Benny Gealer is grateful for the opportunity Stanford has given him
One of the anchors of this year’s Stanford men’s basketball team is guard Benny Gealer, who took a massive jump his senior season, averaging 11.1 points, 2.4 rebounds, 1.7 assists, and 1.6 steals per game. An excellent shooter, Gealer shot 44.2% from the field, 41.6% from 3-point range, and 89.5% from the foul line. Gealer went from being a role player who occasionally started to starting in 30 of the 32 games he has played in. Ahead of this year’s College Basketball Crown, a postseason tournament in Las Vegas that the Cardinal will be competing in, Gealer shared his thoughts on his time on The Farm, his growth, and the chance to compete in a Cardinal jersey one last time.
While Stanford would have loved to have competed in the NCAA tournament, they are still excited about the chance to play in the College Basketball Crown. Gealer hopes that they’ll be able to end their season with a victory and that his Stanford career will go out on a high note.
“Yeah, I’m really excited,” Gealer said of the chance to compete in the Crown. “I mean, I think it’s a great opportunity. The thing I’m most I’m excited about is obviously any time a team has a chance to compete postseason, that’s awesome, you know, and you gotta appreciate that opportunity to play. And I’m a senior, so getting three more games hopefully, is you know, always fun and you have an opportunity to end on a win, which is another thing that most teams in college don’t have the opportunity to do.
“So I’m really excited. Really good teams…Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, and then two wild cards. So, you know, it’s tight and really good teams. A lot of bubble teams that, you know, will get after it, compete, and then obviously the prize money is a good little extrinsic motivator that I think the guys are excited about it.”
If Stanford is going to win the Crown, Gealer is going to have to do his part. Coming to Stanford as a preferred walk-on, he has elevated his game on both ends of the floor, becoming a legit two-way player. That didn’t happen overnight. That came as a result of a lot of hard work and long hours in the gym.
“Yeah, I think just getting better year by year and learning from, you know, guys that are ahead of me and just working on my weaknesses,” Gealer said of his growth. “I think one of my biggest, you know, when Coach Smith and his staff came in, you know, they emphasized defending to me. You know, I gotta be able to defend my position at a high level to be on the court, you know, because they knew I could shoot it pretty well.
“So just getting better on defense and you know, I’ve increased my steals numbers and I got a lot better at guarding the ball and just keeping guys in front, which I think is a like a big, you know, probably the biggest growth in my game. And then just experience and enjoying the moment.”
What also contributed to Gealer’s growth was simply staying at Stanford. In an era when a lot of guys hit the portal and leave for other places, Gealer saw the value in staying on The Farm, completing his degree, and having a throwback college experience. That’s really paid off for him now that he’s a senior.
“I think also another kind of thing that’s rare these days is just staying at Stanford four years so I can, you know, develop in one place, which is, you know, I think an advantage to me where a lot of people are moving school to school and have to restart,” Gealer explained. “But I was like, I knew I was going to stay here, so it made the decision easier. Like, I didn’t really have any decisions. I could just focus on basketball and school and you know, it rewarded me more than I could ever have expected.”
While he has truly developed into a two-way player, it still Gealer’s shooting that most stands out about his game. Some of the threes he makes are from Jimmer Fredette range. He’s worked extremely hard at developing the confidence to take those shots and improve his range such that he can make those shots at a good clip.
“Yeah, I think there’s more just a mechanism of just kinda getting myself on the court and playing consistent minutes,” Gealer said of improving his shot. “Obviously, I think that was probably the biggest reason for my jump because I have a level of confidence that I have a little more freedom. A longer leash that I’ve developed over the years. You know, that’s what I was saying, I became a better defender, so that would keep me on the court for longer and that kind of allowed me to shoot more shots and to trust my shot versus when I was younger if I missed a shot, I didn’t have as much of a leash.
“And also just, you can’t cheat the experience playing in big arenas. Accumulating a ton of shots throughout my four years with all my workouts and all my practices. So, there was like a level of experience and comfortability I developed as well that only added to that.”
What drew Gealer to Stanford was the relationship he had with a coach who never actually coached him. Adam Cohen, who is on Sean Miller’s staff at Texas, at the time that Gealer was in high school was the associated head coach under Jerod Haase. Cohen took a liking to Gealer’s game and saw a lot of potential in him. He would end up following Miller to Xavier and later Texas.
“Yeah, Coach Cohen, Adam Cohen of, I think he’s at Texas now with Sean Miller, but he actually recruited me pretty heavily,” Gealer recalled. “I was gonna play, he recruited me in high school and then coincidentally I played in the Maccabiah Games, my senior of high school. That summer before I came to Stanford and he was supposed to be one of the assistants of that team. So, that was one of the big, he kind of recruited me from that as well, but he ended up going to Texas.
“So he wasn’t a coach on that team, but he got me in here and you know, ever since then, all the coaches, Coach Berkun, they were just great and Coach Ehsan just kind of, I just felt like a normal player even though I was a walk on. It didn’t really feel like I was a walk on. I was just a guy trying to earn minutes and compete. You know, I got equal number of reps and that’s really an unbelievable opportunity that I know at a lot of places the walk-ons don’t. Sometimes you can, you know, you can be good, but they don’t get as many opportunities. And they gave me all the opportunities, so I took advantage of that.”
