of the fun signs he'd seen in arenas meant to support the team, including one that suggested Kaminsky was the father of a woman's child.
"Is that your kid?" Dekker said. "It's been fun. It's been hilarious, some of the signs. I feel bad for the kid that tried to make signs for me and they spelled my last name wrong, because their parents obviously didn't push them in the right direction there."
But the real highlight -- or lowlight, depending on your perspective -- of the session occurred when Kaminsky was asked whether he still was the fourth-best player in the FIFA soccer video game, which ultimately led Kaminsky to fling his Badger Max bottle off the podium and onto the floor while teammates rattled off Matt Ferris, Traevon Jackson, Duje Dukan and Jordan Smith, among other names, as superior players.
Kaminsky: "No. No. No. Don't go there. No. No."
Dekker: "I would say Ferry. Trae."
Kaminsky: "No. No." (Throws Badger Max bottle over podium.)
Hayes: "Ferry, Trae, Duje."
Dekker: "Smith."
Hayes: "Oh, Smith, yeah."
Kaminsky: "OK, official rankings. I beat Smith, who's No. 1, yesterday in the locker room in front of everyone. I'm No. 1. I rest my case. It's over. Next question, let's go."
Hayes: "We care more about Suck-offs and Smash Battles. That's all we're worried about. We're a Super Smash Brothers team. So FIFA is really taking a backseat to that. All we care about is our Suck-offs."
And that's when all four of the players nearly fell out of their chairs. Gasser buried his face in his arms and pounded the podium. Kaminsky ducked below the table. Dekker and Hayes tilted their heads back and laughed uncontrollably. Suck-offs, it was later revealed, referenced a battle of the two worst players in a given Smash Brothers game battling head-to-head. Just don't Google it.
Afterward, Ryan discussed what it was like coaching a group with such outgoing and unusual personalities -- which led to one of his own wild stories, ending with a reference to The Who's "Pinball Wizard."
"I thought about doing like a reality show and getting about 15 percent of it to put toward scholarships and meals," Ryan said. "OK, do you believe that one? No. It's amazing that they can do what they do and still when it comes to practice time, 'I'm going to kick your butt; I want you to try to kick mine.' But I'm going to get yours and compete and compete hard, and go into the locker room and argue again about who is the best video player.
"You know what these guys don't know is in Pennsylvania in the '60s, I was the No. 1 pinball player in the state of Pennsylvania. These guys talk about video games? I could freeze flippers better than anybody. I could hit that clown's nose or the spinner. I could take a dime and play for two hours. Now, what's that tell you? You think The Who had somebody in mind when they did that song?"
Yes, Wisconsin will have to play its best basketball of the season Saturday to beat a Kentucky team favored by six points. Some of the answers even reflected that on Tuesday. But these Badgers are carrying the same persona that helped them reach this stage of the season -- which means they'll be as goofy and loose as they want all week.
"We've prepared so much for this," Dekker said. "Starting in June, we knew what we wanted to do. We've put in the work and now it shouldn't be anything different. We don't have to change anything. We've just got to be ourselves. If we change how we act on and off the floor, that's not going to help anything. So we're just going to be ourselves. Go out there, play our game, focus up and be ready to go."
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