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3 of the top 5 NCAA men’s basketball teams are coached by Jews

March Madness should be fun for Jewish fans — and coaches — this year!

By Jacob Gurvis, JTA

We’re about halfway through the college basketball season, and it couldn’t be going much better for the nation’s top Jewish coaches.

The Associated Press released its latest Top 25 Poll on Monday, and three of the top five men’s teams, along with one of the top five women’s teams, are coached by Jews.

On the men’s side, Bruce Pearl’s Auburn is ranked No. 1, riding a nine-game winning streak to a 16-1 overall record and the top spot in the Southeastern Conference.

Pearl, a former Maccabiah Games coach and the co-founder of the NCAA’s Jewish Coaches Association, is one of the more outspoken Jewish and pro-Israel coaches in all of college sports.

Duke, led by coach Jon Scheyer, clocks in at No. 3 on the men’s side, with a 15-2 record and an 11-game winning streak of their own.

Scheyer, who played professionally in Israel with Maccabi Tel Aviv after winning the NCAA title as a Duke player in 2010, has drawn support from the university’s Jewish student body.

And at No. 5 in the men’s rankings is Florida, coached by Todd Golden. The Gators are also 15-2 and are coming off a tough one-point loss against Missouri on Tuesday.

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Golden is also an alum of Israel’s pro league, and he played for Pearl on the gold-medal-winning U.S. team at the 2009 Maccabiah Games.

(Credit/JTA)

On the women’s side, Lindsay Gottlieb’s University of Southern California ranks No. 4 on the AP’s latest list.

The Trojans have won 12 straight and at 16-1 are in second place in the Big Ten, behind rival UCLA, which the AP ranked No. 1.

Gottlieb, who earned her 300th career coaching win earlier this season, is a member of the Jewish Sports Hall of Fame of Northern California.

March Madness should be fun for Jewish fans — and coaches — this year!