Interview with Alando Tucker: Badger star sets his sights on the NBA
By A. David Dahmer
Alando Tucker has no time to rest and reflect on his accomplishments, and that would take a while anyway. Arguably the greatest player in University of Wisconsin-Madison basketball history, Tucker finished his collegiate career as Wisconsin’s all-time leading scorer with 2,217 points and was named the 2007 Big Ten Player of the Year. He was also the first UW player in 57 years to be named a consensus first-team All-American for both the National Association of Basketball Coaches and Sporting News.
When the Badgers were knocked out of the NCAA tournament March 18 — a disappointing 74-68 upset loss to the University of Nevada-Las Vegas (UNLV) Runnin’ Rebels in the second round of the Midwest Regional — basketball didn’t end for Tucker; it was only just beginning.
His preparation for the NBA draft in New York City’s Madison Square Garden June 28 has been both ongoing and arduous currently culminating in 11 individual workouts he has scheduled with NBA teams within a three-week period. Tucker has literally been eating, drinking, and sleeping basketball since the moment the Badgers’ basketball season ended.
The Madison Times caught up with Tucker the day after his first official workout with an NBA team — the Philadelphia 76ers worked him out at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. The second he was done with the Sixers, he had to immediately hop on a plane to travel across the country to Arizona to work out for the Phoenix Suns.
“I’m just making sure that I am in good shape and well-prepared for each workout,” Tucker says, adding that he didn’t have the slightest clue as to what pro team he might be selected by in the fast-approaching NBA draft. “I’m sure [when I’m] closer to the draft, I will have a better idea of teams that will be particularly interested in me, but right now I’m just trying to work as hard as I can for every team that wants to see me.”
Tucker, who is generally regarded as a late first- or early second-round pick, has spent much of his time working on tailoring his particular talents to better fit the NBA game. Athletic ability has never been an issue for Tucker, one of the most explosive players in college basketball who, as a freshman, topped Michael Finley’s UW school record for a vertical leap by jumping 38 inches. Neither has work ethic been a problem — Tucker is one of the hardest workers in college basketball.
Height will be the main issue for Tucker as he makes the transition to the pros. Many feel that Tucker, who is generously listed as 6’6,” is too small to play the small forward position in the NBA, a positon he played with tremendous success in college. He is generally viewed as a shooting guard by NBA knowledgables, which means that Tucker has been working on improving his ballhandling, perimeter shooting, and defense. Tucker has been working with Micahel Jordan’s former trainer, Tim Grover, in Deerfield, Ill. the past few months.
“I’ve been doing the same kinds of things every day to prepare me for the style that NBA guys go through,” says Tucker, who will be playing in a long and grueling 82-game regular season schedule in the NBA versus a college regular season schedule that averages a little over 30 games.
Tucker says that he’s been on the phone with former Badger and current NBA stars Finley and Devin Harris for advice. “I talk to Devin about how to prepare myself mentally on the court,” Tucker says. “Michael Finley calls me and gives me words of advice and tells me about things he did when he first got to the NBA and how to stay focused. Being a young guy, a rookie coming into the NBA, things are going to be much different than they were in college. You’re going to go through some ups and downs.”
While Tucker’s life right now is 100 percent focused on the NBA, it didn’t stop him from reflecting on the tremendous career he had at Wisconsin. On top of his many numerous personal records he set, he also led the Badgers to the most wins in the school’s history (30) and the university’s very first national number-one ranking. You can tell that the final loss to UNLV still irks Tucker, but not to the point where he dwells on it.
“I was kind of sad the following days [after the loss to UNLV], but understanding our circumstances and given that we lost [starting power forward] Brian Butch in the manner that we did — he fractured his arm — I knew that it would be tough,” Tucker says. “You play the whole season, and you have a set lineup, and to lose a key contributor like that … I knew it was going to be hard. When we lost to UNLV, we weren’t the same team. We didn’t have the same confidence that we did earlier in the season.
“That being said … we won 30 games,” Tucker adds. “We went 30-6. We set a numerous amount of records this year alone. We had a great time. The coaching staff did a great job. It was a wonderful year in the aspect of how we worked as a team and our unity as a team. It was unlike any other team I had been on before.”
Tucker still has a great relationship with his former Badger teammates, which he plans to maintain. He hopes to follow UW intently while he is on the road in the NBA. He likes the prospects for the Tucker-less Badgers for the 2007-2008 season.
“They’re going to lose me and [starting point guard] Kam[ron Taylor]; that’s about 70 percent of the scoring, but they have promising young players,” Tucker says of sophomores-to-be Jason Bohannon and Travon Davis. “We still have Joe Krabbenhoft, and Marcus Landry will be a big key. He reminds me of myself. I think next year he’s going to shock a lot of people. He can do a lot of things offensively.
