SPORTS

Israeli Connection

Basketballers from the Jewish state are playing in America but just why is open to some debate.

DAN HIRSHBERG

Special to The Jewish News

A

merican college
basketball programs
— once strictly red,
white and blue — have
become a foreign exchange
program of sorts.
Division I rosters are
dotted with players from
Europe and elsewhere. But
it is only recently that Israel
has joined the fray.
This year, seven Israelis
are playing for American
colleges. Last year, there
were three players. Before
that, there were none.
All seven Israelis — four
are
men and three women
playing on top Division I
teams, not rinky-dink clubs.
And all of them were
recruited by several schools
before settling on their final
choices.
For the men, Lior Arditti
is the lone returnee from ac-
tion last year, starting his
second season at Boston Col-
lege, where he averaged 9.3
points a game in 1989-90.
Joining him in the
prestigious Big East Con-
ference are Gilad Katz at the
University of Connecticut
(UConn) and Assaf Barnea of
Seton Hall University. Dan-
nyel "Danny" Mosovitz is in
the Southeastern Con-
ference, having been the
final signee for this season
at Louisiana State Univer-
sity.
On the women's side, Orly
Grossman has already turn-
ed heads with her outstan-
ding early season play at
UConn. Also playing in the
States are Iris Dinerman of
the University of Nevada-

Las Vegas and Aluma Goren
at the University of
Maryland.
"Here it is big time," said
Mickey Dorsman, an assis-
tant coach in Florida Inter-
national University's men's
basketball program and the
only Israeli-born basketball
coach in the United States.
"The kids want to become
better players so they come
here."
"I had a dream to play col-
lege basketball here," said
Arditti, whose playing time
this fall has been limited
thus far, mostly because of
nagging pre-season injuries.
"The coaches are much

the Big East Rookie of the
Year and was selected by
United Press International
as its New England Rookie
and Player of the Year.
All indications were that
Henefeld was going to come
back for another season. But
late in the summer, he ac-
cepted a pro offer in Israel.

The other player from last
season, Mor Naaman of St.
Joseph's in Philadelphia,
has returned to Israel for
military service. In a reserve.
role, he averaged one point
and one rebound a game.
What has brought the
Israelis to the United States

—

Dan Hirshberg is sports editor
of the Star-Gazette in Hackett-
stown, N.J.

Assaf Barnea:
6-8 forward,
Seton Hall.

44 FRIDAY, JANUARY 4, 1991

"In Israel I could just come
and play, not have such a good
day, and still score 25 points.
Here you have to prepare for
every game."
— Orly Grossman

better and the players you go
against are much better."
The Israeli connection
came to the forefront last
year when'UConn's Big East
champion team featured
Nadav Henefeld, who lit-
erally took the conference by
storm. The forward was the
Huskies' second leading
scorer, averaging 11.6 points
per game and was their
leading rebounder with 5.6
boards a contest.
Blessed with amazingly
quick hands, Henefeld was
second in the nation in steals
with 138, which became an
all-time record for UConn
and set freshman standards
for both the NCAA and Big
East. Henefeld, who finished
with 106 assists, was named

Iris Dinerman:
6-3
forward-center,
UNLV.

Gilad Katz:
6-3 guard,
Connecticut.

when many of them are stars
back home?
There seem to be two
reasons. First, there is the
acknowledgement that in
the United States, basket-
ball is several notches above
the Israeli style.
The other factor has to do
with a rule in Israel that
limits movement of many
players from one club to an-
other. Essentially, once with
a club, players affected by
the rule must stay with that
club. For the men, who can
command decent money, this
leaves little room for
negotiations — and the pro-
spect of playing for a -bad
team for a long time.
The only way out was for a
player to sign a contract that

Orly Grossman:
5-11
guard-forward,
Connecticut.

Lior Ardittti made a name for himself last year at Boston College.

