Marquette’s Tyler Kolek Wins Big East Tournament MVP Award, Profits From Preseason Comment

Marquette point guard Tyler Kolek walked around the Madison Square Garden floor on Saturday night, celebrating the Golden Eagles’ Big East tournament title and his Most Valuable Player award.

He posed for photos, hugged teammates and chatted with his father, mother, brother, former AAU basketball coach and longtime friends from Cumberland, R.I., his small hometown that’s about 25 minutes north of Providence. Kolek was elated and relieved just minutes after scoring a team-high 20 points with eight rebounds and three assists in Marquette’s 65-51 victory over Xavier.

At one point, Kolek stood near midcourt holding two trophies, one given to each member of the team and a bigger one presented to the tournament MVP. He ended up dropping the latter, and it split apart.

“Too many trophies in my hand,” he said, laughing.

It was one of the few missteps Kolek has had all season. Kolek was named the league’s Player of the Year on Wednesday after averaging 12.7 points and 7.9 assists and leading Marquette to its first Big East regular season title since entering the league in the 2005-06 season. He also helped the Golden Eagles win their first league tournament title since 1997 when they were members of Conference USA.

Not many people thought Kolek or Marquette could be this good. No Big East or Power Five conference program recruited Kolek out of prep school, so he headed to George Mason, where he won the Atlantic 10’s rookie of the year award. After George Mason fired head coach Dave Paulsen in March 2021, Kolek transferred to Marquette, earning a starting job but having an inconsistent first season with the program.

Before this season, he wasn’t among the 14 players selected for the All Big East teams. Meanwhile, the league’s coaches picked the Golden Eagles to finish ninth in the 11-team conference. Asked about that projection during the Big East’s media day in October, Kolek replied, “F – – – ‘em,” a quote that has became a rallying cry for the Golden Eagles throughout the season.

Kolek, for his part, is embracing the comment. Last month, he struck a deal with Jim Ganzer, a longtime Marquette fan and owner of IWBIWB
Marketing, a company based in Milwaukee. Kolek was looking to take advantage of the NCAA allowing athletes to profit from their name, image and likeness (NIL), and he knew Ganzer had done work in the apparel business.

Ganzer created a website, tylerkolek.com, where fans can buy t-shirts, hoodies and crewneck sweatshirts. On the front, there is an image of Kolek holding a basketball and the F*&# ‘em! slogan. On the back, it says 2023 Big East Champions.

“I’m just trying to maximize the NIL space and do what I can to make a little bit of money off of what I said and off the attention that it’s gotten,” Kolek said. “We don’t get that attention if our team isn’t playing the way that we’re playing.”

This is Kolek’s initial foray into NIL, an area that is lightly regulated and where rules vary depending on states, colleges and conferences.

“This NIL thing’s tricky,” Kolek said. “Not everybody really knows what’s going on with it, how it really works yet. I’m hoping to dive into the business world after this season.”

So far, the apparel venture is paying off. Ganzer said he had received about 500 requests as of Saturday afternoon, “but they’re still coming in.”

Ganzer usually works with local schools and businesses, helping them create websites or sell apparel. Those entities order a set number of shirts and other items in advance in bulk. But fans are ordering Kolek gear on a one-off basis, making it more difficult for Ganzer to print, pack and ship the orders in a timely manner, although he said people are starting to get their gear.

“I didn’t know it would get as busy as it did,” he said. “It’s been going very well.”

Before being able to use Kolek’s image and work with him, Ganzer had to fill out a request online via a portal that Marquette has set up for NIL deals. He was approved last month, and the website went live on Feb. 28, less than two weeks ago, after the Golden Eagles clinched the regular season Big East title. Ganzer said Kolek will receive most of the revenue generated from the sale of the apparel.

“We wanted to make sure it was going to be worth his while,” said Ganzer, who also runs the Milwaukee Summer Pro-Am league. “I explained to him that I don’t exactly know what the numbers are because when it comes to producing these things, there’s different costs involved depending on how many you make. We don’t know the final (revenue split), but it will be worth his while.”

Kolek and Ganzer expect the sales will explode after Marquette’s Big East tournament title, which the Golden Eagles won in dominating fashion.

Marquette led, 21-4, just over seven minutes into Saturday’s game and 39-24 at halftime. The Golden Eagles started off the second half hot, as well, and went ahead 54-27 before Xavier scored the next 10 points. But the Musketeers couldn’t sustain a run and trailed by at least 13 points the rest of the way.

Afterward, the Marquette players and coaches took turns climbing a ladder and cutting down the net. As Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York” blared over the loudspeakers, Marquette coach Shaka Smart snipped off a piece of the net. Next, Michael Lovell, Marquette’s President, snipped the final piece and waved the net in the air.

Standing on the court, Lovell recalled in March 2021 that he flew to Texas to meet with and interview Smart, who was then Texas’ coach. Smart hadn’t lived up to the Longhorns’ lofty expectations, but he had had success as a young head coach at VCU, including leading the school to an unlikely Final Four run in 2011 as a No. 11 seed.

“I said, ‘What have you learned at VCU and Texas that’ll make you a great coach at Marquette?,’” Lovell said. “He said it’s all about relationships and to motivate someone at the deepest level, you really have to know and understand them. That’s what he’s about. I watch it every day, how deep of a relationship he has with his players. He finds ways to make them better basketball players and better people.”

During his postgame press conference, Smart was equally effusive about Lovell, who is an avid runner and triathlete.

“I’ve worked for six college Presidents, and he stands apart in a lot of ways – his compassion, his character level, his integrity,” Smart said. “A lot of those guys are cyborgs, man. They’re not real people. He’s a real person. He has a genuine care and concern for every single student at the University, but he’s got a special place in his heart for student-athletes because he’s an athlete himself.”

Smart added that Lovell isn’t afraid to needle his players, either.

“I think he hit Tyler after the grades came out and said his grades need to be better,” Smart said, laughing.

As Smart spoke, Kolek sat at the dais smiling, taking the rib in stride. Kolek and Marquette will find out on Sunday where they will be heading for the NCAA tournament.

The Golden Eagles (28-6) have won nine consecutive games, 14 of their last 15 and 19 of their past 21. They should be a No. 2 or No. 3 seed and a trendy pick to advance to the school’s first Final Four since 2003 when Dwyane Wade was a junior All-American. Some may even predict Marquette to win its second national title, joining the 1977 team that defeated North Carolina in the championship game.

That team was ranked second in the preseason Associated Press poll, while this year’s team was nowhere close to a preseason ranking. Few people are doubting Marquette any longer, but don’t tell that to Kolek or his teammates.

“We just have that underdog chip on our shoulder regardless of who we’re playing against, regardless of our ranking or what we win,” said Marquette starting forward Oso Ighodaro, Kolek’s roommate. “We want to keep that same chip into the tournament.”