Former Wisconsin Badgers forward Nigel Hayes will go down in school history as one of its best players on the court, and one of the most influential off.
Hayes finished his career third in school history in points (1,857) and is the only UW men’s basketball player to be in the program’s top-10 in points, rebounds and assists. In his four years, Wisconsin went to two Final Fours and came within seconds of moving to the Elite Eight the final two.
With all the accolades in the stats book, however, Hayes will in all likelihood go down, as Matt Lepay perfectly tweeted earlier this spring, as part of a class that “made fans cheer, smile and perhaps most of all—think.