Charlie Hall knew Northwestern was in, but that didn't stop the anxiety
When history is made, USA TODAY Sports tries to be on the ground level. So we asked Northwestern walk-on basketball player Charlie Hall to be a correspondent, chronicling the Wildcats’ first NCAA tournament experience throughout the first week of the Big Dance. Hall is the son of comedic stars Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Brad Hall, both Northwestern graduates who attend as many games as possible to support their son.
As told to USA TODAY Sports college basketball writer Nicole Auerbach
The Selection Sunday experience ...
Saturday night, it was definitely hard to fall asleep. We were coming off a loss to Wisconsin in the Big Ten tournament. It was an interesting, pretty quick switch of emotion. Obviously, that game didn't go how we wanted it to but really quickly after that we started thinking about the next day and what was going to happen.
It took me a bit to fall asleep. I'd say, on Sunday, that the majority of the time I was really excited. There were definitely some nerves — not that we weren't going to get in or anything. With any big moment with our team, there are some nerves that go along with it. Of course, they didn't reveal our name of the first three sections of the bracket unveil, I still knew we were going to get called, but that was definitely a little bit — you start to think in these situations. They start to creep in when you have to wait so long and you're so anxious. You could feel it in the gym. There was a little bit of anxiety. For the most part, we were all pretty sure it was going to work out.
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I personally hadn’t looked at what bracketologists were putting out on TV or online. I think some guys on the team had, not to see whether we were in or not but to see where people had us, what seed and where in the bracket. I stay away from that because that makes me more anxious. I don't like to predict things. When it happens, it happens for me. I think everyone was really confident. We had enough, and we knew it.
I thought I would feel a little differently now that Selection Sunday is over. I’m excited, but I thought I would be in a state where I couldn't process anything. But I'm here, and I'm really excited to play Vanderbilt. My mindset surprised me, how quickly I was able to start thinking about that and thinking about Thursday. I think this team is really special. Making the tournament is a huge step but I think we can do some damage in the tournament, too.
It’s also been such an incredible day and I'm still over the moon about all of this. Its so gratifying. Its not like I'm fully in business mode right now or anything. I'm thinking ahead a little more than I thought I would for sure, though.
I love my role on this team. I'm not an on-the-court guy in terms of game play. I'm always working with guys after practice and stuff, getting their games right. If they need to work on their defense, I'll play them one-on-one. Or if they need to work on the one-on-one moves, I'll guard them. If anyone needs to run through plays, I do that. I'm a scout team guy as well. Even though most people don't, I get to see how my role pays off. I'll see Vic Law or I'll see B-Mac (Bryant McIntosh) do a one-dribble pull-up. I'll say, ‘Hey, you did that on me yesterday. We were working on that,' which is really fun. Off the court, though, it’s a really long season. It’s grueling. It is really fun and rewarding, but it is tough.
I think keeping people's spirits up and making sure everyone's excited to play and excited to practice is important. There is lots of travel and downtime that we have to spend together so keeping that chemistry together and that camaraderie is big. That's something I at least try to focus on. Whether it's inviting the team over for a movie night or playing games on the bus or whatever it may be, that’s my mindset. Off-court chemistry helps with on-court chemistry.
I saw my mom’s tweet after we got into the tournament. It’s awesome. That was so great. I was not expecting her to tweet that at all. I don't know if she had planned that our or anything like that. It really was perfect.
I've never done the “Elaine Dance." My teammates haven't asked me to do it, thankfully, because I don't know if I would or if I even could. I've never done that dance. I like to dance. I cannot say I can do that exact dance or copy that in any way. Maybe I'll try one day.
Charlie Hall will be back with more later this week for USA TODAY Sports. No. 8 seed Northwestern will play No. 9 seed Vanderbilt in Salt Lake City on Thursday afternoon.