Q & A with IU basketball's Jared Jeffries

Has the meaning of basketball changed for you since you went to the NBA?

No, never. It’s the best game in the world. It’s the best job in the world, and if I wasn’t playing in the NBA, I’d be playing basketball here at the SportsPlex in the adult league. I’d be playing intramurals, so it wouldn’t matter.

What was it like being Big Ten MVP as a sophomore?

It was one of my goals. I wanted to be the Big Ten MVP, and I worked really hard to get to that place. It worked out well my sophomore year that we had a good team, and I played really well.
 
How did you feel on draft day?

Nervous. They always tell you you’re going to be fine; you’re going to be picked in this place, but you want to make sure you’re going to be picked there. I had a good agent so draft day I was a little bit nervous, but I had fun.
 
How have you changed since you left IU?

I feel like I’ve gotten older, and when you get older, you get smarter and things people told me, my parents told me years ago like ‘don’t do this, don’t do that,’ and you thought they were stupid and you were like ‘alright, whatever.’ You learn what they were telling you all those years was actually true. So, I’ve gotten smarter, and I’ve grown up a lot. I was 19 years old when I was coming out.

What’s one place in Bloomington you can still call home?

My parents house. My parents still live in the same house I grew up in. I still go out there and stay with them whenever I come back in town, so it’s the same 48 acres I grew up on. I always go to Sports, (and) I always go to Kilroy’s.

What’s your advice for Hoosier basketball fans?

It’s going to turn around. Anytime you have a great basketball program and a great community that supports basketball, you’ll always turn around. You’ll always end up being okay. I think that a lot of times, you get down. They didn’t have any good players last year, really. I mean, this year they got a lot more talent. In about a year or two, they’re going to have a really good team.