Alando Tucker Opens Up About A Whirlwind Badgers Season

MADISON, Wis. – It’s been over a month since the college basketball season suddenly ended, the victim of the COVID-19 pandemic that has shuttered people in their homes to ride out the uncertainty. It’s been time that has allowed Alando Tucker to finally have some reflection.

The former Wisconsin All-American has been in a whirlwind since he was hired as an interim coach in late July, filling the role of Howard Moore, who continues to recover in a long-term rehabilitation center following a Memorial Day car crash that killed his wife and daughter.

But while he’s been able to spend a lot of time with his family and looking after his mother, Tucker hasn’t allowed himself to look too far into the past.

“Looking at how our season ended, I’m really trying to collect my fragmented thoughts and put them all together,” Tucker said to BadgerBlitz.com. “I’m spending so much time thinking about what’s next and trying to be creative with the guys with this COVID-19 obstacle that the world is facing. It’s a microcosm of the year … but it’s been a great teaching point.”

Challenges were bountiful for Wisconsin throughout the 2019-20 season, obstacles the program overcame to win a Big Ten regular season championship in its final game of the season. From forward Micah Potter being eligible for the first 10 games of the season, guard Kobe King’s sudden transfer and strength and conditioning coach Erik Helland’s resignation because of a racial epithet, not to mention all the on-court struggles, Tucker had a front-row seat to all of it.

“I wouldn’t have wanted to come into coaching any other way in terms of being hit with so much at once,” he said

Tucker, 36, had no formal coaching experience when he stepped into the coaching role on Greg Gard’s staff, but he had plenty of life experience. The all-time leading scorer for the Wisconsin men’s basketball program, Tucker was a first-round draft pick by Phoenix in 2007 and played the next 10 years professionally. Upon his retirement, Tucker was hired by UW as its director for Student-Athlete Engagement, working with incoming student-athletes and their families to enhance how they acclimate to life at UW and in the community.

He also had a company where he trained elementary, middle and high school kids all over the world. It’s part of the reason why Gard told the players when to soak up everything Tucker said and pick his brain of extensive basketball knowledge.

The same could be said about Tucker, who leaned heavily on assistant coaches Joe Krabbenhoft and Dean Oliver and UW’s support staff to master the art of a scouting report, something he had studied hundreds of times over his career but never put his own together. He got his feet wet by working with Krabbenhoft on the UW-La Crosse scout for UW’s lone exhibition game.

“There wasn’t a lot of pressure around the scrimmage but delivering the message to the team in the way they could understand it,” Tucker said. “Take in all the information I’ve seen and all the videos I’ve watch, and how can I translate where the players can understand it and still be myself? That was a great taste of it.”

McNeese State was the first scouting report Tucker did from top to bottom while Penn State was his first Big Ten scout.

“That was a big game,” Tucker said of the game at Penn State. “I remember my preparation. It was the moment where I felt it was my chance to impact the game. I’ve been an athlete. I’ve been able to get out there, so how did I channel my energy was the biggest question for me. How could I channel my energy of being on the sideline and really wanting to get in the game to help the team? That’s not my role anymore, so I approached every scouting report as my opportunity to help the game.”

That thought process was validated when Tucker found himself calling out Penn State’s sets before the Nittany Lions ran them. UW won 58-49 over No.20 Penn State on Jan.11, one of five ranked opponents the Badgers beat in 2020.

“Coach Gard was like, ‘man, that was a heck of a scouting report,’” Tucker said. “That was a great affirmation for me from Coach and that the scouting report really played a part. That was major for me.”

Wisconsin went 4-1 in games Tucker scouted, the only blemish being a loss at Minnesota, a game he admits the team wasn’t mentally prepared for because of the controversy surrounding Helland.

“During the (Minnesota) game, I felt helpless at that moment,” Tucker said.

The events leading up to that game, having several walk-ons come to Tucker to express their discomfort in Helland’s word choice in a quote from an NBA player, were one of the many instances on-the-job challenges Tucker experienced. Another was with King, who Tucker worked with extensively since he arrived on the job.

Tucker was in those final meetings with King as he discussed his upcoming transfer with Gard and Krabbenhoft. As a relationship-based coach, one who prides himself on being open, transparent and vulnerable, Tucker felt like he missed an opportunity to help a player succeed.

“I wish I could have been here longer to help him,” he said, adding he didn’t take the decision personally. “I wish I could have been here at an earlier point to figure out how I could help him. Where did the turning point happen for him? I think there was some underlying things he was going through prior to me coming on.”

While Tucker may feel a level of regret with King, he was elated with junior Aleem Ford. A tall forward who had struggled to reach his potential during his first two seasons, Ford became one of Tucker’s projects. A lanky 6-8 forward who could shoot from the perimeter or slash to the rim, Ford had a lot of the same characteristics that Tucker did when the latter was breaking the school’s all-time scoring mark.

The one thing Ford lacked, according to Tucker, was confidence.

“As we got hit with obstacles, I could see it start hitting his confidence,” Tucker said. “One of the things I would do is bring him in, watch video of not just the bad things but show some of the good things. When I see somebody and talk to them about myself being in these positions, he was as open and responding as possible.”

The lightbulb seemingly being switch on coincided with King’s departure. Ford averaged 5.2 points and 2.1 rebounds per game through the first nine league games, shooting 41.5 percent overall and 28.0 percent from three-point range. He bumped those averages up to 9.7 points and 5.5 rebounds over the last 10 games, shooting 46.9 percent from the field, 39.6 percent from 3-point range and had six games with at least six rebounds. In the first game after King announced his departure, Ford scored 13 points, grabbed four rebounds and had two steals in UW’s 64-63 win over No.14 Michigan State, a victory that Tucker pointed to as one of the season’s turning points.

“After every game, whether good or bad, I would talk to him about this is what you need to be, this is who you need to be,” Tucker said of Ford. “He would always take it. Head up, chin up and would take it. That shows a person who is growing and person that really wants to better himself.”

UW’s eight-game winning fell nine short of the 17-game win streak of Tucker’s 2006-07 team (a modern-era school record), but the similarities shine through between the squads: hard work ethic, balanced scoring and a true belief of winning.

So, while there is no scouting report on how to prepare players for the sudden cancelation of a season, Tucker can relate to this group with the “what if.” Not long after the win streak ended in 2017, Wisconsin ascended to No.1 in the Associated Press poll in late February for the first time in school history. However, that group didn’t win a Big Ten championship or advance to the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament partly due to starting center Brian Butch dislocating his elbow and missing the final seven games.

Remembering his thoughts after his career ended well short of expectations, Tucker related to this year’s group that they don’t have to be content with winning, but don’t hang their hat on the "what if" because it can be an unfilled, lonely space.

“The guys mentally were in a great space, the team was in a great space, they had a rhythm, they understood how to play together, they understood each other’s roles,” Tucker said of UW as they approached the postseason. “That’s the unfortunate part of this whole thing … To have that stripped away from individuals who really wanted it, they wanted it bad. They wanted to prove the world wrong … Even going through the controversy and obstacles that we did, they were able to battle out of those and come out of those resilient.”

“Hopefully we can channel that energy,” he added. “We’ve got something to continue to prove.”

Tucker’s role for next season has yet to be discussed or defined, as the staff’s focus has been helping the players navigate home workouts and academics with the campus shutdown. He also hasn’t thought about the fact that at some point he’ll get sized for his third Big Ten championship ring, 16 years after he received his last one.

That was the one instance where Tucker was content on looking back.

“My first year at the University of Wisconsin as a player we won a Big Ten championship,” Tucker said. “My first year as a coach to win, the irony in that is awesome.”