READING, Pa. – Like many other city standouts, Brian Lissak is putting off college for a year. He will still play basketball and take classes, but it wouldn’t be accurate to call where he is headed prep school.
The Columbia Prep shooting guard will be overseas, in Israel, playing for Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv’s juniors team and taking classes at the University of Tel Aviv.
“This is like a post-grad year,” he said on the first day at Hoop Group Elite Camp, where he is trying to draw interest for 2013, “but this sounds more fun for me.”
The 18-year-old sharpshooter’s college basketball eligibility will remain intact, his father Kenny Lissak said. He will not be getting paid and will be playing against players 18 years of age and under. The team will take on similar junior opponents from the Israeli Basket League and compete in a few tournaments across Europe.
“In terms of basketball, it’s probably not better [than prep school], but in terms of [life] experience it’s a lot better,” said Lissak, who will stay in the Tel Aviv dorms. “I’ll be learning that culture, learning a language. My first class is Hebrew.”
After all, Lissak joked the only thing he knows in Hebrew is “give me the ball,” and he is the only non-Israeli on the team.
At this time last year, the 6-foot-3 Lissak wasn’t sure what he was going to do. His recruitment was dormant and he didn’t want to settle for Division III. In August, he traveled to Israel with his family for his younger brother Sam’s Bar Mitzvah. A cousin knew Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv’s owner Shimon Mizrahi and set up a workout with head scout Avi Evan. Lissak impressed Evan and a few weeks later the opportunity was presented. In fact, he was offered a spot on of the pro teams, but Lissak declined to keep his college eligibility intact.
“One of the few advantages of being Jewish,” Kenny Lissak joked.
Lissak enjoyed a stellar senior season for the Lions, leading them to the New York City Athletic League regular season and postseason crowns. He poured in 47 points in a NYSAISAA Class B quarterfinals loss to runner-up Poly Prep. Yet, he was still without a Division I offer, making his decision to go to Israel an easy one. While still frustrated with the recruiting process and his lack of offers, he is excited about the year ahead of him. Lissak said he could land a Division I offer tomorrow and he would only take it if it was the perfect situation.
“I’m really looking forward to going to Israel,” he said.
He plans to come back to America next year and enroll in college, hopefully at the Division I level. Christ the King coach Joe Arbitello is helping the Lissaks. He’s invited Brian to workouts in front of college coaches and they have been impressed.
“He’s a product of not playing in a good-enough league,” Arbitello said. “He worked out with my guys and I had a few Division I coaches in the gym with me and they agreed he was pretty good.”
While he is still without offers, Lissak has worked out at Seton Hall, Bucknell, Boston University and Colgate, and those schools and many more are coming to Hoop Group this week, in part, to see him play, they have told him. Ordinarily, that would mean extreme pressure. Yet Lissak has his plans for the coming year, an immediate future he can’t wait to experience.
“It’s definitely important,” he said. “I’m going to play the best I can and whatever happens, happens.”