Maybe im dumb so could someone explain?

[TheChamps990411]

Im watching the game and i see Tyler Kolek whos not blazing fast, not super athletic and only about 6`2 constantly beat his man easily off the dribble and get to the basket with ease. No slick moves or killer crossover but simple hesitations or just putting his head down and going. Yet Andre Jackson does not do this. Could someone explain to me like im an 8 year old how this is possible? Ajax should be as close to unstoppable as you can get going to the basket on the college level as you can get. I dont want to hear about how since he cant shoot guys can play off of him neutralizing his drive because even when its there he doesnt do it.

 

[Fishy]

....he can't shoot so people play off of him.

Also, he's a 6'6" wing, so he can't do do what a smaller, more adept ball handler like Kolek can do.

This was always the issue we ignored when we were posting about how Andre was our starting point guard.

 

[Jay-Bone]

Im watching the game and i see Tyler Kolek whos not blazing fast, not super athletic and only about 6`2 constantly beat his man easily off the dribble and get to the basket with ease. No slick moves or killer crossover but simple hesitations or just putting his head down and going. Yet Andre Jackson does not do this. Could someone explain to me like im an 8 year old how this is possible? Ajax should be as close to unstoppable as you can get going to the basket on the college level as you can get. I dont want to hear about how since he cant shoot guys can play off of him neutralizing his drive because even when its there he doesnt do it.

Kolek is known to be shifty like Steve Nash. So at times when he just goes, it works because the defender is expecting a shifty move. Reverse psychology basically. He's also really good at using his body and angles to create space.

 

[willie99]

Athletics is so much more than physical abilities, it's that simple, and you see it in all walks of life

Why is Tom Brady the GOAT, and not somebody bigger and faster and more athletic with a stronger arm? Why were Charles Barkley or Jeff Adrien such great rebounders? Why is Steve Nash in the HOF while Stephon Marbury was a bust everywhere he went? How was Greg Maddox an all time great? .........................

There are intangibles. I'm not bashing AJ, I'm just pointing out Kolek has something intangible (like Dove did for us)

 

[ColchVEGAS]

Also of note for Kolek, while he is not the fastest he does a great job at constantly changing pace. So while he will not blow by you with speed he catches his defender off guard more often than not.

 

[Vuce]

He’s also the perfect mix of great college player but not what the NBA would draft highly (from what I have read from others) so he - and much of the Marquette roster - will stay another year. At most other top 25 programs if a kid had a year anything close to what Kolek had, they would be gone after March ended.

 

[JustbrewitMan]

The other important things Kolek does to be successful is to aggressively initiate contact and throw elbows at the defense like an MMA fighter.

 

[Vuce]

....he can't shoot so people play off of him.

He can shoot just good enough. He was 38% from 3 on the year on 3+ attempts per game. So you leave him alone and he will hit enough to keep you honest (4-8 from 3 in BE semis and Final). I agree he’s not going to be someone who takes a ton.

 

[Rico444]

He can shoot just good enough. He was 38% from 3 on the year on 3+ attempts per game. So you leave him alone and he will hit enough to keep you honest (4-8 from 3 in BE semis and Final). I agree he’s not going to be someone who takes a ton.

I'm pretty sure the 'he' in that sentence is Andre.

 

[Vuce]

I'm pretty sure the 'he' in that sentence is Andre.

Maybe that’s my WISH for Andre

Reading too fast this AM with one less hour of sleep!

 

[cohenzone]

He’s also the perfect mix of great college player but not what the NBA would draft highly (from what I have read from others) so he - and much of the Marquette roster - will stay another year. At most other top 25 programs if a kid had a year anything close to what Kolek had, they would be gone after March ended.

I don’t know what “others” ” say, but it looks to
me like some NBA teams would be missing the boat by not drafting him. He’s a really good basketball player.

