Kolek

[WarriorPride68]

His 0.2 value on T Rank is hilarious

[Stretchdeltsig]

Kolek is a liability to the team right now. Last night his shooting woes affected his passing. His turnovers on top of his terrible shooting seem like a cancer affecting the team. We can't win with him now. It'll be interesting to see how Shaka "rights the ship."

[Uncle Rico]

His offensive rating is 81.9, the worst of anyone on the team.  He's shooting 20% from 3!  On the plus side, he's 41st in the nation in assist rate and has a good steal %.

More alarming, his turnover rate is 26.4%.  That would have been worse on the team a year ago.

He's terrible at the moment.  There's no sugarcoating it. 

[Pakuni]

The trouble with Tyler right now is that there's no one else on the roster capable of being anything closely resembling a facilitator on offense. So, Shaka & Co. need to get Kolek right ASAP or it's going to be a rough conference season.

[tower912]

Shooters don't break out of slumps from the bench.

[Viper]

Shaka knows this team better than anybody. He sees him for several hours every day, watches him closely at practice, talks to him off the court. He would not be starting his second- or third-best PG and playing him max minutes if he didn't feel in his heart and mind that Kolek was by far this team's best PG option.

I wish he were the next Travis Diener, as some (even Diener IIRC!) wanted everybody to believe. He is not anything close to that. Not yet, and maybe not ever. But the guy who sees him for hours every day and whose record this season depends in great part on assessing his roster believes Tyler Kolek is the best we've got.

then MU is in big trouble.

[Uncle Rico]

Shooters don't break out of slumps from the bench.

He needs to protect the ball then

[Viper]

So, 11 games in, we've decided that we fans know the abilities of those on this Marquette basketball roster better than the coach does?

...the HC's last name is Smart. His coaching against Wisconsin and UCLA was anything but. Granted, it's a flawed roster, but I'm quite interested to observe how the coach works things in BE play.

[tower912]

He needs to protect the ball then

Yes, passes that look great against the Jackson States of the world get picked off by top 5 teams.   He, too, has a learning curve.

[Viper]

Shooters don't break out of slumps from the bench.

Kolek ain't a shooter. Ball rotation on release proves that.

[Vander Blue Man Group]

Kolek played 36 minutes tonight. He was terrible. Kolek has now not made a basket in the last two games. He is a liability on offense and does not deserve the playing time he is getting.

And the other options are going to be better?  As someone else mentioned, Shaka said in the postgame that he believes in him and that he's not going to lose many, if any, minutes.

As long as he continues to run the offense, doesn't become careless with the ball, and maybe becomes a little more judicious in his shot selection until he can get in a rhythm that's fine.

Kolek can get into the lane often but teams know he's not looking to score and that a kick out is likely coming. This would need to happen over the off-season but I think adding a floater to his repertoire could be a nice boost to his game since finishing consistently at the rim probably won't be.

[The Sultan]

IMO the best option is a Kolek who shoots less.  Kam isn't a distributor.  Stevie and EE have upside but they aren't better than TK right now. Morsell is better off the ball.

[Pakuni]

Shooters don't break out of slumps from the bench.

What persuades you that Kolek is a shooter?
I don't think the bench is an option given the roster make up, but the answer here isn't to let him keep firing up low-percentage shots and hope it gets better.

[tower912]

How is Lewis shooting lately?  Do you expect him to keep shooting?

The offense that Coach Smart is running this year is predicated on taking open 3's.  Live by the 3, die by the 3.   

[Goose]

Tower

Kolek was extremely sloppy for a stretch last night and it hurt the team. He needs to cleanup passing every bit as much as improving his shooting in BE play. I do not see anyway that he does not play a ton of minutes all season and he has to make better decisions.

I will add, that was men playing boys last night and that is facts of life. They looked spooked by the bright lights and then the poor shooting became contagious. Chalk it up to playing against a big time team.

I hate losing and hate being out of game in ten minutes into even more. No silver linings IMO and hopefully they learn from it.

[MuggsyB]

IMO the best option is a Kolek who shoots less.  Kam isn't a distributor.  Stevie and EE have upside but they aren't better than TK right now. Morsell is better off the ball.

I agree that he's our best option right now but it's not like he took 20 shots.  He has to be able to score the ball more than zero if he's on the floor for 35+ mins.  Since West Virginia it's obviously been ugly.  He's better than what we've seen recently and he has to be better.  Otherwise he won't be guarded at all on the perimeter and it totally hamstrings our offense. 

[Uncle Rico]

What persuades you that Kolek is a shooter?
I don't think the bench is an option given the roster make up, but the answer here isn't to let him keep firing up low-percentage shots and hope it gets better.

That's the rub. 

[MuggsyB]

How is Lewis shooting lately?  Do you expect him to keep shooting?

The offense that Coach Smart is running this year is predicated on taking open 3's.  Live by the 3, die by the 3.

