We all have that one shirt hanging in our closets or folded in our dressers. You know the one; the go-to piece of clothing you can always rely on to make a good impression. Maybe we have newer, flashier clothes, but we can always count on a solid contribution from the old standby.
For me, the go-to-guy is a button-down black dress shirt. I can always dress it up with a nice pair of pants or play it casual with some broken-in jeans. It has stood up to years of washing and outlasted many more highly-touted articles.
So what under the college hoops sun brought up this nugget of my personal wardrobe minutia? Wisconsin's Alando Tucker.
Tucker should remind us of all the things we love about that dependable old shirt. He's been around as long as we can remember (try 2002 for Tucker's freshman year). He's pre-historic by college hoops standards. Tucker actually squared off with Dwyane Wade when the Badgers and Golden Eagles fought the Cheese State challenge in 2002. Compared to the youth of most stars in the NCAA this year, he might as well have been an assistant to Dr. Naismith.
Tucker has also been remarkably consistent. In his three-plus full seasons with Wisconsin (Tucker red-shirted 2003-04 with a foot injury), he has averaged at least 12 points and five rebounds a game. Heck, he even led the Big Ten in offensive rebounds way back when as a true freshman. But those facts didn't stop the media from anointing Ohio State as the preseason favorite to win the conference this year.
Sure, Tucker was named the preseason player of the year, but let's not kid ourselves. It wasn't Tucker, the veteran with a body of work spanning dozens of games, that Dick Vitale was comparing to the greatest players to step on the college hardwood. Tucker may be a half foot shorter and a universe of hype quieter than Greg Oden, but the neglect his resume is getting is criminal. While we may gawk at flashier shirts in storefronts, deep down we all know we can count on the trusty time-tested shirt.
And that brings up maybe the most impressive thing about Tucker. As he's ascended to the role of senior leader for the Badgers, Tucker has added another element to his game. While he maintained an assistant-to-turnover ratio of .8 in his first three seasons, this season Tucker has increased that number to 1.15. Be it jeans or khakis, Mike Wilkinson or Brian Butch, it is Tucker's complementary skills that make him so valuable.
So all of the magazines and analysts that want to drool over potential can have their unproven prospects, no matter how many stars or what color chip they're rated as. Sure, a guy like Oden brings instant credibility to a program. But it's time to stop overlooking talent when we see it just because we've seen it. Tucker may not be exciting and new, but we know what we'll get out of him. Watching him quietly dominate Pittsburgh by controlling the game's tempo Saturday was predictably remarkable.
So if we love that kind of reliable performance out of our wardrobes, why not our college basketball stars?
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