Jess Deutsch

Off the Bench: Radhika Garapaty of Yale women’s basketball

August 6, 2026August 5, 2026 by Jess Deutsch

Radhika Garapaty ’29 takes center court in our next installment in the series. After nearly a full year away from basketball due to injury, the rising Yale women’s basketball sophomore has found inspiring answers to the hardest question an athlete has to answer: Who am I without the game? And as she finds her way back into the lineup at Payne Whitney Gymnasium with her teammates, she is bringing strengths she may not have known she possessed before.

From left to right: Radhi; her mother Bindu; brother Kunaal; and father, Rahul Garapaty at a wedding reception in southern California in July 2025. (photo courtesy of Garapaty family)

Off the Bench: Miles Franklin of Columbia men’s basketball

July 30, 2026July 29, 2026 by Jess Deutsch

The Franklin family, at the Colosseum, in Rome, Italy, on a 2016 vacation (left to right: Miles’ mother Marina, brother Elliot, sister Amelia, brother Tristan, Miles and Miles’ father Dereck. (photo courtesy of Franklin family)

For Miles Franklin ’29, a political science major from Vienna, Va., and rising sophomore guard for the Columbia men’s basketball team, a disciplined approach to nutrition, sleep and mental health began in childhood. Now the boy who brought homemade pickles to the party is getting the last laugh, powering his basketball career, making music and taking care of business wherever he goes.

Off The Bench: Cate MacDonald of Dartmouth women’s basketball

July 20, 2026 by Jess Deutsch

Cate MacDonald ‘27, a rising senior on the Dartmouth women’s basketball team from Lynnfield, Mass., shares a particularly inspiring journey to the Ivy League. A learning difference made school a challenge for her early on. Basketball was a comfort and a constant. With persistence and clarity about what she needs to thrive, there seems to be no stopping her.

Off the Bench: Mateen Rafiq of Cornell men’s basketball

July 16, 2026 by Jess Deutsch

Mateen Rafiq ‘28, a rising junior on the Cornell men’s basketball team, is our next featured player. Rafiq’s humility, discipline and ambitions are outsized (no matter that he is a 6-foot-0 guard), and there’s no doubt he is building toward something bigger.

Off the Bench: Izzy Wesley of Brown women’s basketball

July 9, 2026 by Jess Deutsch

Ivy League hoopsters are Division I athletes on the court and exceptionally accomplished and eclectic humans off it. Ivy Hoops Online presents the latest edition of our Off the Bench series that takes fans inside the stories that you might not otherwise know from the stands or through your screen.

Izzy Wesley ‘29, a rising sophomore on the Brown women’s basketball team, is the second twin we have featured in this series. An innate teammate and ultimate family person, she brings “gioia di vivere” to the Bears, and she is channeling it in all the ways that make a team better:

Off the Bench: Lucas Lueth of Penn men’s basketball

July 6, 2026July 6, 2026 by Jess Deutsch

This time we are introduced to Lucas Lueth ’27, a rising senior on the Penn men’s basketball team from Ames, Iowa. While he aspires to take on a leadership role in healthcare down the road, he has his eyes on a pro basketball career, and a lot more, along the way. For this multi-talented Penn player, basketball is art, and art informs the way he sees the court as well as the world:

Off the Bench: Sarah Lessig of Princeton women’s basketball

July 1, 2026June 30, 2026 by Jess Deutsch

Next, we get to know Sarah Lessig ’29, a rising Princeton women’s basketball sophomore from Seattle. A probable anthropology major and also a member of the Tigers softball team, Lessig is a study in fluidity — flowing seamlessly across sports, music, film — and West Coast to East Coast:

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Off the Bench: Mataya Gayle of Penn women’s basketball

June 30, 2026June 22, 2026 by Jess Deutsch

Ivy League hoopsters are Division I athletes on the court and exceptionally accomplished and multi-dimensional humans off it. Ivy Hoops Online presents a new series, Off the Bench, that takes fans inside the stories that you might not otherwise know from the stands or via your screen.

Next up is Mataya Gayle ’27, a rising senior on the Penn women’s basketball team, and a psychology major from Woodstock, Ga. While our previous installment highlighted the relationship of two brothers attending Princeton together, here we delve into the experience of a sibling with nine brothers and sisters at home! Through her eyes we see how her birth order and family system have prepared her for the key role she has played, and will play one more season, in the Palestra and beyond:

Off The Bench: Sebastian Whitfield of Princeton men’s basketball

June 19, 2026June 16, 2026 by Jess Deutsch

Sebastian and Tristan Whitfield in the Jadwin Gym lobby. (photo courtesy of Sebastian Whitfield)

Ivy League hoopsters are Division I athletes on the court and exceptionally accomplished and eclectic humans off it. Ivy Hoops Online presents a new series, Off the Bench, that takes fans inside the stories that you might not otherwise know from the stands or through your screen.

Next up is Sebastian Whitfield ’29, a rising sophomore guard/forward for Princeton men’s basketball, from Virginia Beach, Va. A likely economics major, Whitfield is also keeping all options on the table as he navigates Princeton alongside an older sibling. Whitfield’s story shows the joy of a shared connection that leaves plenty of room for improvisation.

Off the Bench: Mary Hollensteiner of Harvard women’s basketball

June 9, 2026 by Jess Deutsch

Next up is Mary Hollensteiner ’27, a rising Harvard women’s basketball senior from Bethesda, Md. A psychology major with a minor in economics and a guard for the Crimson, Hollensteiner spoke with us as she prepared for a summer internship as a analyst at Hoffman & Associates in Washington, D.C. Hollensteiner reflects on legacy, leadership and laughter as the daughter of a former Harvard men’s basketball player and as a team leader making her own way at Lavietes Pavilion and beyond: