To score 2,000 points in the Big Ten is scarcely a backhanded compliment, but it does imply the kind of longevity not always associated with greatness. The really special ones – the Magic Johnsons, the Isiah Thomases, the Glenn Robinsons – didn’t hang around long enough to qualify for the semi-exclusive club.
Alando Tucker became the 24th member Saturday when his Wisconsin Badgers continued their Panzer-like swath across the college basketball landscape with a 74-62 victory against Iowa. Tucker is a senior, a rarity for a player who projects as a first-round NBA pick, yet it was a series of injuries that helps account for his full undergraduate experience.