Alando Tucker Pushes Aleem Ford Outside His Comfort Zone
MADISON, Wis. – He didn’t have the title of assistant coach next to his name yet, but Alando Tucker made it a point to take notice every time he could sneak away to a Wisconsin practice.
Getting a chance to watch while serving as UW's Director of Student-Athlete Engagement last year, Tucker naturally evaluated players and spoke to those who sought help about tendencies he noticed from the sidelines.
It was that ability that made him a natural fit to temporarily fill the shoes of Howard Moore and allowed him to start molding the young talent he saw in Aleem Ford.
“I just thought he was very passive, very passive,” Tucker recalled. “When I was looking at it from the outside, let me learn who is he and figure out how to turn a 180 with that. I just felt that if he was more aggressive to the ball, more aggressive defensively, he could be a major player in the Big Ten.”
The all-conference ballots won’t be tabulated for at least two more weeks, but Ford has started to make Tucker look like a prophet.
A big piece of Wisconsin’s recent 4-1 surge, Ford has scored in double figures in four of the last five games, including dropping a career-high 19 points in Wisconsin’s 69-65 victory over Purdue Tuesday to move the Badgers into a five-way tie for third place in the Big Ten.
“He stayed persistent,” head coach Greg Gard said postgame of Ford. “The coaching staff has done a good job staying after him and encouraging him to be aggressive because he doesn’t come by it by nature. That’s not quite his personality, so you’re trying to pull that out of him. When he shows it, he has nights like (Tuesday).”
While there’s no ‘I’ in team, there’s no question that Ford has benefited from Tucker, whose voice carries weight considering he is Wisconsin's all-time leading scorer and was a consensus first-team All-American and Big Ten Player of the Year in 2007. What he saw in Ford over the course of the last year were intangibles that could make Ford into an all-conference player – a big body with a versatile skill set. It was what Tucker didn’t see that was problematic.
Some players are born with that killer-instinct mentality and some must learn it over time, or not at all. Ford flashed over his first two seasons on the court but never could put a prolonged streak together.
Shortly after being hired in July, Tucker made Ford’s development one of his focal points. The two watch countless hours of film together that is primarily comprised of Ford’s individual clips. Everything is a teaching point, according to Tucker, with the sole goal of building the junior’s confidence.
Finding that next level started during practice. Although practices have been closed to the media, Gard, Ford and Tucker said the junior’s practice habits have improved over the last several weeks and translated into game success.
“I’m just trying to keep it that way now,” Ford said of practices. “So, I’m just trying to make sure I have good practices and keep building those good habits.”
There was no specific “light-bulb moment” for Ford when things finally clicked, but his transformation became more apparent when his shot stared falling in the 64-63 victory over Michigan State. Ford had been 13-for-38 in the previous eight games but went 5-for-6 for 13 points against the Spartans.
That was the first game after starter Kobe King announced his decision to transfer from the program and an afternoon were Brad Davison – another starter – was suspended by the Big Ten.
“The team was leaning on somebody to step up,” Tucker said. “He had the flash, he had some good defensive plays, he knocked down some shots, that bodes well for your confidence. When you’re out there and you get some shots to roll in, especially at this point in the season, once that switch flips it can carry over. We’ve seen it carry over from that game.”
In five games in February, Ford is averaging 11.2 points per contest and shooting 50 percent from 3-point range, but his impact goes beyond points. Never considered an aggressive rebounder despite his 6-8 frame, Ford finished a rebound shy of a double-double against Ohio State, made up for a 3-point outing with a career-high 10 rebounds at Nebraska and pulled down seven boards against Purdue, including three on the offensive glass that led to five second-chance points.
Rebounding is part hard work and part being in the right spot at the right time. All of it though is the willingness to go to the rim and fight for the loose ball.
“If you go, that’s when you end up in the right spot more often than not,” Ford said. “I’m trying to put myself in those spots really.”
While blunt honesty doesn’t work for some players, or in some cases generates the opposite effect, Tucker and Ford have built their relationship on it. It’s an open dialogue that shows Tucker that he can get in Ford’s ear during games and be his confidant in the film room.
“We have a great report, and I think he trusts me a lot,” Tucker said. “Even games where he’s trying to figure things out, you go through bumps and bruises throughout the year, I was constantly on him about staying confident, remain confident, give something out there on the court that we don’t have.”