LEXINGTON, Ky. — Tyler Ulis enjoyed a comfortable childhood in Lima, Ohio, guided by his mother and stepdad.
Though barely taller than Muggsy Bogues, he showed promise on the basketball court. Eventually, he figured, he might get a scholarship offer from Michigan State, where he cheered on cousin Travis Walton at nearly every home game.
“My dream school,” Ulis said.
But Ulis wanted more. He moved in with his father so he could attend Marian Catholic in Chicago Heights.
“Better competition,” Ulis explained. “Lima is a small city. Chicago is a big city with a lot of publicity. We had guys like Jahlil (Okafor), Paul White, Jalen Brunson … it helped me get better.”
As he grew to a listed 5-foot-9 — on his tippy toes — Ulis hit the jackpot, rising from mid-major prospect to being courted by Northwestern, DePaul and Iowa to an offer from Spartans coach Tom Izzo, whom Ulis said he “loved.”
But, again, Ulis wanted more.
More was Kentucky, the best of the best, a program with a fan base that would pack a gym in Siberia and a coach, John Calipari, who floods the NBA with high-end talent.
“Coming here,” Ulis said, “I felt like I could be the best player I could be. Cal has had guards like John Wall, Derrick Rose and (Eric) Bledsoe. Going against Andrew (Harrison) every day is helping me grow a lot as a player.”
Ulis has been terrific for the 27-0 Wildcats. Teammate Karl-Anthony Towns called him “a showtime player.”
“He knows how to make the ball go from side to side. He can score. He is the whole package,” Towns said. “That’s why everyone loves him, not just because of his size but because of what he can do with it.”
Ulis is making Calipari look wise for extending a Chicago-Kentucky connection that stretches to the Rick Pitino era (1989-97) and Mount Carmel’s Antoine Walker.
“I broke ground,” recalled Walker, a three-time NBA All-Star who’s now an analyst for 120 Sports. “I got there first, and then Nazr (Mohammed) came down to visit.”
The success of versatile forward Jamal Mashburn, who developed into the No. 4 pick in the NBA draft, helped sell Walker.
Mohammed, who attended Kenwood, turned down Georgetown because he knew he would have to transform his 300-plus-pound frame to thrive in Pitino’s full-court press.
“As stupid as I was,” joked Mohammed, now a backup center on the Bulls, “I thought I wanted the challenge.”
On his visit to Lexington, Kentucky beat Georgia 80-59, but Pitino was so furious at his team for defensive lapses, he closed the locker room to recruits and wrote “12:01” on a greaseboard. That meant the players would have to return to practice one minute after midnight, to comply with NCAA rules.
Everyone figured Mohammed would be turned off by the extreme behavior, but he committed anyway and played before, as he called them, “24,000 screaming fans in blue and white.”
“There’s no better place to play college basketball than Rupp Arena,” Mohammed said.
And there was no better team in 1996 than Kentucky.
“Good things happen when Chicago guys go to Lexington,” Mohammed said. “Me and Antoine won a championship down there.”
So did Anthony Davis in 2012, his first season out of Chicago’s Perspectives Charter.
Rose went to the NCAA title game in 2008 playing for Calipari at Memphis. The Simeon graduate said he chose Memphis in part because he would be joining a team of quality veterans and in part because of his coach.
“Cal was great for me,” he said. “If he was at Kentucky, there’s a good chance I would have gone to Kentucky.”
As for Calipari’s mining of Chicago, Rose responded: “With all that great talent, you would have to be crazy as a college coach not to make that connection. Jahlil will probably be the No. 1 pick (in the NBA draft), and last year you had Jabari (Parker).”
Said Calipari: “Chicago players have a fight and a will to win. They have all been solid kids and great teammates. We haven’t gotten everyone we have gone after, but the ones we did get were fun to coach.”
St. Rita’s Charles Matthews is next, giving Kentucky the potential for an all-Chicago backcourt next season. Ulis and Matthews also teamed up for the MeanStreets AAU program.
“I watched them together and thought: Tyler is the perfect kind of guard for Charles because Charles can just do his thing,” Calipari said. “If you’re making (Matthews) do too much, he’s not ready for that yet offensively.”
The 6-foot-6 Matthews has slid in the recruiting rankings to 57th nationally in the 247Sports.com composite. That’s second in the state behind the Villanova-bound Brunson but low enough that some question whether he can cut it at Kentucky.
“I don’t care where people have people ranked,” Calipari said. “It’s who I like and who I want to coach.”
Asked what he saw in Matthews, Calipari replied: “I loved his competitiveness and his fight. I loved how he is a multiple-position guy. Last summer, they tried to play him at point guard. That’s not what he is. He’s a playmaker off the ball. He’s a slasher. He’s a finisher. I loved his body and his ability to defend.”
Said Ulis: “I can’t wait till he gets here. He is a great defensive player. Offensively, he can jump, he’s athletic and he can score the ball.”
Walker, the man who started it all, visited the Wildcats in December. Although he played for Pitino, who coaches at rival Louisville, Walker said he got some “quality time” with Calipari — and talked Chicago hoops with Ulis.
“I saw him play in high school,” Walker said. “He’s small, but he has a future (in the NBA). He reminds me of Maurice Cheeks, a smaller version.”
Twitter @TeddyGreenstein
