LOS ANGELES TIMES
Next ‘Jewish Jordan’? Can L.A.’s Ryan Turell be the first Orthodox Jewish NBA player?
by Matt Giles
March 17, 2021

…Yeshiva coach Elliot Steinmetz had a simple enough pitch: to create a culture of Jewish athletic excellence. As Simcha Halpert, a senior guard on the 2020 squad that went 29-1, explained, “We set a trend of coming to Yeshiva for basketball and only for basketball. “I’ve talked to YU alumni, and they used to get demolished. I love wearing my kippah and have everyone call me ‘Jewboy’ when we walk into gyms, and they don’t realize they can’t beat us.” What makes Yeshiva so challenging is Steinmetz’s style of play, one mined from Bobby Knight’s Indiana playbook and tweaked to fit a brand of basketball in which player movement is paramount. READ MORE