NEW YORK — While other college students might be sleeping or just waking up to go to class, the Yeshiva University Maccabees basketball team is running the court in their Washington Heights gym.
It's all about preparing for their next game. The Macs are the top-ranked NCAA Division 3 Men's Basketball team in the nation, and have won 45 straight games — the longest winning streak in all of college basketball.
What You Need To Know
- The Yeshiva University men's basketball team is the top-ranked team in the NCAA Division 3 Poll
- The Maccabees have the longest active winning streak in college basketball (45 games)
- The team plays their home games at the Yeshiva Campus in Washington Heights
- The Maccabees get their name from the heroes of the story of Hannukah
Ask Coach Elliot Steinmetz about the streak, and he will tell you that the focus is on just winning their next matchup. Steinmetz played for the Macs during his college days at Yeshiva.
"It's a nice thing. It's something that we get to look back on at some point, but it's not important on what we are trying to do tomorrow," Steinmetz said. The streak and ranking are still really impressive though.
Yeshiva plays in the Skyline Conference, made up of schools from the New York metropolitan area. Last year, they made it to the Sweet Sixteen round of the NCAA Division 3 Tournament, which was then suspended because of the pandemic.
The hope is to get back to the tournament this year and win it all.
"It's cool and all, but at the end of the day, our goal is to win a national championship, and so we have to stay focused and stay humble, you know, you either are humbled or you get humbled," said Macs star Ryan Turell.
The California native hopes to become the first Orthodox Jew to play in the NBA. Yeshiva's student body is mostly Jewish, and the players recognize that.
"Everything is not just for us, you know, we are playing for a community, and that's the Jewish community, no matter if they are religious," Macs player Ofek Reef said. "It's the whole faith of Judaism, so winning a national championship for us would be very important and cement ourselves as one of the greatest Jewish teams ever to play."
"You have guys coming two hours before a game just to get a good seat to watch us play," Macs player Eitan Halpert added. "It's a good feeling when you see that happen. The community comes around us and supports us like that."
In the Jewish tradition, the Maccabees were the heroes of the story of Hanukkah. These Maccabees are heroes of the hardcourt in Washington Heights.