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Pho to by Angie Baa n

A college scholarship has this basketball
player sweating even more.

David Zeitlin is looking ahead to Lake Superior State.

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7/19

2002

100

MIKE ROSENBAUM

Special to the Jewish News

or the typical college-bound
student, summer preparations
for school may mean buying
clothes and supplies, or getting
a job to ensure have spending money. But
when you've earned a college basketball
scholarship, you prepare differently.
That's why David Zeitlin is preparing
for college by shooting baskets.
Zeitlin of Farmington Hills, who graduat-
ed from Walled Lake Western High School
in June, received a full scholarship
to Lake Superior State University in
Sault Ste. Marie. The All-State
point guard is an excellent and cre-
ative passer, and plays strong
defense. But he wants to improve
his game before he begins playing
Division II college basketball.
"Obviously, there's going to be
an adjustment period with any
incoming freshman," says Lake
Superior Coach Marty
McDermott. "We've got to get
him where he can consistently
knock down the three-point shot
and just get him used to the col-
lege game, because it does move a
little bit faster and guys are a lit-
tle bit bigger."
Zeitlin's high school coach, Rex
Stanczak, is confident that Zeitlin
will adjust successfully to college,
but agrees that he should try to
improve his jumper. Zeitlin hit
33 three-point baskets as a high
school senior.
"He's going to have to improve
his offensive game a little bit,"
says Stanczak, "his scoring. But
he's such a gym rat, I'm sure he's
probably in there shooting 300-
400 shots a day already." Which
is exactly what Zeitlin is doing.
In addition to shooting prac-
tice, the 6-foot-1, 170-pound
Zeitlin is following a Lake
Superior State workout schedule
that includes weight training,
dribbling drills and running.
"I work out every day," says
Zeitlin, either at Walled Lake
Western's gym or at the home of
family friend Mark Rubin. He
also does 15-20 hours per week
of general construction work for
Van Buren Township-based
Muirfield Homes and plays bas-
ketball weekly in the Joe Dumars
Fieldhouse league in Sterling Heights.
"Everyone I talk to says that college
[basketball] is just a lot faster," says
Zeitlin, "that [you must] go into your
freshman year being in your best shape."

"Every kid coming out of high school
needs to get stronger," Stanczak says.
"But one of the things about David that's
so impressive is the way he's changed his
body. He played for me on the varsity as
a sophomore when we had a great team.
He was a backup point guard, and he was
just a little, skinny kid. And he dedicated
himself to the weight room so hard that
he is a pretty strong kid right now."
Zeitlin has played organized basketball
and baseball since he was "5 or 6." He's
played Amateur Athletic Union basket-
ball and travel baseball in recent sum-
mers, and was a high school standout in
both sports. He prefers basketball because
of the faster pace of the game.
"He's the consummate, prototypical
point guard," says Stanczak. "He is a guy
who sacrificed his own offense to make
our team better — tremendous passer,
tremendous ballhandler, hit open shots,
handled the ball 99 percent of the time
for us, played great defense. A tremen-
dous all-around player."
Adds Lake Superior's McDermott,
'And he's a winner. That's what really
caught our attention — he does things
that help you win."
In Zeitlin's two years as a starter at
Western, his per-game average was 10
points, 8.5 assists and 2.5 steals. He is the
school's all-time assist leader and posted the
two highest season totals for assists in school
history: 177 as a junior and 162 as a senior.
His other athletic highlights include play-
ing baseball during the 1998 JCC Maccabi
Games in Detroit. "That was awesome. I
wish I could do it again, but I'm too old. It
was definitely a great experience, hanging
out with everyone from all over the coun-
try," says Zeitlin, who played Maccabi base-
ball rather than basketball because his best
friends were on the baseball team.
Zeitlin will soon focus exclusively on bas-
ketball, starting in August when he leaves
for Lake Superior State. He doesn't expect
he'll have to change his style in college.
"I think it's going to stay the same. I'm
not going to dunk on anyone. I'm just
going to be setting up my teammates."
His goals are "to start some games my
freshman year and definitely, by my sopho-
more and junior years, starting full-time."
Now that he's achieved a long-term
goal of college basketball, Zeitlin promis-
es he won't rest on his laurels. A B-stu-
dent at Walled Lake Western, he hasn't
declared a major at Lake Superior State
but plans to study business.
As for basketball, he says, its great to win
a scholarship, "'but at the same time, I'm
not going to just sit. I've got to still work.
I've got other goals now. But it's nice to
achieve a goal you've had your whole life."
And he backs up those words every day
this summer with his 300-400 jumpers. ❑

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