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70
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 1990
EMU's Braun Shrugs Off
His Israeli Frustrations
RICHARD PEARL
Staff Writer
T
hat makes you 0-2
against the Israelis,
right, coach?"
The jibe disguised as a
post-game question found its
mark and elicited a short,
sharp laugh from Ben
Braun, Eastern Michigan
University's head basketball
coach and coach of the
United States basketball
team in the 1989 World
Maccabiah Games in Israel.
It certainly was true, he
admitted: his interna-
tionally inexperienced U.S.
team did finish second to the
Israeli national team two
summers ago and this night,
Nov. 20, his Hurons lost
their first game of the 1990-
91 season 50-47 to a visiting
Israeli team whose players
also were international
basketball veterans.
"I know, I know," said the
boyish-looking, 37-year-old
coach good-naturedly,
"there'll be some out there
who think I lost this one on
purpose. But there was no
money on this game, it was
just an exhibition —we
played all of our players —
and besides, there's no one
on this team who wants to
win more than I do."
There is little dis-
agreement with that, given
Braun's record: in 41/2years
at the Ypsilanti team's
helm, the only Jewish head
coach of a National Col-
legiate Athletic Conference
(NCAA) Division I college
team in Michigan has com-
piled a 76-59 won-and-lost
record for a .563 winning
percentage. Coupled with
his earlier 148-103 record in
eight years as head coach at
Siena Heights College in
Adrian, Braun's 12 1/2-year
coaching mark is 224-162 for
an even better .580 percen-
tage.
With nine lettermen
returning -- including five
seniors — from last year's
19-13 team that went 8-8 in
the Mid-American Con-
ference, Braun hopes the
Hurons will return to their
1987-88 form, when they
won both their first-ever
MAC championship and
post-season NCAA tourna-
ment berth. Those ac-
complishments earned
Braun coach-of-the-year
honors from both the MAC
and the Basketball Coaches
Association of Michigan.
Although he expects
Bowling Green's more expe-
Ben Braun:
76-59 at EMU.
rienced team to be the
league favorite, "I would
like to think that we are one
of the teams to be reckoned
with" due to the Hurons' 8-3
record down the stretch last
season. The run included a
58-57 road upset of league
champion and eventual
NCAA regional semifinalist
Ball State.
Braun has three starters
returning: second-team all-
MAC selection Lorenzo Nee-
ly, a 6-foot senior point
guard who averaged 13
points, three rebounds and
four assists last year; 6-foot-
8 honorable mention All-
MAC junior forward Kory
Hallas, 12 points and six re-
bounds; and 6-4 senior for-
ward Carl Thomas, 10 points
and four rebounds.
With the addition of 6-7,
235-pound center Marcus
Kennedy and 6-3 senior
guard Charles Thomas,
Carl's twin, Braun predicts a
big and quick team in 1990-
91.
But what about those
Israelis on Nov. 20, coach?
"They (Hapoel Hagalil
Elyon, a team from the
Golan Heights) slowed the
game way down and our
guys had never seen
anything like that. They
(Israelis) were trying to save
their legs — they'd already
played four games in five
nights and they were tired.
But who'd have thought
they'd take only 10 shots the
second half?" said Braun.
He might have added the
Israelis stuck to their most
experienced players in scor-
ing their first victory of the
Ohio-Michigan trip, but that
isn't Braun's style.
"It was good for our guys,"
he said. "They need to play
against every style." ❑