Northwestern University Athletics
Kreisberg Extends Playing Career With Wildcats
1/28/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
By Jasper Scherer
Northwestern Athletic Communications
"I kinda just go with how I feel," Jeremiah Kreisberg says.
The Northwestern graduate student and 6'10" center sports his usual thick beard and mustache at a recent practice, a look he perfected during his four years as an undergraduate at Yale.
But a couple weeks ago, that beard was gone, replaced by a `stache that might have reminded some of Ron Burgundy.
"JerShon Cobb inspired me cause, you know, he had dreads last year," Kreisberg says. "One day over the summer, he was like, 'I just cut it, it was just how I was feeling.' I'm just goin' with the flow."
That's a good way to describe how Kreisberg's basketball career has panned out so far (and yes, he believes there's more to come). The Berkeley, Calif., native headed to Yale in 2010 for a bachelor's degree in environmental studies after averaging 24 and 14 along with a McDonald's All-America nomination his senior year at Head-Royce School in Oakland. He played for Israel in 2011 at the summer Under-20 European Championships, averaging 12.3 points and 5.7 boards per game, then had back surgery the following summer and eventually sat out his entire senior year.
Because Ivy League rules prohibit graduate students from taking part in varsity sports, Kreisberg had to find somewhere else to play during his final year of eligibility - hence the move to Northwestern. You'd think enduring the jump in competition level between conferences would have been Kreisberg's biggest challenge, but he sees it differently.
"For me, the biggest thing wasn't coming from the Ivy League to the Big Ten, it was just [going] from not playing to playing because I was redshirting my last year," he says. "So it's been a big transition to get back into shape - but apart from that, it's still just basketball."
After missing an entire season with injury and being limited the year before that for the same reason, Kreisberg feels good playing healthy, competitive basketball, even if he doesn't see as much playing time as he did at Yale.
"At [other] points in my career, I've also come off the bench, so at the end of the day it's still basketball," Kreisberg says, repeating that same phrase. "But yeah, when you don't start a game, you have to focus a little bit differently, especially because I'm used in so many different situations."
Kreisberg has also dealt with another challenge this year: playing live games after an extended break.
"I thought at the beginning of the year he was rusty from his layoff," says head coach Chris Collins. "You know, he really hadn't played in a year and a half, and I thought he was real anxious and rushed out on the floor, and he even admitted as much."
"I think as the season's gone along, it's slowed down for him," Collins says. "He's getting some of his timing back, and I thought he was a bright spot the other night. I can see him getting out there a little more and even getting some more playing time for us."
Kreisberg is the rare college athlete who has embraced the uncertainty of entrepreneurialism. It's a venture that's not unusual for retired professional athletes, but isn't quite as common for recently graduated student athletes who might prefer the stability of less unpredictable careers.
Not Kreisberg, though. Last summer, he worked with two other Yale students as a member of the Yale Entrepreneurial Institute's fellowship program. With $15,000 and "intensive work and guidance," each of the nine teams in the program were expected to develop a startup company that was ready to launch by the time the 10-week-long fellowship concluded - and that's what Kreisberg and his two fellow students did. His team worked to develop an organic, non-GMO [genetically modified organism] sports drink with the "proper levels of electrolytes and sugars that athletes need during a workout," according to the Yale Entrepreneur Magazine.
"Right now, I'm focusing on Islamic history as my concentration," Kreisberg says. "So I'm probably going to go to Israel next year and play professionally - that's my hope. I'm a dual citizen with Israel, so I'm probably going to write my thesis from there."
Kreisberg says that's his short-term plan, and he's "not 100 percent sure" what his future holds after that, though he hopes to start the company up after graduating. He has also spoken in the past about sports diplomacy - something he values greatly - for Yale's non-partisan, pro-Israel organization, Yale Friends of Israel.
"I think it's really important," Kreisberg says about diplomacy through sports. "It gets me excited about the power basketball can have. It's taken me to nine different countries, and now I can write my thesis while playing."
But he's not done yet. Aside from the minutes Kreisberg has contributed off the bench, he's playing a role in the development of some of the team's young frontcourt players. That responsibility comes with the territory when you're a veteran collegiate big man coming to a team with six freshmen.
"I work a lot with Gavin [Skelly] on and off the court," says Kreisberg, mentioning that he's been teaching Skelly the principle that in high school, "you get away with a lot of small things that you can't in college."
"Because he's an older guy, he brings experience," Collins adds. "He really helps the young bigs."
Like Kreisberg, Northwestern basketball has an uncertain future that holds a lot of promise - something the fifth-year center might be playing a role in through his work with the freshmen and his roommate, Alex Olah. But even though we don't know where Kreisberg or his current team will stand in five years, the former will probably still be going with the flow - beard or not.
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