Yeshiva University’s men’s basketball team, the Maccabees, made it to the NCAA Division III Tournament for the first time following a record season. This represents quite an accomplishment, but their moment of glory was fleeting.
Questions arose about the eligibility of one of Yeshiva’s players, sophomore Bar Alluf, the team’s second leading scorer, who had allegedly played in a professional basketball league in Israel before attending YU. While even if true, this would not necessarily disqualify Alluf, and parties familiar with NCAA regulations were satisfied that no violations occurred, Yeshiva decided to voluntarily bench Alluf for the tournament. In a statement, the university said that they “take pride in holding ourselves to the highest possible standards on and off of the court,” and therefore Alluf would not play “in order to avoid any possible impact these new allegations may have on our team’s participation.”
Yeshiva was defeated by Pennsylvania’s York College Spartans, 81-67, on Friday afternoon,
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