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Penn basketball recruit David Klatsky will spend a year learning the Penn system behind Jordan. David Klatsky should not have much trouble adjusting to his role on the Penn men's basketball team next year. After all, he's been in this situation before. For the past three years, Klatsky has been the best tennis player at Holmdel High School and he expects to be ranked among the top singles players in New Jersey this spring. As a freshman in 1996, however, Klatsky played No. 2 singles for the Hornets and waited in the wings while his brother, then-Holmdel senior Mike Klatsky, held the top spot. Mike Klatsky is now a Penn junior and a former Quakers tennis player. In the fall, David will be joining his older brother in West Philadelphia, where he will find himself in a situation that closely resembles his freshman year of high school. Only this time, Klatsky will not be holding a racquet in his hand -- he will not have time for tennis. He will be an apprentice on a different type of court and he'll be playing behind a different Mike. Perhaps the one position in which the Penn men's basketball team needs the least improvement is point guard. Michael Jordan is a first-team All-Ivy player and the favorite for next year's Ivy Player of the Year award. But Jordan is also entering his final year at Penn. And like he did with his brother three years ago, Klatsky will spend the next year learning and adapting to the Penn system before taking over after Jordan's graduation. "Next year will be a good year for him to learn," said Mike Klatsky, who is also a member of the Penn junior varsity basketball team. "I don't think he'll get much time next year but he'll learn a lot from Jordan." It will be about more than just learning for the 5'11" guard, however. At times this past season, Penn suffered when Jordan was on the bench. Matt Langel and Lamar Plummer were often forced to play out of their natural positions and take care of the ball-handling duties. Having a second pure point guard to come off the bench will alleviate some of those problems. "We recruited David Klatsky as a point guard," Penn coach Fran Dunphy said. "David is smart enough to look at it and see that in front of him is Michael Jordan. I don't think David's coming in here saying, 'You know what, I'm going to beat out Michael Jordan and be the starting point guard.' I don't think David's like that. "He knows that his time may be limited early on. He's going to have to prove himself." According to his former coaches, Klatsky's attitude and work ethic should help him make a significant impact at the college level. "On the hardwood, he's as prepared as any freshman going into Division I," Klatsky's AAU coach John Rivera said. A four-year varsity player and three-year starter for Holmdel, Klatsky's basketball resume speaks for itself. The Hornets went 93-21 during his four years and won the New Jersey Group II State Championship the past two years. This past season, Klatsky also led Holmdel past Group III champ Parsippany to the Final Four of the New Jersey Tournament of Champions. "We've faced the best competition you can face as a high school team and David has been the leader for us the last three years," said Holmdel coach Tom Stead, who also took his team to San Diego to face the best teams on the West Coast. Holmdel held its own against this top competition and Klatsky was the main reason for its success. As the floor general, Klatsky led a Holmdel squad whose tallest player was 6'3" against bigger and more talented teams. And more often than not, the Hornets came out on top. Along the way, Klatsky was named Player of the Year for Group II, MVP of the Group II championship game and third team All-State for all groups. "David's been at the root of everything and it's been a pleasure to coach him," Stead said. "I don't know what I'm going to do next year." While Stead figures out what to do with his program, Dunphy and his staff will have the task of figuring out how the former Holmdel star will fit into the Penn system. Klatsky is the definition of a pure point guard. His coaches describe him as a very smart player who is able to get everyone involved in the offense but they also say that he needs to get stronger and to work on creating shots when the shot clock is winding down -- something that was not an issue in high school. "David Klatsky is a throwback," Rivera said. "He is in the mold of the old type of point guard." And a prototypical point guard will help the Quakers in more ways than just giving Jordan some rest. "There were a lot of times when I watched them and they had trouble breaking the press," Klatsky said. "They could have brought another point guard in to keep it under control." The Penn coaches might even take a page out of the Philadelphia 76ers' playbook and play Jordan and Klatsky together. The Sixers have had success this season after moving top scoring threat Allen Iverson to shooting guard and allowing Eric Snow to run the point so Iverson can score more. "[The Penn coaches] told me they might like to use Jordan at the two because of the way I distribute the ball and he's their main scorer," Klatsky said. "Putting him at the two might enable him to score more and not have to worry about bringing the ball up and the point guard duties." Klatsky, who only made an unofficial visit, chose Penn very early in his senior year. After visiting his brother numerous times and watching many Penn games, he felt he already knew enough about the school and the program to make the decision. And it seems like Klatsky and Penn will fit together perfectly. They even had difficulty with the same things this past season. "There was a point this year when he struggled with his foul shots," Stead said. "He just continued to stay and work on it and battle through it." Joining a team which struggled at the line all season -- the Quakers hit just 66.1 percent from the charity stripe -- Klatsky and his work ethic will be a welcome addition to the Penn lineup. And with Jordan graduating next year, the Quakers hope Klatsky will be ready to step in as the floor leader for the next few seasons.

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