Kam Jones and Tyler Kolek can't stay away from basketball.

The Marquette backcourt mates are hoops obsessives. Observe Jones away from the court and it's likely you will catch an idle moment when the 6-foot-5 junior pantomimes his left-handed shooting stroke with an imaginary ball. The gym is the natural habitat for Kolek, the 6-3 fourth-year guard who inherited a passion for basketball from his father and has been known to stop long family road trips so he can get up some shots.

The game remains the same, but a lot of things have changed around it. Kolek, the reigning Big East player of the year, and Jones, MU's leading scorer last season and an all-conference second team pick, form one of the best guard tandems in college basketball. That means a hotter spotlight and the pressure of being key players on a team with Final Four aspirations.

There's also a lot of fun stuff that goes along with being a highly recognized name in basketball. Jones and Kolek took advantage of that with an eventful summer by bouncing all over the world, testing their mettle against professionals and learning tricks of the trade from a NBA great.

A working vacation with some pros in Los Angeles

Just after the school year ended in May, the duo lit out for the bright lights of Los Angeles.

“That was pretty fun to go up there in L.A.," Jones said. "You know, to travel the country, I’ve always wanted to go out there.”

Amidst the glitz and glamour, the MU pair gravitated to the gym. Kolek is friends with Cole Swider, a fellow Rhode Island native who was on a two-way contract with the Los Angeles Lakers last season, and the connection led to getting into some high-level pickup games at Loyola Marymount.

“We actually worked out with him and this guy Zach Gonzales, he works out a lot of the Lakers guys," Kolek said. "So we worked out with him one day and then he hooked us up, those were his runs.”

Former University of Wisconsin star Frank Kaminsky and the Indiana Pacers' young standout Bennedict Mathurin were among the bold-faced names in the pickup games.

“We were just hooping, honestly,” Jones said.

Kolek and Jones also had some skill sessions with Olin Simplis, known on Instagram as "The Guard Whisperer," who at the time was training Keyonte George and Kobe Bufkin before they became first-round picks in the NBA draft in June.

Tyler Kolek and Kam Jones work with Damian Lillard at camp

Kolek and Jones could have been back in Los Angeles in early August to attend Chris Paul's Elite Guard Camp. But they had to turn down the NBA star's invitation because of MU's foreign trip to Italy, where the guards helped lead the Golden Eagles to easy victories in three exhibition games.

"It's been a great summer," Jones said. "I've seen a lot."

They got another offer from a NBA great when Damian Lillard asked them to be among the 20 college counselors at his Formula Zero camp in Phoenix about a week after MU got back from overseas.

“In the morning, we would go there and have station work," Jones said. "Just do drills, get better, learn things.

"Dame was there the whole time. So that was pretty cool. Then we’d go back there later in the day and just play."

Jones, a crafty player already, picked up some nuances from Lillard, a seven-time NBA all-star.

“He was helping me out on some reps," Jones said. "Just telling me things to do. One thing he told me about a rep is basically saying make every move intentional. Try to sell every move."

There was a funny moment when Lillard made it known that he was aware of Kolek's profane utterance last year when the Golden Eagles were picked to finish ninth in the Big East.

"We were actually doing media training," Kolek said. "It was him and Marc Spears (from ESPN). Dame was actually like, ‘Sometimes you just got to be really frank with the media. You know, like my guy said up there, he said ‘(expletive) ’em.’ So he knew that I had said that. That was pretty cool.”

Ready for the college basketball season

The camp made for exhaustive travel schedules. Kolek flew from Italy to Chicago with the team and then went home to Rhode Island for a few days. Then he was off to Phoenix and then back home to Rhode Island for five days before getting back to Milwaukee before classes started.

MU head coach Shaka Smart said there is a balance in seeing players taking advantage of unique opportunities while making sure they are ready for the grind of the college basketball season.

"The tricky thing with those guys is even if they’re not at those camps or even if they’re not somewhere else training, they’re going to be here in the gym three, four times a day," Smart said. "Sometimes we have to kick them out of the gym, particularly Tyler, because he doesn’t necessarily have a super young man’s body.

"But those guys are just driven. Tyler Kolek, I would say, is as fanatical about his game and working on his game as anyone I’ve ever coached."

Jones was able to sneak a visit home to Memphis in August. He doesn't worry about burning out. He's a hooper and will play any time, any where.

"I feel great," Jones said. "I’m in the best shape of my life. I’m ready to go.”

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Marquette guards Tyler Kolek and Kam Jones at Damian Lillard's camp