He could be a Wolverine playing alongside Robert Tractor Traylor. Or maybe a teammate to Melvin Levett in Cincinnati. He even had the opportunity to be a part of the Tyrone Nesby-Keon Clark duo out in Las Vegas.

The sky was the limit for this junior college phenom whose career at Lincoln College and Southeastern College in Burlington, Iowa, earned him a top-five ranking among juco players in 1996.

But Rashad Tucker wanted to become a Saluki. And that is a move that I question might not have been for the best.

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For Tucker, a Carbondale native, coming to SIUC provided a good opportunity to play in front of a hometown crowd and reunite with his close friend Troy Hudson.

But things have not gone as smooth for the senior forward and co-captain of the Saluki men’s basketball team.

During his stay at SIUC, Tucker has seen Hudson leave school early and head for the NBA and has been suspended for failure to return for the second half of a game last year against Illinois State. It is no secret that his relationship with Saluki coach Rich Herrin has been a rocky one.

Tucker will be the first to admit that he has not become the dominant player he was in junior college.

He was a threat in just about phase of the game every time he stepped on the court at Southeastern and Lincoln. Before leaving the two schools, he set the record for most career triple-doubles. This Grant Hill/Anfernee Hardaway-type ability brought lofty expectations.

Though Tucker has shown flashes of greatness, he has yet to showcase his full capabilities to SIU Arena audiences. In 46 games as a Saluki, Tucker has yet to record one triple-double.

A player of his talents should clearly dominate a conference that has not generated an impact player for the NBA since Bradley University’s Hersey Hawkins (sorry, Chris Carr). Illinois State’s Rico Hill and Creighton’s Rodney Buford are decent collegiate players, but neither possess the raw, NBA talent of Tucker.

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Instead, he must ponder whether or not a team will even draft him.

So, who’s to blame for this?

Could it be Tucker’s inability to adjust to Division I basketball?

Or, could it be Tucker’s inability to adjust to SIUC coach Rich Herrin’s style of Division I basketball?

Whichever it may be, Tucker has little time to impress the NBA scouts. His talents might have gotten recognized if he were at a Cincinnati, Michigan or UNLV, but he’s not.

However, Tucker still has the pre-draft camps to show his talents to NBA scouts and improve his status.

In a recent poll on ESPNET SportsZone, Tucker’s 17 points per game were not good enough to get him listed among the top 50 senior NBA prospects in the country.

There is a saying in the basketball world that the only guy to hold Michael Jordan under 20 points was Dean Smith, Jordan’s coach at North Carolina. If Tucker becomes a great professional player, which he is capable of, everyone can look back and say the same thing about Rich Herrin.