It’s become a familiar scene at Harvard basketball games for two years now. An opposing team attempts to either solidify its lead or get back into a game, but a Harvard defender quickly steals the ball, converts the fast break and regains the momentum.

More often than not, that defender has been captain Drew Gellert.

A third-year starter, Gellert has emerged as one of the Ivy League’s top defensive players and is on pace to be the most dominating perimeter defender in Harvard history. Largely unheralded in the media but well-respected by teammates and foes, Gellert’s captaincy, along with his defense, will be a key factor in determining whether the Crimson can improve on last year’s 7-7 Ivy record.

Gellert ranks second in the career steals list with 191 coming into this season, behind only Mike Gielen ’89, whose 213 steals Gellert is almost sure to pass. He led the Ivies in steals last season, and his 2.8 steals-per-game average was good for eighth in the nation.

“My role has been to provide a lift for us on defense, get a steal when we need it, a basket when we’re down,” Gellert says. “I don’t think I was recruited here as a defensive stopper, but it happened.”

Indeed, the 6’1 Gellert—a guard who plays at small forward—came to Harvard from Newtown, Conn., as the point guard who would eventually replace star Tim Hill ’99. A top scholastic player in Connecticut, Gellert was the consummate athlete, starring also in baseball and one season of football, when he grabbed a state-record 17 interceptions. Guess he’s always gravitated towards defense.

Though Yale was closer to home, and probably his parents’ first choice, Gellert came to the Crimson because he felt the squad in place—with new guys like forward Dan Clemente ’01—was ready to make that push for the Ivy championships. He also quickly realized what many other Harvard students do as well.

“Basically Yale’s in New Haven, Harvard’s here in Boston,” Gellert says.

Gellert got to make his impact on the program his sophomore year, after the graduation of Hill. Though he had played the point his entire life, that season he would be asked to change positions. In retrospect, he says it was for the better.

“I knew that Elliott [Prasse-Freeman] was coming here, and that he was a point guard and a good player, but I thought that the job was mine from the start,” Gellert says.

But Gellert injured his shoulder in the preseason, missed a few weeks and things changed.

“I came back and the point was still my job, but then Brady [Merchant], who was playing the three, got hurt,” Gellert says. “Elliott went to the point and I moved over, and it’s been that way ever since.”

Gellert flourished at his new position, especially defensively. In the 1999-2000 season he set the school’s single-season steals record with 74.

He also continues to constantly improve. So far this season, Gellert has seen his offensive numbers go up—important for Harvard, especially with the loss of Clemente, one of Harvard’s all-time great offensive players.

“Damian Long ’00 and Dan Clemente certainly left their legacy with these group of guys, and Drew Gellert had his eyes and ears wide open,” Harvard coach Frank Sullivan says. “I think his captaincy is one that he’s grown into very, very quickly.”