February 16, 2009
The Kreisberg secret is out
There are those in the know, those who think they know, those who want to know, those who don’t know, those who don’t know they don’t know and so on. But it appears the number of Bay Area basketball aficionados who are familiar with Jeremiah Kreisberg could be counted on one hand, with multiple digits left over.
Kreisberg excels in the classroom and on the court
Add to the intrigue that Kreisberg plays boys high school basketball in Oakland, ground zero for so many ballers for so many decades. So what’s going on? Is this some sort of hoax, a fictional player made up to punk the readers of NorCalPreps?
No, the Head-Royce (HR) junior and his emergence -- all 6-foot-9 of him -- on the Bay Area prep basketball scene is real. Those in the dark about him will soon have their awareness expanded.
Kreisberg has always been highly successful academically. Nobody attends HR, one of the top five college preparatory schools in the country, without excellent scholastic bonafides, braced by great effort. The 2006 graduating class -- 77 students -- racked up an average SAT score of 2,023 in reading, math and writing and featured 15 National Merit commended students, 17 National Merit semifinalists, 15 finalists and 3 National Merit Scholarship winners. This after a curriculum laden with advanced placement courses. Currently, Kreisberg sports a 3.57 unweighted grade point average.
But the basketball landscape has proved a much harder slog for Kreisberg, one still in process but as Slam N Jam Director (Drew Gooden’s Soldiers) Carl Foster offers, "Jeremiah will be among the top three rated players in northern California’s junior class."
Kreisberg displaying his skills
HR Coach Rob Rafeh has witnessed Kreisberg’s evolution on the court.
"Jeremiah had a foundation of fundamentals and basketball IQ early on," Rafeh said, "but a work ethic was lacking. As an eighth-grader, the competition wasn’t there for him every night. I kept telling him ‘not to worry about being better than the next guy and focus on being the best he could be.’"
After a broken wrist as a sophomore limited Kreisberg’s development, his junior season has been one of remarkable blossoming.
Rafeh offered, "Jeremiah approached me about being a captain this season. I told him ‘no, don’t worry about being a leader, we just need you to play well.’ I stressed that he didn’t need to be a captain to be a leader. Within 15 minutes of hearing my answer, he sought out one of our senior kids who was named a captain and congratulated him. As a freshman, he [Jeremiah] would have moped and rebelled with my decision but now his maturity level is incredible."
"He has gotten better as a player every single day of practice this season," Rafeh continued. "Anyone who watched him in December needs to take a look at him now because he has improved so much. Recently in a game, he got the ball at mid-court and went by the defender [the other team’s point] with a behind the back dribble and finished with a dunk against the [other team’s] power forward. Before this, I had to ask ‘Jerry, you’re 6-foot-9. Why are you shooting jump shots against a 6-foot-1 guy?’ Now, he’s using a drop step and powering to the basket. He’s the one who wants to work hard now."
According to Philippe Doherty, the Director Basketball Operations for the Bay Area Hoosiers, "Jeremiah played on our Young Elite team last year and got better every single time out. He is young for his grade but his skill level is outstanding and he is extremely intelligent and unselfish. He can shoot the basketball, pass the basketball and alters shots. He has a great feel for the game, soaks in every ounce of coaching he receives and will continue to get better. Jeremiah will make a great impact at the next level."
This transformation in his junior season, a year that is described as academically “rigorous” for HR students by Rafeh, also comes with Kreisberg on the debate and golf teams respectively.
Princeton, Yale, Cal, Stanford, Oregon State, USF, UC Davis, among others have been looking at Kreisberg, with more expected to join the chase. He is familiar with the east coast, having lived in New York at one point.
The junior scored 37 recently against Valley Christian of Dublin. On February 3, the San Francisco Chronicle named him athlete of the week. The Oakland Tribune named him player of the week on January 15.
Kreisberg wasn’t always real tall and basketball wasn’t always a strong focus. But "my dad played college basketball at Wesleyan and my grandfather played professionally in New York so it’s a family tradition and I find joy in it," he said. Kreisberg was 6-foot-4 as a freshman "and I was barely able to touch the rim and needed work on every part of my game. As a freshman on the varsity, I learned humility and we had a real good captain and I also learned about leadership from him."
He describes his best skills thusly: "passing, court sense and fundamentals" while he is working to improve "my athleticism."
Kreisberg is naturally looking for an academically-challenging college and a basketball program "with expertise on how to coach big men."
But first comes a hopefully strong finish for the HR team, adding more positives to the current 19-2 overall record. The squad also wants another matchup with Branson down the road, having experienced two losses this season, one by five points and the other by three, to the perennial power from Marin County.
This summer, Kreisberg will participate as a member of the U.S. national basketball team in the 18th Maccabiah Games to be held in Tel Aviv, Israel during July. It’s the third largest sporting event in the world. He was a member of the 2008 Contra Costa squad that won the gold medal in San Diego and that exposure earned him a successful tryout for the national team.
So now you know.