Will Gerard spoke over the phone with former Illini guard Mike LaTulip, who’s “about a month” away from completing his master’s degree at Wright State University. LaTulip earned his bachelor’s degree in communications at the University. He averaged seven points per game last season for the Raiders, and regularly competed against Illinois fifth-year transfer Mark Alstork in practice.

The walk-on was the only freshman on the team when Illinois last appeared in the NCAA tournament in 2013. It was also the first year of John Groce’s coaching tenure.

Here are selected excerpts from the LaTulip phone interview:

WG: What are you doing with your life right now?

ML: I’m actually finishing up my master’s right now. I’m graduating in December, but I’m working full-time at a company called LexisNexis; I work with like one-to-two attorney firms. My territory is like Memphis, Mississippi and Arkansas. So, I’m in sales right now, but I was kind of back-and-forth a lot. I thought about coaching. I went down to the Final Four in Phoenix after my season to meet with some coaches and to talk about potentially going into coaching.

WG: How closely do you follow Illini basketball?

ML: I still have teammates, you know, like (Michael) Finke, Leron Black and (Cameron) Liss. We talk every couple days still. It’s just a really tight-bond that we’ve had since I was there. Obviously, watched the game last night, and I try to watch every single game that I can. When you’ve played there for four years and you graduate from Illinois, it’s really tough not to stay in contact with guys and watch every game you can.

WG: What’s it like playing at a place like Wright State compared to Illinois?

ML: It was different, obviously, just from sheer numbers attendance-wise. There’s an element of pressure when you’re playing at Illinois that I think people know about. But when you have so many passionate fans and a social media presence that Illinois has, there can be pressure at times because if you have a bad game there’s going to be fans that let you know. I remember even certain games that I played — when I’d get in for a couple minutes in a game I was actually playing meaningful minutes — and if I messed up, you’d get on Twitter after the game and people are mentioning you and talking about your mistakes and stuff. So there’s got to be an element of mental toughness that you need to have.

When I went to Wright State, I’d have a game where I was like ‘man, (I) didn’t play very well,’ and then I’d go on social media after the game, whether it’s Instagram or Twitter, and like there’s not a peep. But it’s the good and the bad because when I went to Illinois; one of the biggest things that I loved about Illinois is how passionate the fans are. I think about guys that are committing there, and people think it’s shallow to think about ‘oh how many followers do you have on Twitter? How many followers do you have on this social media?’ But I look at it as ‘how many people can you have an impact on?’ If you go to the University of Illinois, you are having an impact, and if you use it a positive way, you’re having a positive impact on so many people and that was really the biggest thing for me.

Another thing that’s a lot different from Wright State to Illinois is that at Illinois, we would fly from Champaign to Madison, which was like a 30-minute flight, and then at Wright State, we were busing everywhere, so that was a lot different.

WG: What should fans expect from Mark Alstork? Do you think he’s ready for that spotlight?

ML: Yeah, I think he’s ready, and if you ask Mark the same question, he’ll honestly tell you that he is, as well. There is a huge difference between the Big Ten. It’s just different, man. It’s such a physical league. But the thing with Mark is he’s legitimately 6-foot-5, he’s 200-plus pounds. So physically, he’s not going to have a problem. Think about the league: You’ve got Tom Izzo (Michigan State), you’ve got John Beilein (Michigan), Greg Gard (Wisconsin), so many great coaches in that league are going to scout. He’s already multifaceted as a player, but you need to find ways to help your team win. He was counted on a lot last year to score the ball for us, and have the ball in his hands a lot and play make. In Underwood’s offense, you’re not going to have the ball for long. It’s very run-and-gun, there’s a lot of motion, and it’s not just hold the ball, hold the ball and make a play; you have to make quick decisions. I thought he played well last night. He did what he does best, which is get to the free-throw line a lot. He was toward the top of the country last year, in terms of getting to the free-throw line last year. Last night, I believe he was nine of 10 from the line, that’s something you’re going to see a lot from him.

Mark, being 6-foot-5, 200 pounds, can be an elite defender and that’s why I think it’s going to be hard to take him off the floor if he’s moving the ball well on offense, making shots and getting to the free-throw line, and then being an elite defender on top of that, it’s nearly impossible to take him off the floor.

WG: What’s it like as a fifth-year transfer, when you’ve spent four years at a school and all of a sudden you’re the new guy?

ML: It’s tough because you’ve got guys that were teammates before, and it’s like when you’re a freshman, everyone wants to hold your hand, and it’s like ‘here let me take you through how we do stuff.’ But for me, when I showed up at Wright State, it’s like ‘he’s a fifth-year senior, he knows college basketball. He knows the lay of the land,’ so no one kind of looks to help you in a way. They kind of think you have it figured out. So, in terms of ‘who am I going to fit in with?’ You know, ‘who am I going to really bond with on the team?’ You just got to kind of figure it out on your own, it isn’t as forced as it is when you’re a freshman.

Essentially, you just got to find a way to fit in because they have one year with you and it’s not like when you’re a freshman and they really want to develop you. You’ve got one year. You’ve got to find how you fit in, find your niche, find whatever is going to keep you on the floor the most, whether it’s defending — for me last year, obviously, I was pegged as a shooter, and I thought I did that — and that kept me on the floor. Which is crazy for me because when I was in high school, I didn’t play ANY defense. You think that if you’re putting the ball in the basket, that’s your time on the floor, but it’s not. If you can defend, you’ll play the majority of the game, if you can do it well.

WG: What do you think about the Underwood hire?

ML: You couldn’t have scripted a better hire because what I think the Illini fan base was looking for, is exactly what they got, in terms of the high-powered offense. He’s going to get really settled in once he has his own guys. You saw what he did at Oklahoma State last year. He took a team to 20 wins that frankly, you have Jawun Evans and Jeffrey Carroll, obviously, but I thought he really maximized the potential of that team and that’s what I’m hoping he does this year with this team because honestly there’s not a ton of high expectations with this team, and I think he has all the ability to surpass those as a coach. I’ve talked to Finke a lot, I’ve talked to Leron a lot, obviously Alstork, and I think they loved him right from the beginning. It’s crazy, because you would think of a guy that’s known as more of a tough guy, a bit of a yeller. But the guys listen to him and that’s what you need, because when you come to those dog days of the season in early January, February, that’s when you can lose a team, and I think he has a good grip right now with guys listening to him. I’m excited to see what he does at Illinois.

[email protected]