I’m sorry but this narrative about Henefeld simply isn’t true. He was not established and no one really knew about him. Here’s what actually happened….
Nadav wrote letters to dozens of NCAA programs. Only one responded - St. John’s. Carnesecca sent Henefeld a plane ticket to come visit because they had a spot they needed to fill and it was late in the recruiting cycle. Lou had never even seen tape of Nadav. He visited, liked the team, hated the fact that it was a commuter school. Through Israel hoops contacts, Henefeld became friendly with Blazers scout Marv Kessler, who called Mitch Buonaguro immediately after the St. John’s visit and two days before Nadav returned to Israel. Nadav took the train to Fairfield, loved the campus, but after watching practice, he told Kessler that he could play at a higher level. Kessler made dozens of calls in the next day and the only coach who responded was JC, because of course The GOAT was the only U.S. coach who actually watched the Maccabiah Games, an international competition among Jewish amateur athletes from dozens of countries.
After Kessler called Calhoun, this was JC’s quote in a Boston Globe article: ''I had seen Nadav in the Maccabiah Games,'' Calhoun said. ''I asked my wife, Pat, What did I say about him? She said, `You thought he was a special player, but you didn`t know what he would do at the next level.` ''
So Nadav was connected to the kosher butcher from Waterbury, who picked up just off the Merritt in Fairfield and drove him to Storrs. He was literally on no one’s radar. In fact, Lior Arditti, who played at BC, was the one Israeli that year on college coaches’ radars.