Lewis should be trying to score more in the paint but your point is well taken.  It's not like Lewis, Morsell, and Jones have been lighting it up.  But where I disagree with you is that if a shot is a available or open we must let it fly immediately.  There's a difference between a good shot and a bad shot even if it's technically "open".  We take bad shots constantly and did so once against last night

[The Sultan]

I agree that he's our best option right now but it's not like he took 20 shots.  He has to be able to score the ball more than zero if he's on the floor for 35+ mins.  Since West Virginia it's obviously been ugly.  He's better than what we've seen recently and he has to be better.  Otherwise he won't be guarded at all on the perimeter and it totally hamstrings our offense. 

Right.  That's the problem.  He's playing poorly but is still our best option.

[Pakuni]

How is Lewis shooting lately?  Do you expect him to keep shooting?

The offense that Coach Smart is running this year is predicated on taking open 3's.  Live by the 3, die by the 3.

I'm not sure the Justin comparison helps much. Over the last five, Justin is 43.6% from the field and 21.7% from three. Tyler is 14.7% from the field and 12% from three.
But yes, I think we'd be better served if Justin took more of his shots in the post than from three.

As for what the offense is predicated upon ... what's the definition of insanity?

[MuggsyB]

Right.  That's the problem.  He's playing poorly but is still our best option.

So when you're struggling offensively, it seems to me that a concerted effort should be made to get a chippie or two free throws.  That clearly didn't happen with TK yesterday.  What's concerning is how badly a lot of our guys bricked last night.  They were generally not close and I would argue they were tight for no reason known to man.  We had 0.0 pressure on us vs UCLA and yet these guys made me look like a poster child for peace and calm. I saw a deer in the headlights look early and often from numerous players and it was inexplicable.

Tbe good news is on paper we had a solid non-c record and maybe we can get it together.  But frankly I thought UCLA was mediocre at best yesterday and we played an unusually poor game in a number of areas.  I don't think we were quite there mentally despite competing hard at various times.  This troubles me a bit but maybe it was somewhat our youth and inexperience. 

[The Sultan]

So when you're struggling offensively, it seems to me that a concerted effort should be made to get a chippie or two free throws.  That clearly didn't happen with TK yesterday.  What's concerning is how badly a lot of our guys bricked last night.  They were generally not close and I would argue they were tight for no reason known to man.  We had 0.0 pressure on us vs UCLA and yet these guys made me look like a poster child for peace and calm. I saw a deer in the headlights look early and often from numerous players and ot was inexplicable.

Tbe good news is on paper we had a solid non-c record and maybe we can get it together.  But frankly I thought UCLA was mediocre at best yesterday and we played an unusually poor game in a number of areas.  I don't think we were quite there mentally despite competing hard at various times.  This troubles me a bit but maybe it was somewhat our youth and inexperience. 

Inexplicable?  It is a young, inexperienced team playing one of the best teams in the country, coming off a Final Four, with all of their major players back.  I am not making excuses for playing poorly, but it is completely explicable how it ended up that way.

[Scoop Snoop]

So when you're struggling offensively, it seems to me that a concerted effort should be made to get a chippie or two free throws.  That clearly didn't happen with TK yesterday.  What's concerning is how badly a lot of our guys bricked last night.  They were generally not close and I would argue they were tight for no reason known to man.  We had 0.0 pressure on us vs UCLA and yet these guys made me look like a poster child for peace and calm. I saw a deer in the headlights look early and often from numerous players and ot was inexplicable.

Tbe good news is on paper we had a solid non-c record and maybe we can get it together.  But frankly I thought UCLA was mediocre at best yesterday and we played an unusually poor game in a number of areas.  I don't think we were quite there mentally despite competing hard at various times.  This troubles me a bit but maybe it was somewhat our youth and inexperience.

Yep. To me, only Greg looked calm and confident on the court, not the least bit scared of UCLA. But this thread is about Kolek so getting back to him...along with the awful shooting he seemed to telegraph his passes as well as other moves, including the several passes in the 2nd half that quickly resulted in yet another UCLA run.

Now about you looking like the poster child for peace and calm? Thanks for the laugh!

[tower912]

Tower

Kolek was extremely sloppy for a stretch last night and it hurt the team. He needs to cleanup passing every bit as much as improving his shooting in BE play. I do not see anyway that he does not play a ton of minutes all season and he has to make better decisions.

I will add, that was men playing boys last night and that is facts of life. They looked spooked by the bright lights and then the poor shooting became contagious. Chalk it up to playing against a big time team.

I hate losing and hate being out of game in ten minutes into even more. No silver linings IMO and hopefully they learn from it.

   We agree.    I have criticized Kolek's pass choices, said he will continue to play big minutes, and that it was men against boys.

Last night hurt, but I am firmly committed to process this season.

[We R Final Four]

   
Last night hurt, but I am firmly committed to process this season.

Why haven't you said so before??