Jewish March Madness

The History of Jews in Basketball

Basketball has been popular among Jews since shortly after its creation at the end of the 19th century, when it gained popularity on New York’s Lower East Side. By the time the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) was founded in 1906,  some 200 college teams had already formed. But the game was still viewed as an emerging sport, with no standards even for court dimensions or ball size. This made it hospitable to Jewish basketball players, who enjoyed participation on both college and professional teams. In general, antisemitic discrimination in sports was less common than in academia or business and especially in sports like basketball that weren’t played at athletic or country clubs. 

Jewish professional basketball stars include Dolph Schayes, who at the NCAA’s 75th anniversary celebration in 2021 was named one of the NBA’s 75 greatest players. Schayes played for the Syracuse Nationals from 1948 until 1964, following the team to Philadelphia when the Nationals changed their name to the 76ers. Sandy Koufax, the famously Jewish Dodgers pitcher, got his start in basketball, receiving an athletic scholarship to the University of Cincinnati in the mid-1950s. This history is recounted in detail in Douglas Stark’s book When Basketball Was Jewish: Voices of Those Who Played the Game (see Moment’s review here).

Looking at contemporary Jewish basketball players, one thing that stands out is that they aren’t all men. Women’s basketball has seen an exciting rise in popularity over the past decade. Abby Meyers, for example, played for Princeton and was drafted to the Dallas Wings in the first round of the WNBA draft in 2023. And at least one Jewish pro, NBA player Deni Avdija of the Portland Trail Blazers, is an Israeli Jew. 

But that’s enough on the pros, let’s get into some Jewish March Madness. 

Wait, you may be asking, what’s mad about it? The first NCAA Basketball Tournament took place in 1939 and became known colloquially as “March Madness,” in the sense of being wild. Because in both the men’s and women’s NCAA tournaments, a large field of teams from all over the country gets whittled down to just two in a dizzying schedule of single-elimination games over the course of a few weeks starting in March. The other “mad” and exciting aspect of the tournament is that marquee teams from big-name conferences often go up against lesser known basketball programs from schools you may never have heard of…and sometimes the underdogs win. When someone tells you their bracket got busted, it’s often because of a big, heart-pounding upset like this. It’s thrilling, it’s fun, it’s March Madness! 

Jewish Players and March Madness

Yarden Garzon, Indiana University Hoosiers

Originally from Ra’anana, Israel, Garzon started in all 32 games her freshman and sophomore years. She received the all Big Ten honorable mention last season and recently set a three-point record on March 2 against Purdue. This season, she averaged 14.5 points, 5.3 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game.

Lior Garzon, University of Colorado Buffaloes 

This Ra’anana native is the sister of Yarden Garzon. She plays forward for the Buffs and averaged 9 points and 1.8 assists last season at Oklahoma State, where she ranked fifth in program history with 140 three-point shots. 

Riley Weiss, Columbia University Lions

Weiss has averaged 17.8 points, 3.4 rebounds and 1.3 assists for the Lions this season. In 2022, she participated in the Maccabiah Games with team USA and took home the gold. The Lions play in the “First Four” series against Washington on Thursday (3/20)!

Danny Wolf, University of Michigan Wolverines

A junior transfer from Yale, this season Wolf has averaged 13.1 points per game, a team-high, and a career-best 9.8 rebounds per game. Last year he helped Yale win the 2024 Ivy League Tournament, earning them a spot in the NCAA Tournament. He also competes with the Israel National Team. The Wolverines play UC San Diego on Thursday (3/20)!

Zach Bloch, University of Northern Colorado Bears

Bloch is a Lawrence, KS, native in his senior season playing for the Bears, averaging 6.4 points, 1.7 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game. Last season he played 33 games and started for 26.

Benny Gealer, Stanford Cardinal 

Gealer is a junior from Palos Verdes, CA, and has averaged 6.0 points, 1.8 rebounds and 2.0 assists during games this season. He was the only high schooler on the USA Maccabi team and went on to win the gold medal at the 2022 Maccabi Games in Israel. 

Blake Peters, Princeton University Tigers 

In the 2023-2024 season, Peters broke the record for most three-point shots made in a season and currently holds the record for most three-pointers in a career. He’s averaged 10.4 points, 2.8 rebounds and .6 assists per game. 

Jewish Coaches Taking Teams to March Madness

Bruce Pearl, Auburn University Tigers

Pearl has been at Auburn since 2014. Before that he was at Tennessee, where he was named Sporting News Coach of the Year. He has also been named Southeastern Conference (SEC) Coach of the Year in 2006, 2008 and 2022. In 2009, Pearl coached the Maccabi USA Basketball team, the American team for the Maccabiah Games that take place in Israel every four years, some called them the “Jewish Olympics.” Pearl has said it was an important step in taking his college team to the Final Four in the 2019 NCAA Tournament, the fifth Jewish head coach to do so, and is doing so again this year.

Jon Scheyer, Duke University Blue Devils

Scheyer played on the Duke team in 2010 when they won the NCAA championship. After college, he went on to play professionally with Maccabi Tel Aviv. This is his third season coaching the Blue Devils, who are a #1 seed in the NCAA tournament and may just win it all.

Todd Golden, University of Florida Gators

Golden began coaching the Gators in 2022 after he led the University of San Francisco to their first NCAA tournament since 1998. He also participated in the World Maccabiah Games in 2009, where he was coached by Auburn’s Bruce Pearl. The Gators play Norfolk State University on Friday (3/21)!

Lindsay Gottlieb, USC Trojans

Gottlieb has been the women’s head coach since 2021. Last season she took her team to the Elite Eight and earned the program its first Number 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament since 1986.

In addition, she was a finalist for the Werner Ladder National Coach of the Year award last year. Her team plays UNC Greensboro on Saturday (3/22)!

 

Read more about Jews in Sports

 

Top image credits: Jgumina (CC BY-SA 4.0) / James DiBianco (CC BY 2.0) / Michael Li (CC BY-NC 2.0)