{"id":86707,"date":"2025-03-21T12:10:35","date_gmt":"2025-03-21T17:10:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/?p=86707"},"modified":"2025-03-21T12:10:35","modified_gmt":"2025-03-21T17:10:35","slug":"israeli-american-michigan-basketball-star-danny-wolf-is-seeking-glory-in-march-madness-and-likely-the-nba","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/israeli-american-michigan-basketball-star-danny-wolf-is-seeking-glory-in-march-madness-and-likely-the-nba\/","title":{"rendered":"Israeli-American Michigan basketball star Danny Wolf is seeking glory in March Madness \u2014 and likely the NBA"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By JACOB GURVIS<\/p>\n<p>(JTA) \u2014 As the first round of March Madness begins in earnest on Thursday, one of the most attention-catching players has been the University of Michigan\u2019s 7-foot star Danny Wolf.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_86708\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Danny-Wolf-2160x1200-1.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-86708\" class=\"wp-image-86708 size-medium lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Danny-Wolf-2160x1200-1-300x167.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"167\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Danny-Wolf-2160x1200-1-300x167.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Danny-Wolf-2160x1200-1-1024x569.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Danny-Wolf-2160x1200-1-768x427.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Danny-Wolf-2160x1200-1-1536x853.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Danny-Wolf-2160x1200-1-2048x1138.jpg 2048w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/167;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-86708\" class=\"wp-image-86708 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Danny-Wolf-2160x1200-1-300x167.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"167\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Danny-Wolf-2160x1200-1-300x167.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Danny-Wolf-2160x1200-1-1024x569.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Danny-Wolf-2160x1200-1-768x427.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Danny-Wolf-2160x1200-1-1536x853.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Danny-Wolf-2160x1200-1-2048x1138.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-86708\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Danny Wolf during the men\u2019s Big Ten tournament, March 16, 2025, in Indianapolis. (Zach Bolinger\/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>He\u2019s an elite player who, barring a twist, is expected by many to be a first-round pick in this June\u2019s NBA Draft. Rarer, perhaps, than his stats is his identity as a dual American-Israeli citizen who wears his Jewish identity proudly on his sleeve \u2014 and has experienced antisemitism on the court.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI would hear it growing up, that noise about me being Jewish and (so) you don\u2019t expect much from me as a basketball player,\u201d Wolf told the Jewish author Mitch Albom for a column in the Detroit Free Press. \u201cWhen I was younger, I kind of looked at (being Jewish) as an opportunity to prove myself.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Judaism has always been a big part of Wolf\u2019s life. He attended Jewish day school until fifth grade, keeps kosher and had his bar mitzvah at the Western Wall in Jerusalem.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe most beautiful thing about Judaism is the way it connects me with my family,\u201d Wolf told Albom. \u201cIt transcends other things and brings us together.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>In 2023, he obtained Israeli citizenship to represent Israel at the FIBA U20 European Championship in Greece, leading the team to a silver medal. Wolf led the tournament with 12 rebounds per game, and put up a second-best 17.7 points per game.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI honestly don\u2019t think I can put words into the feelings,\u201d Wolf said at the time. \u201cGrowing up in a Jewish household having Jewish beliefs and faith, I\u2019ve never really been able to experience something like I have this past month. Just being able to represent Israel in a way that I haven\u2019t been able to do in the past is something that I shouldn\u2019t take for granted.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Not every Jewish experience has been positive. Prior to transferring to Michigan\u2019s top-tier program this year, Wolf played basketball for Yale University, and experienced antisemitism in the aftermath of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was against Dartmouth,\u201d he recalled to the Detroit Free Press. \u201cThere were (more than 80) fans who came to the game disguised. And then minutes into the game they broke out chanting and holding Palestinian flags. And it was a small gym, so everyone\u2019s focus turned to that.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The experience did not appear to affect his performance in the game, or that season: He notched a double-double in Yale\u2019s win that night, won 2023-2024 Ivy League Tournament MVP honors and was named to the \u201823-24 All-Ivy First Team.<\/p>\n<p>At Michigan, Wolf has blossomed into a superstar and is coming off of his latest stellar season: he\u2019s averaging 13.1 points and 9.8 rebounds per game in 34 starts for Michigan, and earned All-Big Ten Second Team honors this season.