Wisconsin Players Are Obsessed With The Stenographer

At the NCAA tournament, all player and coach interviews are transcribed by a stenographer, to be handed out to the media for ease of accurately quoting. It is, admittedly, a fascinating, fast-paced job, featuring a stenotype machine that works unlike anything most people have ever seen.

After Friday's win, three Wisconsin players took note of the stenographer, and made a point to come back and find out just what the heck she was up to.

The Associated Press's Dave Skretta (who also took the photo) describes the scene:

Frank Kaminsky, Sam Dekker and Nigel Hayes had wrapped up their post-game press conference after leading top-seeded Wisconsin to a victory over Coastal Carolina on Friday night, exiting down the stairs from the stage. Then, with the interview room lights turned down and nearly deserted, the three came bouncing back through the curtains and posted up right behind the stenographer.

Like a trio of schoolchildren, they started peppering the woman responsible for transcribing their quotes with questions about how stenography works. Then, they started punching the keys on her machine to see what they would produce.

"Whoa!" yelled Hayes, when his name popped up on the screen. "You got me!"

Everyone was back at the podium on Saturday for their press conference, and Nigel Hayes couldn't resist seeing just how good their new friend really was at her job. From the transcript of Hayes's interview:

I think she nailed it!

And just like that, you are now rooting for Wisconsin to go deep in this tournament, if only to see what else they've got up their sleeves for the stenographer.

[ AP]