June 9, 2010
Elad Inbar, the former NCAA Division II Player of the Year who starred with the UMass Lowell men’s basketball team from 2000-04, was inducted into the Northeast-10 Conference Hall of Fame Monday at the Conference’s year-ending banquet.
The induction is the second for Inbar within a month as he was tabbed for the UMass Lowell Athletic Hall of Fame on May 11.
Inbar, who lives in Tel Aviv, Israel and was unable to be present, was among six individuals to be inducted Monday, which included Bill Holden (Bentley ’90), also a former basketball standout; Ian Smart (C.W. Post ’02), a former running back; Kristen Patterson (AIC ’02), who starred in soccer, basketball and softball; Katie Conover (Stonehill ’03), a lacrosse player; and Dr. George Hagerty, former President of Franklin Pierce College from 1995-2009 who served as the head of the Division II Presidents Council.
Inbar is the sixth men’s basketball player to earn induction into the NE-10 Hall, which had its first class in 2006.
Inbar’s cache of honors seemingly included everything short of an NCAA Championship. On Mar. 26, 2004, he was named the Division II Player of the Year by the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC), the highest honor bestowed upon a Division II player.
Inbar led the River Hawks to a 100-27 record, the winningest four-year period in the program’s history, which saw them win two Northeast-10 regular season and tournament championships in 2003 and 2004. Additionally, UMass Lowell went to four NCAA Tournaments and captured the 2003 and 2004 NCAA Northeast Region titles and bids to the Elite Eight.
“Elad had a basketball IQ that was off the charts,” said former UMass Lowell head coach Ken Barer. “He was always thinking a play or two ahead of everyone else. He had an uncanny way of making difficult shots look easy and was the consummate team player.”
Inbar was a two-time All-American and three-time NE-10 First Team all-star, including the NE-10 Player of the Year as a senior. He left his name in many places in the UMass Lowell record book and continues to rank tops among career leaders in points, games played (127, shared with teammate/compatriot Uri Grunwald), and free throws made (455).
As talented a player as Inbar was, he was an equally gifted student, maintaining a 3.377 grade point average as a finance major. He was a two-time member of the Verizon District I All-Academic Team, earning first team honors as a senior.
“It is impossible to describe Elad Inbar's impact on the University in a single sentence,” said Dana Skinner, Director of Athletics. “Elad was one of the most accomplished students and decorated athletes ever at UMass Lowell.
“He received the Athletic Scholarship Award for achieving the highest four-year grade point average in his senior class; led his team to the best four-year record in school history; and was selected as the NCAA Division II National Player of the Year in 2004. It's hard to imagine anyone having a broader impact,” Skinner added.
During his senior year, Inbar earned his share of attention from professional scouts and earned an individual tryout with the New Jersey Nets. He was also selected 39th in the 2004 USBL Draft by the Westchester Wildfire.
Following graduation, Inbar spent the 2004-05 season playing professionally for B.C. Haifa of Israel’s first division and moved on to A.C. Ramat Harashon, also a first division club, for the 2005-06 season.
Inbar is currently a foreign exchange trader for Bank Leumi and currently plays semiprofessionally for Hapoel Ussishkin Tel Aviv Basketball Club of Israel’s third division.
