BY MIKE LUCAS
UWBadgers.com Senior Writer
ST. LOUIS — Nigel Hayes was trying to sell Matt Ferris as Karl-Anthony Towns.
But he knew it was a stretch.
"If anyone knows who Matt Ferris is and knows who Karl Towns is," Hayes conceded, "that's really not any sort of a (physical) matchup at all that Ferry could do."
Or pull off. Ferris is 6-foot-6, 196 pounds; Towns is 7-feet, 244.
"But they do the best job that they can for us," Hayes said of the scout team players who simulate an opponent in practice, "to give us the best looks and we always appreciate that."
Ferris laughed when relayed Hayes' comments here Saturday. That's because in last season's NCAA tournament, Frank Kaminsky was selling Ferris as Willie Cauley-Stein, another Kentucky 7-footer.
So who was it? Who was Ferris mimicking on Wisconsin's scout team prior to the 2015 Final Four matchup against the unbeaten Wildcats? Towns or Cauley-Stein?
"I was Dakari Johnson," Ferris said.
Another stretch since Johnson was yet another 7-footer. Ferris pointed out that Ethan Happ, who redshirted as a freshman, was actually cast as Towns, one of the NBA's brightest young stars.
After toiling on the scout team for a year — marked by daily jousts against Kaminsky — Happ has gone on to establish his own identity as the Big Ten Freshman of the Year.
Happ will be at center stage Sunday when Wisconsin takes on No. 2 seed Xavier for the right to advance to next weekend's NCAA East Regional in Philadelphia.
The Badgers and Musketeers have each been to five Sweet 16s in the last eight years (since 2008). For Wisconsin, it's four of the last five.
"I'm from Ohio, so I know a little bit more about them than maybe some other guys on the team," Hayes said of the Cincinnati-based school.
"I know they've always been well-coached and they always have good players. And this year, again, it's no different. They have the size, the talent and the offensive and defensive ability."
They also have a nasty 1-3-1 zone that they will unleash from time to time to change the tempo and momentum of a game. As such, the zone has sparked runs of 25-0, 21-0 and 21-4 this season.
"The challenge would be to try and mentally prepare for it," Hayes said. "We only have one day of practice to get ready for it and our scout team never runs a 1-3-1.
"So it's not like they're going to be experts when they do it. We're going to have to do a good job of seeing what other teams have done against it and try to emulate that during the game.
"The farther you go in the tournament, the more horrendous the simulation goes in practice."
You won't get any disagreement from Ferris, a sophomore from Xavier — Appleton Xavier High School.
"It's tough (to simulate) especially with the one-day turnaround," said Ferris, who's redshirting this season. "Here at Wisconsin, we don't believe in zone defense.
"But if it's something you do day-in and day-out in practice (like Xavier) you're obviously going to get pretty good at it. We just do our best to try and mimic it in the limited time that we have.
"Obviously, I can't magically transform myself into a 6-foot-9 guy with a 40-inch vertical. It's just not how life works. But you have to do it the best you can and get them prepared."
In practice, Ferris was mimicking Xavier freshman Kaiser Gates, a 6-8, 217-pound forward. Gates is one of the many players that comes off the bench. He had seven points in the Musketeers' win over Weber State.
"They have good depth and a lot of scoring options," said UW assistant Lamont Paris, who had the scouting report on Xavier. "And they can play a lot of different styles."
The 1-3-1 zone is not completely foreign to the Badgers. Northwestern used to play it under coach Bill Carmody. And Michigan's John Beilein relied on it heavily during his early years in Ann Arbor.
The uniqueness of the Xavier 1-3-1 is in the personnel. Most teams will play a guard at the bottom of the zone and assign him to defend corner to corner.
Michael Thompson, for example, had that assignment for Carmody.
By contrast, the Musketeers will use 6-10 James Farr or 6-10 Jalen Reynolds.
They will stay close to the rim and go block to block. The length and athleticism of the wings makes it challenging to get the ball to the short corner.
"You have to be creative," Paris said, "to get the ball to the interior of the defense."
The other challenge is defending Xavier's playbook on offense.
"They run a number of plays … a lot of them," Paris stressed.
The Musketeers have an abundance of playmakers.
The most dynamic is guard Edmond Sumner, a rail-thin 6-6, 183-pound redshirt freshman.
"His speed is elite," Paris said. "When you see him in person, he's even faster than what you anticipate. He has good length, a good feel for the game. But his physical gifts are really special."
Sumner is one of four guards/wings in the starting lineup.
The Badgers are familiar with Remy Abell, who played his first two seasons at Indiana. The 6-4 Abell is Xavier's best on-ball defender. He also was 3-of-3 from beyond the arc against Weber State.
The Musketeers have two point guards on the floor in Sumner and 6-2 Myles Davis, who leads the team in assists with 139. Sumner has 107. Both are scoring in double figures.
The leading scorer is 6-6 Trevon Bluiett, a third-team All-American. Bluiett has five double-doubles. Davis, by the way, had a triple-double (11 points, 12 rebounds, 12 assists) against Providence.
This is a very young Xavier team. Besides Abell, the only other scholarship senior is Farr, who has averaged 15 points over the last seven games. Farr was named to Sports Illustrated's All-Glue team.
Sophomore J.P. Macura supplies some of the firepower off the bench. The 6-5 Macura, the Big East Sixth Man of the Year, has scored in double-figures in nine of the last 14 games.
Macura, who's from Lakeville, Minnesota, played against Wisconsin's Alex Illikainen (Grand Rapids) in high school. Macura has been termed "fearless" by his coach, Chris Mack.
Xavier led the Big East in rebounding margin due in large part to the one-two punch of Farr and Reynolds.
Sean O'Mara provides another 6-10 body in the paint when needed. O'Mara is a product of Kaminsky's alma mater, Benet Academy.
The Musketeers shoot a lot of free throws (174 more than their opponents) and shoot them well (73.2 percent). They also foul a lot. Macura has DQ'ed four times, Bluiett three, Farr and Reynolds twice each.
It might be their only weakness.
"I've coached on teams that have made multiple Final Fours and won national titles," said Marquette coach Steve Wojciechowski, whose team was knocked out of the Big East tournament by the Musketeers on March 10. "Xavier is a team that can win a national championship."
Despite 24 NCAA tournament appearances, the Musketeers have yet to make a Final Four. Last year, they were eliminated by Arizona in the Sweet 16.
But in the words of Caddyshack's Carl Spackler, could they be the "Cinderella story. Outta nowhere?"
Bill Murray is one of Xavier's most celebrated fans.
His son, Luke Murray, is a first-year assistant coach on Mack's staff.