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_86709\" style=\"width: 1034px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Danny-Wolf-Israel.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-86709\" class=\"wp-image-86709 size-large lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Danny-Wolf-Israel-1024x569.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"569\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Danny-Wolf-Israel-1024x569.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Danny-Wolf-Israel-300x167.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Danny-Wolf-Israel-768x427.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Danny-Wolf-Israel-1536x853.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Danny-Wolf-Israel-2048x1138.jpg 2048w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 1024px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 1024\/569;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-86709\" class=\"wp-image-86709 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Danny-Wolf-Israel-1024x569.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"569\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Danny-Wolf-Israel-1024x569.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Danny-Wolf-Israel-300x167.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Danny-Wolf-Israel-768x427.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Danny-Wolf-Israel-1536x853.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Danny-Wolf-Israel-2048x1138.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-86709\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Wolf played for Israel in the 2023 FIBA U20 European Championship in Greece. (Wikimedia Commons)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Michigan enters the NCAA tournament as a No. 5 seed and plays No. 12 UC San Diego Thursday night at 10 p.m. ET. (Also of Jewish interest in this year\u2019s March Madness: four of the No. 1 seeds across the men\u2019s and women\u2019s tournaments are coached by Jews.)<\/p>\n<p>Many prognosticators anticipate that Wolf will declare for this summer\u2019s NBA Draft. ESPN calls him \u201ccollege basketball\u2019s most unique player,\u201d&nbsp; and places him as the 12th-best draft prospect playing in March Madness, meaning that he\u2019s likely to be picked in the first round of the draft.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDanny takes a lot of pride in (his religion),\u201d Michigan coach Dusty May told the Detroit Free Press. \u201cHis ultimate goal is the NBA and that\u2019s in the future. But I think he\u2019s really gonna take pride representing his family and his faith in the highest levels of basketball.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ben Saraf, a 6-foot-5 Israeli guard currently playing in Germany, is also appearing in mock drafts. If selected, they would join Israeli Deni Avdija and Domantas Sabonis, who is converting to Judaism, as the only Jewish players in the NBA.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>On the court, Wolf is something of a unicorn. He\u2019s 7 feet tall and led the Big Ten Conference in rebounding. But he also has elite passing skills, shoots 34% from three and earned ESPN\u2019s praise as the \u201cbest pick-and-roll player in this draft.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>He says he\u2019s continued to get hate for his identity, but is learning to tune it out.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNow that I\u2019m on a national stage and in the spotlight, you have ill-minded people that have some not great things to say,\u201d he told the Detroit Free Press. \u201cIt\u2019s all around me, on social media, I get it all the time just in my DM\u2019s and on comments and whatnot.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut I\u2019ve learned, and I\u2019ve really talked to my parents about this, to push past it. It may be corny to say, but I\u2019m just trying to be the bigger person. Nothing I can do in the moment will be good for me. Anything I say won\u2019t impact me or them, and it might cause more harm than good.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>On Thursday night, Wolf will take the court as Michigan kicks off what it hopes will be a deep tournament run. Beyond March Madness glory, he\u2019s also looking to dismantle age-old stereotypes about Jews and sports.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBeing Jewish is something I hold very near and dear to my heart,\u201d he says. \u201cBut I\u2019m not going to let it put a limit on what people think of me. I always knew, religion aside, I could achieve what I wanted if I put my mind to it.\u201d<\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/noscript><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"Tumblr\",\"Email\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\"Israeli-American%20Michigan%20basketball%20star%20Danny%20Wolf%20is%20seeking%20glory%20in%20March%20Madness%20%E2%80%94%20and%20likely%20the%20NBA\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":86708,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1491],"tags":[14492,8790,8795,2182,8788],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86707"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86707"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86707\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":86710,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86707\/revisions\/86710"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86708"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}