 

[FreeKlaiber]

athleticism vs TRUE basketball IQ... AJ is pass first & unselfish, but he really doesnt have the high bball IQ that people want to say he has (the type sheffer had, as well as i think Karaban might).....Kolek uses change of pace hesistation dribbles and his body to make up for his lack of elite athleticism.... (also not bashing AJ at all- you dont see that many truly heady players anymore

 

[WrenchFan69]

Kolek is a significantly better ball handler with elite feel and is a far, far better non-dunk finisher at the rim. I'm hopeful that Jackson can develop some of that this offseason, as well as some backdown game

 

[caw]

Not 100% sure Kolek is a good shooter. Probably better than Jackson, but Kolek's sample size is too small to call him a good shooter. He literally shot the same percentage last year as Jackson has so far this year. And Jackson was over 36% last year. The college year is just too small to get a good sample size to judge one's shooting ability. Kolek has better mechanics, but the main reason I think he has improved his percentages this year are the two things Kolek does do much better than Jackson from three this year.

1) He takes open looks, almost exclusively. 2) He sets himself before he shoots. From what I recall Kolek took many more contested off balance shots from three last year. Oddly, Jackson tried to implement step back threes and side-step threes into his shot selection and let's just say he chose poorly (I am fighting not to go on a rambling rant on this choice by Andre).

Other than that in terms of getting into the lane, Kolek is a car that runs on gears 1-4. Jackson only has 1 and 6. It's why he gets called for charges too often.

Also, he's a lefty.

Also, he has a wide array of shots around the rim (scoops, flip shots, floaters) where Jackson has layup, one hand dunk, or two hand dunk.

 

[UCONNFAN179]

Im watching the game and i see Tyler Kolek whos not blazing fast, not super athletic and only about 6`2 constantly beat his man easily off the dribble and get to the basket with ease. No slick moves or killer crossover but simple hesitations or just putting his head down and going. Yet Andre Jackson does not do this. Could someone explain to me like im an 8 year old how this is possible? Ajax should be as close to unstoppable as you can get going to the basket on the college level as you can get. I dont want to hear about how since he cant shoot guys can play off of him neutralizing his drive because even when its there he doesnt do it.

Ask Shabazz Napier. Same thing

 

[cohenzone]

Kolek is a significantly better ball handler with elite feel and is a far, far better non-dunk finisher at the rim. I'm hopeful that Jackson can develop some of that this offseason, as well as some backdown game

Several people on this board like to dump on the Women’s game. Kolek reminds me of Bueckers who might not be the greatest athlete on the court (but not shabby) because both are great at picking the right shooting angle and creating space near the hoop and can shoot and set up teammates. Both ate fun to watch.

 

[Pmurph678]

Pretty sure Kolek used ball screens to get in the lane, we were going under them initially but he started hitting 3s.

 

[August_West]

Why couldn’t other players steal the puck from Slow footed , physically weak Wayne Gretzky?

 

[HuskyHawk]

Im watching the game and i see Tyler Kolek whos not blazing fast, not super athletic and only about 6`2 constantly beat his man easily off the dribble and get to the basket with ease. No slick moves or killer crossover but simple hesitations or just putting his head down and going. Yet Andre Jackson does not do this. Could someone explain to me like im an 8 year old how this is possible? Ajax should be as close to unstoppable as you can get going to the basket on the college level as you can get. I dont want to hear about how since he cant shoot guys can play off of him neutralizing his drive because even when its there he doesnt do it.

Aside from his advanced understanding of the game, and high skill level, there‘s another factor. He’s not getting doubled. When he comes in it’s always on the left side and he shoots that lefty running bank shot while the defender in on his right. To stop that you’ve got to collapse on him from the outside, but if you do, he passes to the open man.

It‘s 4 out offense. Just executed better than ours in part because nobody respects our shooters enough and because Sanogo is too good and they don’t want to really leave him one on one. So when Jackson tries it, or Newton, he is always defended from inside and outside and doesn’t have the completely free shooting hand.

I‘m not sure why, but I thought Dan tried to solve this by getting Sanogo the ball closer to the foul line and letting him attack facing. Not feeding him, just letting him score in the flow of the game. It freed up the lane and our offense looked great. Against Marquette they had him posting inside like earlier in the year.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Pretty sure Kolek used ball screens to get in the lane, we were going under them initially but he started hitting 3s.

That was our main problem on D during the losing streak. Guys were not handling ball screens and PnR. The D on Friday looked exactly like it did during that stretch.

