What Jereme Richmond doesn’t believe anyone realizes is that he’s actually a shy 16-year-old whose favorite hobby is sleeping.
"I don’t like attention," said Richmond following an AAU practice with the Rising Stars on Thursday. "If I had my choice, I would prefer to be alone, be myself chillin’ at home."
Richmond realizes, though, there’s a major contradiction between what he would like his life to be and what it really is.
The reality is Richmond, a 6-6 forward, is considered one of the nation’s top rising juniors and has had his every move on and off the court analyzed with a microscope since was a freshman.
That dissection of his decisions began when he committed to Illinois as a freshman, continued when he transferred from North Shore Country Day to Waukegan as a sophomore and only intensified when he was dismissed from the Bulldogs near the end of the season after an argument with coach Ron Ashlaw.
Through it all, especially this past season, Richmond believes he’s learned more about life than anything.
"Obviously [last season] wasn’t how I expected it go," he said. "As far as how to maneuver through life, I learned a lot. But as far as to get better at basketball, like my skills, that could have been a little bit more helpful. ... I learned enough to get me through."
Richmond does plan on remaining at Waukegan next season. It’s important for him to rebuild his image and prove to everyone he’s not a problem player.
"I want to talk to Coach and smooth this out and see if we can get this rolling for my junior year and senior year," Richmond said. "With me not liking all the publicity, I kind of want to get my slate clean. Get some of the negative publicity off of me and go into my junior year focused at the task at hand."
Right now for a lot of Richmond’s classmates, the task at hand is catching a college coach’s eye and receiving scholarship offers. One would think that Richmond would be pleased to have all those recruiting games behind him, but he isn’t.
He can’t help but for his mind to wander sometimes.
"Not to reveal too much information, but there are times where you kind of wonder what it may have been like if I had gone through the process," he said. "You can’t look back at what you’ve done. I like to view it as the future is never promised. Today, I can enjoy it, but tomorrow, I could very well want to explore options."
So, what does that mean for the Illini?
"I’m fine with [them]," Richmond said. "But like I said, it’s come to the point where I got to wonder, 'What if?' sometimes. Just talking to my coaches, just talking to my teammates, they’re kind of playing in the direction of what would it have been like if I had done something different. For now, I’m still committed. But like I said, the future is never promised."
* Rising Stars guard Nik Garcia, a rising senior, confirmed Thursday he won’t be back at Niles West next season, but he isn’t sure where he’s headed.
"It’s just that stuff was in shambles over there," he said. "It didn’t look like the program was going up. So, I just thought it was the right time to get out of there. Especially it being my senior year, I just want to have fun."
What the 6-6 shooter is having fun with right now is his recruitment. According to him, he has offers from Alabama, Miami Florida and Southern Illinois and gaining heavy interest from Florida State, Georgia Tech, Kentucky, Marquette and Wake Forest. He plans on making his decision in September.
* It’s been three years since Rising Stars point guard Cully Payne, a rising senior at Schaumburg, made his collegiate decision. It was the summer before his freshman year he committed to DePaul.
It's a choice he’s still happy with, though other schools still show him interest.
"I've got some big-time offers recently," he said. "'If I didn’t have that, what would it be like?' I'm happy with going to DePaul. I’m set on my commitment there."
Payne realizes that there have been people out there questioning him ever since he made his commitment.
"People say, 'He's in eighth grade, he’s white, 6-2, 6-1. Can he play in the Big East?'" Payne said. "That was my biggest motivation factor. It still is. 'Is he good enough? Is he bad?' I think all that leads up to me trying to be as good as I can be every day in my dad's gym working.
"I’m really happy where I am. There’s always room for improvement, but I'm happy where I’m at."
Close
Community Login
You've successfully logged in to the Sun-Times News group Community, click the close button to return to browsing.
Facebook App
Font Size
Email
Bookmark
Black Text