Quietly, Captain Steals The Show

It’s become a familiar scene at Harvard basketball games for two years now. An opposing team attempts to either solidify its lead or get back into a game, but a Harvard defender quickly steals the ball, converts the fast break and regains the momentum.

More often than not, that defender has been captain Drew Gellert.

A third-year starter, Gellert has emerged as one of the Ivy League’s top defensive players and is on pace to be the most dominating perimeter defender in Harvard history. Largely unheralded in the media but well-respected by teammates and foes, Gellert’s captaincy, along with his defense, will be a key factor in determining whether the Crimson can improve on last year’s 7-7 Ivy record.

Gellert ranks second in the career steals list with 191 coming into this season, behind only Mike Gielen ’89, whose 213 steals Gellert is almost sure to pass. He led the Ivies in steals last season, and his 2.8 steals-per-game average was good for eighth in the nation.

“My role has been to provide a lift for us on defense, get a steal when we need it, a basket when we’re down,” Gellert says. “I don’t think I was recruited here as a defensive stopper, but it happened.”

Indeed, the 6’1 Gellert—a guard who plays at small forward—came to Harvard from Newtown, Conn., as the point guard who would eventually replace star Tim Hill ’99. A top scholastic player in Connecticut, Gellert was the consummate athlete, starring also in baseball and one season of football, when he grabbed a state-record 17 interceptions. Guess he’s always gravitated towards defense.

Though Yale was closer to home, and probably his parents’ first choice, Gellert came to the Crimson because he felt the squad in place—with new guys like forward Dan Clemente ’01—was ready to make that push for the Ivy championships. He also quickly realized what many other Harvard students do as well.

“Basically Yale’s in New Haven, Harvard’s here in Boston,” Gellert says.

Gellert got to make his impact on the program his sophomore year, after the graduation of Hill. Though he had played the point his entire life, that season he would be asked to change positions. In retrospect, he says it was for the better.

“I knew that Elliott [Prasse-Freeman] was coming here, and that he was a point guard and a good player, but I thought that the job was mine from the start,” Gellert says.

But Gellert injured his shoulder in the preseason, missed a few weeks and things changed.

“I came back and the point was still my job, but then Brady [Merchant], who was playing the three, got hurt,” Gellert says. “Elliott went to the point and I moved over, and it’s been that way ever since.”

Gellert flourished at his new position, especially defensively. In the 1999-2000 season he set the school’s single-season steals record with 74.

He also continues to constantly improve. So far this season, Gellert has seen his offensive numbers go up—important for Harvard, especially with the loss of Clemente, one of Harvard’s all-time great offensive players.

“Damian Long ’00 and Dan Clemente certainly left their legacy with these group of guys, and Drew Gellert had his eyes and ears wide open,” Harvard coach Frank Sullivan says. “I think his captaincy is one that he’s grown into very, very quickly.”

Gellert will have to lead this year’s relatively experienced Crimson squad against a league that has gotten better every year. Now in his last season he’s not exactly satisfied with how things have resulted since he’s been here.

“I wouldn’t say things have gone as expected,” Gellert says. “We’ve been pretty much a .500 team since I got here, which to me is a disappointment. You hope to improve [but] we’ve stayed the same.”

Playing college basketball also opened up another opportunity for Gellert this past summer, when he was selected to participate for the U.S. team at the 2001 Maccabiah Games in Israel. The Games are an international sports competition featuring Jewish athletes from around the world. Gellert had never been to Israel and was grateful for the chance to participate.

“But there were a lot of bombings and terrorism, and different people pulled out, including our coach; they had to find a new one, and some countries pulled out as well,” Gellert says.

Though the re-made U.S. squad eventually went to Israel, Gellert was not among those who made the trip.

“I told them I wasn’t going to go,” Gellert recounts, with a tinge of regret in his voice. “Basically my family just thought it wasn’t worth me going over there to play a basketball game, and be a target.”

So Gellert worked on his game in the summer, and looks once again looks forward to the challenge of guarding the Ivy’s best players—Brown’s Earl Hunt or Columbia’s Craig Austin, for example—regardless of position or size. On any given night, the best way of judging Gellert’s performance is not to look at his offensive numbers, but at the number of points the opposing team’s top threat had. In Crimson victories, it’s usually pretty low.

“In Andrew’s case, he doesn’t have to score for us,” Sullivan said. “He just has that matchup where he stops the other guy from scoring and that’s worth a lot more points than anything that appears in the offensive box score.”

Gellert relishes his role on defense.

“It’s one of my favorite parts of the game,” Gellert says. “If I can do my job and shut the other team’s best player down, we have a good chance to win. I feel I have more control of the outcome of the game that way.”

Winning the Ivy title, which Gellert calls a “legitimate” goal, is going to be tough. It will take the right combination of talent, poise and luck.

“Drew’s disposition is one that is extraordinarily competitive, resilient and he just doesn’t miss a beat,” Sullivan says. “He plays for keeps in the greatest sense of the phrase.”