Speaking of the Maccabiah Games a.k.a. the Jewish Olympics, Gealer has gotten a lot of love from the Jewish community over the years. That love and support means a lot to him given there aren’t a lot of Jews competing at the Division I level of college basketball.
“Yeah, it’s huge,” Gealer said of the Jewish support. “I mean, it’s a big part of my identity. Just being able to play basketball at this level where there’s not too many, you know, Jewish players playing high major division one level basketball. So just being proud of it and trying to represent for the younger Jewish community that’s also trying to play sports at a high level.”
Something that has made Gealer’s Stanford experience unique is the chance to play under two separate head coaches. His first two years were under Jerod Haase with the last two years being under Kyle Smith. Gealer is thankful for the lessons both coaches taught him and the impact they’ve had on him both on and off the court.
Starting with Haase, Gealer is deeply appreciative of the family atmosphere that Haase cultivated due to his time on The Farm. The aspect of competing with your brothers and having an “all for one and one for all” mentality is something that profoundly resonated with Gealer.
“Yeah, I think about, I think he was great at just getting guys playing together,” Gealer said of Haase. “Like, our team camaraderie. He was really big into just getting guys believing in one another and really that family, that culture of being a family and doing things off the court together and just loving each other and competing with your brothers I think was a big lesson I learned from Haase and also, he was just a stand-up guy as a person, you know, which I’d admire. Even off the basketball court, just, you know, how he treated everyone super fairly and was super respectful. So, those are qualities I’ll carry for the rest of my life.”
As for Smith, Gealer loves how he has been pushed to become the best player that he can be and the lessons of accountability that Smith has instilled in him. Smith really challenged Gealer in ways that he hadn’t been challenged before and he feels like thanks to that, his game has been able to really blossom.
“Smith, there’s a high level of accountability, which I’ve really appreciated,” Gealer said. “I mean, he’s obviously, the numbers speak for themselves. He’s a really good coach. Everywhere he goes he wins. But just every game, every practice, they’re on you about what you need to get better at and there’s just, there’s no lying. They tell you the truth. You know, if you’re shooting it well, if you’re playing well, and this and that, they’ll tell you. And if you’re playing bad, they’ll tell you. So, just that level of accountability and transparency, I’d say is something that I really appreciate and helped me grow as a player. And yeah, no, it’s been great.”
On top of excelling on the court, Gealer has also excelled in the classroom, being named ACC Scholar Athlete of the Year for men’s basketball. He’s put a ton of work into his studies and really valued that side of things.
“Yeah, I’m getting a major in economics,” Gealer said. “I think it’s a bachelor’s of arts at Stanford. When I came here, the seniors. A lot of the seniors. James Keefe, Brandon Angel, I think Michael Jones, a lot of those guys were taking economics. Sam Beskind, so I just kinda hopped in that path and it’s been great. It was the, Stanford doesn’t have a business undergrad, so just getting into the closest thing that I feel like there’s a lot of opportunities whether I, you know, use my economics to go into basketball or you know, whatever, finance when my career is over. I think it’s going to serve me well.”
One memory from Stanford that Gealer will always carry with him is the game-winning shot he hit to defeat Saint Louis back in the fall. That was an important win that really kept them in the NCAA tournament discussion given how strong of a season the Billikens had.
“Yeah, it was great,” Gealer said of that shot. “It’s fun to, when I look back at things, you know, it’s almost even more rewarding than in the moment. I feel like in the moment, some of those shots just feel like a shock. You know, you’re not even able to perceive the actual, you know, you’re excited, but it’s hard to really look at it and see the impact and you know, Saint Louis was a good team and having beating them at that neutral site was good for our team as well. So, just a huge shot that I was glad I had a lot of family and people there to celebrate and just a big win for our team. So, I’ll always remember it.”
Another memory that will live on for Gealer is the chance to play alongside Ebuka Okorie, who has had a phenomenal season. The chance to play with a living Cardinal legend in the making is something that Gealer is always going to cherish. He’s had a chance to see Okorie up close and get to see things about him that other people don’t know.
“Yeah, I mean, he’s just really talented,” Gealer said of Okorie. “I think something that probably people don’t see about him that’s impressive is how steady he is. He’s obviously an unbelievable talent. He’s really good at basketball, but mentally, he’s pretty kinda stoic. If he has, if he plays really well, he’s able to do that the next game and kind of stay calm. And if he has an off game, you know, he gets right back to his, you know, his good game.
“So, he’s just able to be really consistent. He has good routines and I think his stats and what he’s able to do for this program have, you know, they speak for themselves. But I think he’s really, for an 18 year old kid coming in and with a lot of pressure and people in the media are talking about his name, he’s able to have this, you know, stoic work-like mentality, which is impressive.”
Looking ahead, Gealer remains focused on finishing his Stanford career strong with a title at the College Basketball Crown. After that, he’ll let the chips fall where they may and see what the future holds. He’s a man who stays locked into the present. That’s a major reason why he’s been able to have the success that he’s had:
“Yeah, I’ll try to play pro somewhere wherever that is. You know, G-League, whatever. I mean, my dream’s always been the NBA, so no harm in trying to pursue it, but overseas potentially. I haven’t fully, for right now, my mind just, you know, win the Crown, end on a high note, and you know, see where things go.”
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