I wrote a little bit about it in the quick reactions on Sunday, but in hindsight, I think Tyler Kolek’s performance this past weekend required additional context, as it was historic.
I’ve been beating the points created drum to highlight Kolek’s incredible season all year, as it is a stat that does a much better job of quantifying his impact than anything else I’ve seen. It isn’t just that he puts up a lot of assists, but those assists are leading to valuable points.
He led the Big East in that category this season, despite missing the final 3 games of the season. He also led the Big East last season.
What Synergy does is not only assign the point value to the passes counted as assists, but also any passes that lead directly to free throws that never show up in the box score. (Here’s last season’s explanation and analysis.)
So it only makes sense that we go back to the well one more time to add more context.
Looking at every Marquette NCAA Tournament game since 2010, I pulled out the top performance from a points created standpoint. What Tyler did this weekend has no peer in Marquette history.
Those are some incredible names, and some pretty big wins included, and yet compared to Kolek’s weekend, they don’t come close to having nearly as big an individual impact.
And expanding the scope to all of the games played in the first two rounds, you can again see that Kolek is in the elite’s elite.
I love having Kolek’s game vs Western Kentucky equal to Oregon’s Jermaine Cousinard because it shows how adding the additional pass points makes for a completely different storyline. Cousinard scored 40 and still only created as many points as Tyler.
In case points created isn’t your jam, here’s another little stat nugget to consider.
But for me, the best proof isn’t in any number, but in Colorado coach Tad Boyle’s comments after the game.
I love that the nation is finally realizing what Marquette fans have known for almost 3 full seasons now.
Tyler Kolek is one of the best players to ever wear the Marquette uniform.
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Paint Touches 
as good as he is, that seems to be Marquette’s only offense, give him the ball and try to penetrate, and then score or dish. No cohesive offensive flow, no other ball movement other than him dribbling and trying to create or shoot.