MILWAUKEE – Tyler Kolek’s next stop is THAR 2150, his second class of the day. Acting for Non-Theatre Majors. It’s all right, he says, which seems to translate to reasonably cool in Kolek-speak. He doesn’t have to bring a backpack, for one. That’s a plus. It’s also honed his ability to read people, to draw out whatever is inside them so he can be of service. Fundamentally, this is what the nation’s most dynamic passer wants. He wants to help.

Two weeks previous, for example, he suspected one of his Marquette teammates was struggling a bit. Kolek asked him what he was seeing. The teammate said he just needed to take better angles, to be more aggressive to the rim, to make things easier on everyone else. Cut the bulls—, Kolek told him. I’m not a coach. Tell me how you’re really feeling.

How that teammate really felt was that he wasn’t getting the ball in the right spots. So he wasn’t doing things he felt he should and could do. Kolek listened. He offered his thoughts. The result? Another good read. “I mean, that guy just got a game-winning tip-in for us,” Kolek says in late February, leaning back in a film room chair. “Bringing guys along, and making sure their mental is good, is probably the biggest thing I’ve learned this year. Making sure they’re good with themselves, making sure they’re good with the team. This basketball s—, it’s just a game, but it changes your whole attitude towards life, depending on if you’re doing good or bad.”

Only the good life these days for Tyler Kolek, now that he’s safely out of his own head and entrenched in everyone else’s.

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(Photo: USA Today)