Marquette Basketball Star Tyler Kolek Mocks The Haters Who Thought He Was Illiterate At Graduation

Anyone who watched college basketball during the 2023/24 season knows that Marquette star Tyler Kolek is the real deal. The 23-year-old point guard, who began his career at George Mason, is likely to be drafted into the NBA next month.

And despite what the haters think, he can read!

Kolek reminded everybody of his literacy with a brilliant Instagram caption at graduation on Sunday.

It was a tremendous callback to one of the funniest stories of the year.

Golden Eagles head coach Shaka Smart posted celebrated his team for its high GPA during the fall semester. 11 players on the roster had a 3.4 or better.

Terrific job in the classroom by our team. Team-wide GPA was over 3.2, highlighted by 11 guys over a 3.4! pic.twitter.com/lyvrdQ5LIg

— Shaka Smart (@CoachShakaSmart)

Twitter

Kolek was not one of those players so Big Eat fanbases ran with the rumor that he cannot read. Even though that isn’t true— allegedly.

I just learned how to read https://t.co/h3hJCtkg8R pic.twitter.com/bRxQZhbr1o

— Tyler Kolek (@KolekTyler)

Twitter

Part of the reason that Kolek was so awesome to watch was his willingness to lean into the villain persona. He was perfect for that role and thrived off of the disrespect.

"The crowds chanting all this stuff about me, 'I can't read.' All this other stuff – I love it." @KolekTyler loves a little rivalry competition he shares with Bill Raftery after @MarquetteMBB's win at Villanova pic.twitter.com/lXNNVT6OUK

— FOX College Hoops (@CBBonFOX)

Twitter

The entire saga took an even funnier twist near the end of the season. Kolek suffered an injury that forced him to sit out the last few games of the year. A fake reporter started a rumor on X that his “injury” was actually a cover up for his inability to succeed in the classroom. He was academically ineligible.

Danielle Josetti, a senior compliance officer at Marquette, took the fake report seriously and shut it down. She actually responded back to say that Kolek was not having any issues with his grades.

As the senior compliance person at Marquette I can tell you this is unequivocally not true. This is neither funny, nor appropriate. Kick rocks. https://t.co/ISXPSdGB1b

— Danielle Josetti (@DanielleJosetti)

Twitter

You simply cannot write it any better than that. The sequence of events surrounding Kolek and his illiteracy was everything that makes college basketball great. Especially once it became a legitimate thing that people like Josetti discussed as if it was real.

Kolek leaned into the joke on Sunday after turning his tassel. Check out his caption: