--- title: 5 Things That Make Wisconsin's Nigel Hayes Off-Court Star of NCAA Tournament description: He's got some endearing quirks in him canonical: https://time.com/3762430/nigel-hayes-star-ncaa/ author: Sports Illustrated article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-03-28T17:24:34.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:59:33.168Z article:section: Sports og:title: 5 Things That Make Wisconsin's Nigel Hayes Off-Court Star of NCAA Tournament og:description: He's got some endearing quirks og:url: https://time.com/3762430/nigel-hayes-star-ncaa/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt710f08b5d732f111/698785accd684807b909a5d2/ap284615498847-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Wisconsin Badgers forward Nigel Hayes during the a game against Oregon Ducks in Omaha, Neb. on March 22, 2015. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 5 Things That Make Wisconsin's Nigel Hayes Off-Court Star of NCAA Tournament twitter:description: He's got some endearing quirks twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt710f08b5d732f111/698785accd684807b909a5d2/ap284615498847-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 5 Things That Make Wisconsin's Nigel Hayes Off-Court Star of NCAA Tournament > Sponsored content. 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Terms and conditions apply. * Savings buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account. * No ATM fees from Ally Bank at Allpoint and Moneypass ATMs plus we reimburse for fees charged by other ATM owners nationwide up to $10 per statement cycle. * Early direct deposit offers eligible direct deposits up to two days sooner. * Spending buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Spending Account. ## Video: Know Right Now: March Madness 2015 [Watch (HLS stream): Know Right Now: March Madness 2015](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/KAqajX9Y.m3u8) (1:01)  _Published 2015-03-18. Take a look at the teams who could go all the way to the big dance this year._ by [Dan Gartland / Sports Illustrated](https://time.com/author/sports-illustrated/) ## Dan Gartland / Sports Illustrated Mar 28, 2015 5:24 PM UTC  Wisconsin Badgers forward Nigel Hayes during the a game against Oregon Ducks in Omaha, Neb. on March 22, 2015. Wisconsin Badgers forward Nigel Hayes during the a game against Oregon Ducks in Omaha, Neb. on March 22, 2015.William Purnell—AP by [Dan Gartland / Sports Illustrated](https://time.com/author/sports-illustrated/) ## Dan Gartland / Sports Illustrated Mar 28, 2015 5:24 PM UTC Wisconsin’s Nigel Hayes in the most interesting character in the NCAA tournament. The sophomore forward is averaging 13.7 points per game thus far in the tournament, but it’s his off-court antics that have made him a star. Let’s take a look back at five things that make him the tournament’s most lovable player. ### He’s fascinated by the press conference stenographer Here’s how Hayes [opened his press conference](http://fansided.com/2015/03/22/wisconsin-players-mess-ncaa-tournament-stenographer/) after the Badgers’ win over Coastal Carolina: --- > “” --- ### He might be a little too fascinated with one stenographer in particular Hayes tried to whisper to Frank Kaminsky that he thought the stenographer in Los Angeles was “beautiful,” but he didn’t realize his mic was on. He looked like he wanted to disappear, which is hard when you’re 6’8″. ### He made sure to apologize to the stenographer in question Hayes realized that his gaffe might have been as embarrassing for the stenographer as it was for him, so he apologized to her on Twitter. > [](https://twitter.com/NIGEL%5FHAYES/status/581353894921424896) She was totally cool with it, though. > [](https://twitter.com/debrabollman/status/581450397232934912) ### He wants to sleep in Kobe Bryant’s locker > [](https://twitter.com/BadgerMBB/status/580837936649797632) Hayes is sharing Kobe’s locker this week, and hopes to gain some of Bryant’s skills by osmosis. “Here we are in Kobe’s locker,” Hayes told reporters, [according to WKBT](http://www.news8000.com/sports/wisconsin-badgers-forward-nigel-hayes-gets-kobe-bryants-locker/32047668). “I will probably sleep in this locker tonight so that way I can absorb Kobe powers and ability tonight and hopefully it will help me play well.” ### He’s been doing stuff like this his entire college career During last year’s tournament, Hayes started interviewing teammates as “Nigel Burgundy.” The videos were a hit, so he kept the act going after the season was over. In May, he helped keep things light during finals week by interviewing students in the library. How can you not root for the Badgers? _This_ [_article_](http://www.si.com/extra-mustard/2015/03/27/wisconsin-nigel-hayes-ncaa-tournament-stenographer-kobe) _originally appeared on_ [_SI.com_](http://www.si.com)_._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3762430/nigel-hayes-star-ncaa/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3762430/nigel-hayes-star-ncaa/"},"headline":"5 Things That Make Wisconsin's Nigel Hayes Off-Court Star of NCAA Tournament","datePublished":"2015-03-28T17:24:34.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:59:33.168Z","description":"He's got some endearing quirks","url":"https://time.com/3762430/nigel-hayes-star-ncaa/","keywords":["College Basketball"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt710f08b5d732f111/698785accd684807b909a5d2/ap284615498847-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Dan Gartland / Sports Illustrated"}],"articleSection":"Sports","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt710f08b5d732f111/698785accd684807b909a5d2/ap284615498847-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Wisconsin Badgers forward Nigel Hayes during the a game against Oregon Ducks in Omaha, Neb. on March 22, 2015.","caption":"Wisconsin Badgers forward Nigel Hayes during the a game against Oregon Ducks in Omaha, Neb. on March 22, 2015.","creditText":"William Purnell—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/sports/","name":"Sports"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/college-basketball/","name":"College Basketball"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3762430/nigel-hayes-star-ncaa/","name":"5 Things That Make Wisconsin's Nigel Hayes Off-Court Star of NCAA Tournament"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Know Right Now: March Madness 2015","description":"Take a look at the teams who could go all the way to the big dance this year.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/KAqajX9Y/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-03-18T17:43:51.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/KAqajX9Y.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3762430/nigel-hayes-star-ncaa/","duration":"PT1M1S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3762430/nigel-hayes-star-ncaa/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```