Volume 67, Issue 4  

Basketball Team Begins Life Without Gev

by Avi Mermelstein

Yeshiva basketball this year embarks not only a new season, but a new era.  The Yossy Gev era  ended last year with Gev graduating as the school’s all-time leading scorer, having surpassed Ayal Hod’s 13 year-old record.  The Macs will find it difficult to replace Gev’s 20 points and 9 rebounds per game, first and second in the conference, respectively.  They will find it even more difficult to replace his inside presence; without him the Macs are suddenly undersized.

But Gev’s more passive role on the sideline as an assistant coach is not the only change for the Macs.  Tri-Captain and point guard Jack Yulzary will be missed almost as much as Gev.  He led the conference in steals and was second in assists.

The overall turnover of this year’s roster is tremendous.  Out of the five starters that began last year, only Captain Eli Hami returns.  In the past two years, there were no freshmen on the team; this year there are three.  Overall, eight new players have been added to the roster.

Some of the new players will contribute immediately.  Coach Jonathan Halpert is enthusiastic about Yulzary’s potential replacement, freshman guard Shai Musberg.  “Shai is a big-time player,” said Halpert.  “He is a point-guard and a scorer.”

At 6’6”, freshman forward Jonathan Rotenberg is the tallest Mac.  Having attended high school in Israel, he comes from the European school of big men and sports an excellent outside touch.  “He is young and will improve,” says Coach Halpert.  Josh Gottlieb and Yishai Pliner will vie for time at the point guard spot.  Emerging sophomore guard Adam Missry, talented senior guard Benji Hoffer, junior forward Max Sicherman, and senior guard Daniel Bensimon round out the newcomers.

The new personnel presents a new focus for the coaching staff.  New players need time to learn the system.  When they reach a certain comfort level and no longer have to think too much on the court, their physical talent and basketball skills will take over.

A problem more specific to this crop of new players is the apparent height disadvantage that they face.  The current roster only lists three players as forwards and only one as a center.  To cope with this lack of size, Coach Halpert says that he will change some of the tactics from last year, explaining, “You always adapt the coaching to fit the personnel, not the personnel to fit the coaching.”  To combat the Macs’ lack of size, the coach will exploit the team’s quickness.  He may encourage the team to run a bit more than in the past.  In the half-court offense, he will build around a dribble-penetration style.  He has yet to decide on a defense; the Macs did not play well in a man-to-man or zone scheme in their October 28 preseason scrimmage against Queensboro College.

The rotation also remains unsettled.  Usually the Macs rely on an eight-man rotation, but this year Coach Halpert is considering regularly using a ninth man.  At this point, the coach has decided on his top six but says that the remaining two or three spots are still up for grabs.

Though the coach would not disclose his starters at this point, a few of them are obvious.  The starting backcourt will almost certainly consist of Hami at shooting guard and Musberg at the point.  An important player off the bench last year, junior Rafi Halpert figures to get a chance at the small forward position.  The rest of the frontline is unclear; perhaps Rotenberg and senior center Arik Lifshitz will begin the season at the power positions.  Alex Lapidus, an integral part of last year’s team, will probably start once he returns from injury (see article).

With the defensive scheme and rotation still undetermined, Coach Halpert expects changes between now and opening night.  The Macs played well in what he called a “midterm” against Queensboro.  They face another “midterm” vs. John Jay and then “a final” against St. Thomas Aquinas, before opening in Boston at the Emmanuel Tournament, November 23rd.  Following the two-day tournament, the Macs return home November 26th to open the season in earnest vs. a strong Manhattanville team.  The game will feature an exciting matchup of Manhattanville’s star guard Brendon Murray vs. Yeshiva’s Hami.  It will also afford Yeshiva an opportunity for a measure of revenge—Manhattanville eliminated Yeshiva in the semifinals of last year’s Skyline Conference Tournament, ending Yeshiva’s season and Yossy Gev’s storied career.

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