“Greg Stiemsma and Brian Butch will be back, too,” Tucker adds, “and they have a great coach in Bo Ryan. And coach always has guys that love to play for him and will do whatever it takes to win.”
Tucker has no remorse about his five-year stay in Madison or staying for his senior season when some thought he could have been a first-round pick jumping into the draft last year.
“I don’t regret anything that happened at Wisconsin,” says Tucker, who graduated with a degree in life science communications from UW-Madison in a ceremony on May 19. “Even when I broke my foot, I learned a lot as a person and a player. Overall, if I had to do it all over again, I wouldn’t change a thing about the events that happened at Wisconsin.”
Tucker’s positive outlook on life has been a trend for him. He’s lived through the worst en route to becoming the best. When Tucker was young, he lived in a dangerous neighborhood in Joliet, Ill., where he personally saw gang murders and had stray bullets ripping through his house.
Everywhere he looked, there were gangs, guns, alcohol, drugs, and violence.
“The way I grew up, it humbled me,” Tucker says. “I play the game of basketball, and I receive a lot of accolades on the collegiate level, but to me it was always just a game. The game of life was much harder for me. I’d have to go home, and reality would hit me that my mother was in a certain situation that wasn’t so great. That made me strive to work a lot harder and try to make sure I could help get us out of that situation that they were still in and that I wanted to get out of.”
Tucker credits his mother — a single mom — and his grandmother for leading him down the right path, but it’s clear that his brother, Antonio, four years Tucker’s senior, is very special to him.
“My brother was like my father figure because we didn’t have any father figure,” Tucker says. “I owe a lot of credit to him because he had no one to look to in order to go the right way in life.
“We were two rare kids where we looked at our situation and always felt like we would make it out,” Tucker adds. “We grew up around a lot of drugs, gang activity, violence, and murder. We’ve seen a lot, but we always thought we would be different. We knew we had a lot more to offer. We made a pact with each other that we would stand out and do the most to get ourselves out of the situation that we were in. My brother and I take that seriously.”
Tucker and his brother made a pact — no alcohol, drugs, tobacco, tattoos — nothing that would keep them from obtaining the high goals they wanted to achieve in life. Honoring that pact was no problem for Tucker in college, but the NBA lifestyle might be a whole different story. Young men in big cities who suddenly have a whole lot of money and entourages and hanger-ons is a recipe for trouble. The NBA lifestyle has quickly crushed many young, immature men.
Tucker doesn’t see it happening to him.
“I don’t fall into peer pressure easily,” Tucker says. “You look at Madison and it is the number one party school in the nation. Everybody knows what the nightlife is like when you come to Madison as far as partying. There was a lot of temptation there. But if you have the discipline, I don’t see any difference in where you are at. I handled that well for five years, and I don’t see anything different in NBA life. I’m strong in my beliefs.
“I don’t do it because of the pact that my brother and I made, I do it because this is how I feel, and I won’t change,” Tucker adds. “This is me. I know there will be certain temptations, but I’m going to the NBA to play basketball.”
Thus, Tucker remains a class act on the court and off. Tucker generously gives back to the communities, speaking with children in Joliet and Lockport, as well as in Madison. Tucker was the first player to sign up when volunteers were requested to help open the new Boys and Girls Club on Allied Drive last summer.
“My brother and I didn’t have a father figure or a male role model to look up to, and I know there are a lot of cases like mine in the poor urban communities where kids don’t have anything positive to look to,” Tucker says. “I knew growing up there’d always be kids playing on the playground. In this era now, it’s different. I don’t see any kids playing any sports or doing things to stay active and positive. I’d like to be that new outlet for the community and offer them that hope, not only through sports, but through education or life, and prepare kids to be ready for high school and college academically, as well as with sports.”
Tucker wants to build community centers in poor neighborhoods, possibly here in Madison, with the money he hopes to make playing in the NBA. Regardless, he hopes to get back to Madison as much as possible. “Madison is my second home,” Tucker says. “I’ll be following the team closely, and I’ll try to get back there whenever I can and whenever I get a chance.”
Most of his teammates and people he encounters describe Tucker as a “genuine guy.” He comes off as natural and approachable when others in his position and with his list of accomplishments would have a tremendously big head. Coach Ryan describes him as “very confident, but not cocky.” Tucker’s assertion of his goals reflects that.
“My goal is to make it in the NBA,” Tucker says. “I figure that I’ve had a great college career, and my resume speaks for itself. I know whoever picks me is going to get a great player. I’ve always been willing to work my tail off wherever I am. My goal is to use my God-given ability to the best I can. From there, I believe I will be able to do some great things for whatever team that chooses me.”
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