Athletes of the Week: Drew Gellert '02 and Elliott Prasse-Freeman '03

Sometime during the first half of the men's basketball game against the Princeton Tigers on Friday, sophomore guard Andrew Gellert will enter the Harvard record book.

Leading the Ivy League with an average of 2.8 assists per game (and in the top 20 in the country), Gellert turned in an 11-steal performance over the weekend to bring his season total to 65, one shy of the record held by Crimson alumni Keith Webster and Mike Gielen.

His reputation for tenacious defense has garnered him respect from around the league, and he proved his mettle this weekend. In addition to nabbing 11 steals, Gellert shut down the leading scorers of both Brown and Yale to lead the Crimson to a sweep of both this weekend.

On Friday night, Gellert put on a one-man show in the first half, getting all six of his steals against the Bears before the buzzer sounded. Those turnovers translated into easy points for Harvard. On Saturday, Gellert picked up five more steals to lead a team-wide defensive effort in a blowout of Yale.

His teammate in the backcourt, freshman point guard Elliott Prasse-Freeman, set his own record against Yale. Prasse-Freeman was overly generous Saturday, "chipping in" with 15 assists.

His performance tied a Harvard single-game record, set by Glenn Fine in a game against Detroit back in 1977.

Prasse-Freeman's 6.9 assists per game average puts him in 12th place in all of Division I basketball. His effort in the easy victories this weekend will set him on his way to finishing the season with the Harvard record for assists by a freshman.

Prasse-Freeman is at the center of Harvard Coach Frank Sullivan's freshman revival. Being given the job of starting point guard as a freshman is no small task, and Prasse-Freeman has responded nicely. He obviously hasn't listened to the years of wisdom which say that freshman shouldn't be in leadership roles. On the floor, he directs traffic precisely and isn't hesitant to yell at his older teammates. More often than not, it helps.

With key Ivy League matchups against Penn and Princeton coming up this weekend, Gellert and Prasse-Freeman will come up against the best backcourts in the conference. Their combined play will be one of the determining factors if the Crimson want to whip the Tigers and convert the Quakers. If last weekend was any indication, they'll be ready.