Tyler Ulis- Marian Catholic High School

            Imagine moving away from the place you’ve called home for your entire life. Think about leaving your family, friends, and everything you’ve ever known to take the risk of trying to make it big in a city filled with some of the most elite high school basketball players in the country. Tyler Ulis did just that when he moved from Lima, Ohio to Chicago to join the Eastern Suburban Catholic Conference (ESCC) and play at Marian Catholic High School.

“It’s completely different,” Ulis says of playing in Chicago rather than Lima, “Here it has a lot more competition. That’s one of the main reasons why I moved out here. In Ohio, a Catholic league wouldn’t have good teams like this.”

Ulis says he chose to attend Marian Catholic because it was a school based on more than just basketball.

“My dad wanted me to choose an academic school. Somewhere that is not just based on basketball and Marian was the closest thing to that around our neighborhood.”

Ulis’ mother has also stood as a strong support system throughout his basketball career.

 “It was hard for [my mom] for me to move out here with my dad, but she let me do it because she knew I wanted to accomplish my goals. She still travels with me everywhere I go. She travels to South Carolina. She travels to Chicago. If we have a three game back to back stretch, she will travel four hours here and four hours back every day.”

Leading the Spartans to a second place spot in the 2012-2013 ESCC standings and an eighth place ranking in the Chicago Sun-Times Super 25, Ulis was the second leading scorer of the ESCC with a season total of 142 points behind Saint Viator’s Ore Arogundade, who topped the league with 154 total points on the season.

“I’ve made all conference two years, so I feel like I’m on the same level as the top players in our league. It’s a tough league, so I just have to keep working at it, and hopefully I win player of the conference one year.”

Basketball has always been a love for Tyler Ulis. Ulis formerly ran track and played football. However, he eventually gave up the two sports to focus more on improving his basketball skills.

“I’ve always loved it. Since day one, I’ve always had a ball in my hand running up and down the stairs. Track, I was always pretty good at it—probably better than basketball-but [basketball] was just what I loved, so I stayed with it.”

Standing 5’8” and 150 pounds, Ulis does not have the advantage of height on his side, which forces him to focus on improving that much more on other key aspects of his game.

“I’ve tried to improve my range with my shot. I try to work on my body more because I’m not going to grow too much, so I have to get stronger and quicker than everybody else on the court.”

Ulis says that he has stuck with the point guard position since day one.

“I’ve always been a point guard,” he adds, “Skill wise, [my family and coaches] knew I was going to be short so we had to work on being a point guard. We knew I wasn’t going to play center. My dad, step dad, and cousin, Travis Walton, have helped me out a lot.”

Walton formerly played under Coach Tom Izzo and the Michigan State Spartans. He was selected as the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year in 2009.

Ulis describes himself as “a pass first point guard and can lead the team well.”

"I lead by getting teammates involved and getting everybody to play hard. I put confidence in my players. I can score when I’m asked to, but I just try to play the game to win."

Leadership, he believes, is the most important aspect of a point guard’s game.

Ulis says, “I try to be a leader by example. When your team is down you try to pick them up. I can’t let my team get behind.”

Ulis looks up to NBA greats Chris Paul and Allen Iverson and AP National College Player of the Year, Trey Burke. He tries to mirror some aspects of their play in his own.

“With Allen Iverson, his crossover. Chris Paul, I like how he’s a leader on the floor. Both in the way he plays and how he’s vocal. Trey Burke, I just like how he plays all around.”

Ulis even wears the number three in reflection of Iverson.

“He’s been my favorite player ever since I was young.”

As for Ulis’ personal goals in his basketball career, he hopes to play Division 1 college basketball, and then hopefully enter the NBA. Going into his senior year, Ulis has offers from Butler, Colorado State, DePaul, Florida, Florida State, Illinois at Chicago, Iowa, Loyola Chicago, Michigan State, Minnesota, Northern Illinois, Northwestern, Oregon State, Purdue, Southern California, and Vanderbilt.

Like any high schooler, Ulis says he was excited when he received his first college scholarship offer, which came from Loyola Chicago.

“I was happy because not too many big schools were looking at me because of my size. I was about 5’4” as a freshman, so as I started to grow more colleges started looking at me. Once I received my first offer they have pushed me to work harder and get more.”  

Some people may think the odds are stacked against a 5’8” point guard making it big in basketball, but with his hard work and dedication, Tyler Ulis is just the one for the job.