Tyler Kolek, Oso Ighodaro and Shaka Smart have spent an inordinate amount of time together over the past three seasons with the Marquette men's basketball team.

The two seniors and head coach have been together overseas and in arenas across the United States. They've been through hundreds of intense practices and skull sessions in front of game tape.

But maybe the most meaningful moments have been spent inside Smart's office at the Al McGuire Center, sitting in chairs and just talking. The weekly meetings have been fixtures on their calendars since the summer, through the ups and downs of the season and continuing with the postseason in sight as the eighth-ranked Golden Eagles (22-7, 13-5 Big East) face No. 2 Connecticut (26-3, 16-2) on Wednesday night in the home finale at Fiserv Forum.

Kolek and Ighodaro will be honored before the game on Senior Night, though Kolek will sit out with an oblique injury that will be re-evaluated before the Big East tournament next week in New York.

"(Smart) kind of starts it off," Kolek said last month of the weekly meetings. "Whatever he wants to go over. Then he opens it up to us, with whatever’s on our mind.

"About anything. Practice, games, outside of practice. Really anything. That’s the great thing about Coach. He really builds relationships, not just basketball-wise. He’s asking about my family. He’s asking about other aspects. School. He’s locked-in, obviously, on our games. But he really cares about us as people."

Shaka Smart believes in open communication

Smart really works at open communication in his program.

"I meet with all our guys," Smart said. "I do class meetings with each of the classes, then I meet with our guys individually.

"I think that, and I learned this from coaching mentors, some of whom I've never met, that coaching your team is different than coaching your players. It's my job as we coach the team every day in practice and in games, scouting and preparation and all that, that we also coach our players.

"Most of that is the mental and emotional side of being at their best. And then some of that is the basketball specifics."

Kolek and Ighodaro had meetings last season as part of a group with Olivier-Maxence Prosper and Zach Wrightsil. After Prosper left for the NBA and Wrightsil transferred to California Baptist, that left a tighter circle with Smart, Kolek and Ighodaro.

That was important as the Golden Eagles embarked on one of the most anticipated seasons in program history, with the team chasing a national championship and being ranked in the top 10 of the AP poll for most of the season.

"The two leaders and the head coach being on the same page is definitely an advantage and not every team has that," Ighodaro said.

Tyler Kolek and Oso Ighodaro focus on being present

There's been lighthearted moments during the meetings this season, like when Kolek called out Smart for saying that MU's matchup with Texas, where Smart coached for six seasons, didn't mean anything extra to him.

There's also been a common theme to their talks.

"He always talks to me about being present," Kolek said. "Being in the moment.

"Every time he checks in, he says ‘How are you doing about being present?’ Not only being present in the games, but being present in every practice."

Kolek and Ighodaro have a lot on their minds. Being standout players comes with pressure and social media scrutiny. College athletes these days also deal with name, image and likeness business opportunities. Kolek and Ighodaro are NBA prospects, so they can be thinking about the next step in their careers.

"This year Coach has really just been talking about acceptance a lot," Ighodaro said. "Accepting what is, like, not trying to fight our thoughts or feelings about, like, the future or how we’re playing or whatever the thing may be and just really accepting that or embracing it.

"That’s been really helpful for me this season. Just because I’m always thinking about stuff, and not trying to fight those thoughts. Just really embracing them and accepting them has helped me a lot.”

Smart adds that his message of acceptance isn't just a theme for the season, "it's a theme for life."

"What we're trying to do is challenging," Smart said. "It's much easier from the sidelines, to be in the crowd, as we say, as opposed to being the gladiator.

"And so if you are in the arena as a gladiator, then a full acceptance of whatever is. That's what just happened, that's what's going in the moment, that's the current circumstances that are outside of your control. That allows you to do what's next."

Tyler Kolek will sit out Senior Night

This week, Kolek has needed to accept that he will not play his Senior Night on Wednesday and in the regular-season finale at Xavier on Saturday.

Smart said on Tuesday that the point guard is feeling better, and that playing in the Big East tournament was "absolutely a possibility."

"He verbalized to me that each day he's able to do a little bit more," Smart said. "He was on the bike yesterday. He lifted weights today. So he's making progress toward coming back, which is awesome."

It will be strange for Ighodaro not to play with his pick-and-roll partner one more time at Fiserv Forum.

"He’ll be there with us," Ighodaro said. "We know he’s supporting us and we’re supporting him through his recovery."

Both players have the extra year of eligibility the NCAA gave to athletes in the COVID-impacted 2020-21 season, but Ighodaro has said he is unlikely to use it and Kolek stated he will decide after the season.

Ighodaro said Wednesday night was "going to be a little sad, my last time playing at Fiserv." But there's still goals to accomplish and plenty to talk about in the next meeting with Kolek and Smart.

"Hopefully winning a national championship," Ighodaro said when he was asked about what he'll remember about his four seasons at MU. "But definitely the time spent with my friends here. Just being able to play all these games with my best friends."

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Shaka Smart, Oso Ighodaro and Tyler Kolek form Marquette's brain trust