Jeremiah Rivers’ journey to IU stems from star-studded family

As he left the visiting team’s locker room at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City, Iowa two weeks ago, IU senior guard Jeremiah Rivers found his father standing a few feet away. 

For a few minutes they talked briefly about how they were doing and the Hoosiers’ road loss.

Similar dialogues occur daily between parent and child after games.
 
But with Rivers’ dad being Glenn “Doc” Rivers — a former NBA All-Star and current head coach of the Boston Celtics — this was different.

The same could be said about Jeremiah’s path to becoming a starting basketball player in the Big Ten.

GROWING UP A COACH’S SON

During his childhood, Jeremiah was forced to adapt to new surroundings every few years, as his father constantly changed teams as a player and a coach in the NBA.

First it was Milwaukee. Then it was Atlanta. Then it was Los Angeles.

After a few years in New York, Jeremiah spent his middle school years in San Antonio while Doc finished up his career with the Spurs.

At the time, Jeremiah was considered one of the top young running backs in the state.

“No question about it, I was a monster at football,” he said jokingly. “But when we moved to Orlando, I just started to focus on basketball for some reason. I think maybe it was because my dad became head coach of the Magic and I was around it a lot more.”

As a result, Jeremiah played basketball constantly. He talked about it constantly.

But he wasn’t alone in having high aspirations. 

His older sister Callie — currently a professional volleyball player in Puerto Rico — and younger brother Austin — the No. 1 ranked high school basketball player in America — all developed a hunger to be the best at what they do.
 
Jeremiah’s mother, Kristen, said her household was obsessed with sports.
 
“When my husband’s home, it’s 24/7 basketball,” she said. “We would have basketball trivia each night at the dinner table. People laugh, but it’s no joke. I have highly competitive children.”
   
Though Jeremiah and Austin are more than four years apart, they would often have battles both on and off the court growing up.

“Everything from video games to Monopoly would be competitive,” Austin said. “It was just an older brother, little brother thing.”

And when Jeremiah wasn’t facing off against his siblings in activities like “Basketball Trivial Pursuit,” as Doc put it, he was on the court practicing.

Sometimes he worked on fundamentals by himself. Other times he squared off against his teammates.

The real intensity, though, came when Doc and his NBA friends would stop by the house.

“I remember having free throw shooting contests with Chuck Person and Will Perdue and trying to beat them,” Jeremiah said. “Even when I lost to them, I remember getting so mad and angry. My dad used to be like, ‘Why are you so mad? These guys are pros, and you are 10 years old.’” 

Jeremiah said he loved taking on the professional players but had one goal early in life: beating his father in a game of one-on-one.

For years they would compete, and it would always end in Doc’s favor. After all, he was a 13-year NBA veteran.
 
But that changed during Jeremiah’s sophomore year of high school.

“When he finally beat me, and then beat me again, I decided I would no longer play with him,” Doc said jokingly. “When he won for the first time, I remember him running into the house because he was so excited. It was one of my best moments with him.”

Jeremiah said those constant games helped him not only progress on the basketball court but also bond with his father.

“I think those battles between us have really helped develop our relationship,” Jeremiah said. “I think he sees a lot of himself in me, so it’s been fun for both of us.”

‘I JUST WASN’T HAVING FUN’

While at Winter Park High School, a program that historically had not garnered much success, Jeremiah helped move it in a new direction.

As a junior, he was a main contributor on a Wildcats squad that went to the state quarterfinals. The following season he took Winter Park to the 6A State Finals, averaging 15.2 points, 5.7 rebounds and 5.2 assists per game.

Despite the accomplishment, Jeremiah said he and his teammates still have bad memories about not winning the state title.

“We talk about it every time we see each other and hang out,” he said. “It’s a shame we didn’t get at least one ring. But it happens. Fortunately, we were able to put Winter Park back on the map.”

Jeremiah left high school as one of the most sought-after players in the state. He had offers from a multitude of colleges but ultimately chose Georgetown University without even visiting the campus. 

The talented guard was drawn to the mystique of the program and had a good relationship with Hoyas head coach John Thompson III and Thompson’s father, “Big John,” who led Georgetown to a national championship in 1984. 

But after two seasons in Washington D.C., during which Rivers was a strong option off the bench for a 2007 Final Four team, he decided he needed to take his college career in a new direction.

A major part of that mentality stemmed from the slow-tempo offensive system the Hoyas ran.

“It was tough for me to adjust to that certain style,” Jeremiah said of the Princeton offense. “A lot of it was that I wasn’t mature enough to really understand it and buy into it at the time. I just wanted to do it my way — be a point guard and create like I had been doing my whole high school career.”

However, Jeremiah is quick to point out that he liked going to school at Georgetown. He met a lot of great teammates, had fantastic coaches and loved the cultural diversity of Washington.

At the same time, he “just wasn’t having fun playing basketball.”

“It wasn’t anything on the coaches. A lot of it was me,” Jeremiah said. “I was taking the fun out of it for myself. I just wasn’t there mentally at the time. I decided to make a change for the better.”

NEW OUTLOOK

That change was a move to Bloomington to play for IU coach Tom Crean and the
Hoosiers. 

Because of NCAA Division I transfer rules, Jeremiah was forced to sit out his first full season.

That year, IU — just months after firing former coach Kelvin Sampson amid recruiting violations — finished a Big Ten-worst 6-25 overall.

But now that he is actually playing for the Hoosiers, Jeremiah has developed into the player Crean said he hoped he would become. 

He won’t necessarily fill up the stat sheet — he’s averaging four points per game this season — but Jeremiah will do the little things: tough defense, fighting hard for rebounds and leading his team vocally on the court.

A prime example came when he limited Illinois star guard Demetri McCamey to six points and five turnovers in IU’s 52-49 win Jan. 27 at Assembly Hall.

Crean said Jeremiah has “grown leaps and bounds in all aspects” since first coming to Bloomington in 2008.

“His leadership has emerged in the sense of how hard he plays, how consistent he is with how hard he plays, and how competitive he is,” Crean said. “He’s really taken the role that gives the team the best chance to succeed but at the same time gives him the best chance to succeed. He’s done an outstanding job.”

WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS

Jeremiah said he’s currently the strongest mentally he’s been in years.
 
Basketball is fun for him again, and he finally understands his role on this season’s team.

“It’s been a ‘coming out party’ for me mentally, as far as being able to do the things I do well and really buying into the team concept,” Jeremiah said. “I understand I don’t need to go out and score 20 or 30 points a game. But what I do is very valuable to the team in helping us get wins.”

He also said the relationship he has with his family is as good as ever.

His dad, despite facing the rigors of an NBA schedule, attends as many IU games as possible and speaks with his son often during the week.

Jeremiah also talks a lot with Austin, a senior at Winter Park who will be playing for Duke next fall.

But most importantly, Jeremiah’s finally at peace with himself.

He knows his path to this point wasn’t typical — growing up with an NBA coach as a father, transferring from a Final Four team, playing for a program in the early stages of a rebuilding process — but he has no regrets with how things turned out.
  
“I have some of the best teammates in the world here, guys that I will have friendships with for the rest of my life,” he said. “I know we’re not winning, and haven’t been winning as much these past few years, but at the same time you learn a lot about yourself and your team when things are down. You can only build more character and more experiences for life." 

“That’s what’s going to take me further than anything ever could.”