 

[yungdowork]

I thought Dan tried to solve this by getting Sanogo the ball closer to the foul line and letting him attack facing. Not feeding him, just letting him score in the flow of the game. It freed up the lane and our offense looked great. Against Marquette they had him posting inside like earlier in the year.

I thought this was a direct result of their foul trouble, and Hurley expected Sanogo to be able to apply pressure via those post ups. Newton is really the only guy we have who can consistently attack the rim, and he wasn't getting any calls, so we just couldn't really capitalize on that foul trouble.

 

[August_West]

I‘m not sure why, but I thought Dan tried to solve this by getting Sanogo the ball closer to the foul line and letting him attack facing. Not feeding him, just letting him score in the flow of the game. It freed up the lane and our offense looked great. Against Marquette they had him posting inside like earlier in the year

He did have him high a bunch.

I just watched the first half this morning .

Marquette did what I knew some coach was going to do eventually to counter that change. They put real ball pressure on Sanogo when he caught up high, even shading a double team at times. Adama ended up having to do handoffs most of the time . Marquette’s ball pressure was great across the board. We had trouble getting into sets and often started them 5 feet further than we wanted to.

Hurley did then put him back on blocks to counter that.

 

[auror]

Kolek has great feet. Watch his feet next time you watch them play. I worry for his ankles, because sometimes it seems like he's keeling like a sailboat. He has great deceleration.

The other aspect is that his defender is always worried he's going to throw a pass out of nowhere.

 

[HuskyHawk]

He did have him high a bunch.

I just watched the first half this morning .

Marquette did what I knew some coach was going to do eventually to counter that change. They put real ball pressure on Sanogo when he caught up high, even shading a double team at times. Adama ended up having to do handoffs most of the time . Marquette’s ball pressure was great across the board. We had trouble getting into sets and often started the 5 feet further than we wanted to.

Hurley did then put him back on blocks to counter that.

Yeah that ball pressure he mentioned early in the huddle, saying they couldn’t keep it up. Well they kept it up enough, including late. Xavier handled it less well than we did. Marquette just has’t defended like that all year. It’s what we do on D when it’s working.

 

[August_West]

Yeah that ball pressure he mentioned early in the huddle, saying they couldn’t keep it up. Well they kept it up enough, including late. Xavier handled it less well than we did. Marquette just has’t defended like that all year. It’s what we do on D when it’s working.

It was very good and surprising . Because I’ve watched a bunch of Marquette this year, they weren’t playing on that level D wise.

It’s easy to make teams pay for that level of overplay. But that starts with having a capable point guard. Not a knock on Newton, he does many hood things , just quick first step beating a defender isn’t his forte.

In first 1/2 he beat a defender and hit karaban on backdoor. We were able to make them pay a bunch just not enough.

 

[Umami Zen]

Kolek has a high BBIQ and knows his limitations and plays to his strengths.. Among the things he does well is using picks efficiently with the ball in his hands both for his own shot and PnR action with Oso.

 

[my2cents]

My theory, FWIW, is that shorter players have developed moves that have worked for them since they have been playing basketball. Much taller players have never developed those moves as they have been always been able to "bully" ( force ) themselves on shorter players. Then they get to college where there are no more short players guarding the basket, and they haven't developed those moves yet.

 

[NJHusky]

Yeah that ball pressure he mentioned early in the huddle, saying they couldn’t keep it up. Well they kept it up enough, including late. Xavier handled it less well than we did. Marquette just has’t defended like that all year. It’s what we do on D when it’s working.

Everyone was talking about Marquette’s offense being their strength….but I was surprised by their tough defense against us! Shaka really is a very good coach. Hope M can keep long term

 

[uconnfan68]

Kolek is a significantly better ball handler with elite feel and is a far, far better non-dunk finisher at the rim. I'm hopeful that Jackson can develop some of that this offseason, as well as some backdown game

You mean the stuff he should have mastered 10 years ago? Like being able to shoot inside 5'-10' ?

 

[gtcam]

Simple. Kolek is a trained seasoned point guard who has a great weapon in the art of penetration while keeping low and impeccable ball handling skills with effective change of direction, court vision and high bb iq. Plus he has developed a 3 pt shot which makes him more dangerous. UConn has had players like him but not in past few years or so. CV came the closest after JA.