Interesting stories from 2 ex-teammates.

Drew Housman, Guard, Harvard Basketball, Class of 2009
664 votes by Kenny Kao, Anon User, Brien Colwell, (more)
Up until about halfway through the 08-09 season it was like having any other teammate. Then we played BC a few days after they had upset North Carolina, the number one team in the country at the time. No one thought we had a chance. The only other time I played BC was my freshman year, and we got blasted by 30.

We showed up at BC feeling confident as a team, but I think Jeremy was feeling a little something extra. He torched them from start to finish. It felt like he stole every pass and hit every jumper. They simply had no answer for him. The team played well as a whole, but Jeremy was clearly the reason we won the game. We were chanting his name on the shuttle ride home, never imagining that a sold out Madison Square Garden would be doing the same thing a few years later.

He had been the best player on our team for a while, but that game was the first time he showed that he could have been the best player on an ACC team. That is kind of amazing for an Ivy League guy.

Overall he is the best teammate you could ask for. Humble, works hard and plays hard. I can't say I'm that surprised to see what he is doing in the league. His ability to rise to the occasion is uncanny. He did it in high school, winning the state championship over the favored Mater Dei by making big plays in the 4th, he did it in college whenever he played a BCS school (except for Stanford his sophomore year, but that was a disaster across the board) and he is now doing it at the highest level possible. He might have a rough night against Columbia, but against UConn on national TV? 30 points in a near upset. It is really impressive when someone raises his level of play every time the pressure mounts.

Also, during the 4th quarter of the Nets game the announcer kept saying that Jeremy looked exhausted. What he doesn't know is that Jeremy always looks like that. He would appear to be dead tired after 5 minutes of warm ups. No one really knew why, but no one really cared because he would always come out and put in work for 40 minutes.

Update: This answer got so much love I thought I'd throw a few more details up:

I have a distinct memory of the first real action he saw as a freshman. He found our big guy for a layup by throwing a no-look pass that I would never have attempted. His first year was rocky but he showed flashes of potential.
He became exceptional at elevating for his jump shot, noticing that the opposing bigs had turned their backs, and firing a pass to our big guy for a layup. It got to the point where opposing forwards would be more worried about that pass than getting into rebounding position.
He is not "deceptively" quick like people keep saying. He is just super quick, straight up. And athleticism is not just about your bench press and your vertical. He has more than enough lateral quickness, coordination, body control and instincts to make up for what he might lack in the more traditional athletic categories.
I was always more of a Madden guy, but from limited experience and word of mouth I gathered he was excellent at Halo.

Ryan Glasgow, Product Manager
286 votes by Anjali Khurana, Kat Li, Mark Zuckerman, (more)
I played on the 6th grade basketball team with Jeremy

We both attended The King's Academy in 6th grade, which was roughly 50 kids in the class. Given the small size, I got to know him fairly well even though he only stayed at TKA for a year before transferring to a Jr. High closer to home.

He was exceptionally gifted both academically and in basketball, although it always seemed like basketball took the back seat.

In basketball, he was by far our best player. In a typical game we would win 29 - 26, with Jeremy scoring 22 of our points. He was indeed exceptionally quick, but it seemed fleeting. He was average height at the time, but thinner than the rest of us. Even though he was a standout player I don't think anyone expected him to do well at the higher levels. It's common to see smaller, shifty athletes not play as well at the more competitive levels when contact picks up and size becomes a factor. Adding to that, his parents were short so it didn't seem like he would add much height. When I played football against Javhid Best in High School, there was a much different feeling. Everyone knew he would go pro, to the extent that a few of my teammates asked for his autograph after the game. Jeremy was a much different story and I'd say most of us assumed he would start to blend in as he advanced.

Near the end of the season against our rivals, Valley Christian Dublin, we were warming up and Jeremy was no where to be found. He was always on time, and when the game started we weren't really sure what to do. He was our biggest scorer and not having him there surely meant a loss. As the first half continued, we kept looking around wondering why he wasn't there, and started to worry. At the half, sans Jeremy, we were down 16 - 10. As we wrapped up our halftime huddle, Jeremy sheepishly walked in and our whole team (plus our fans) erupted. After we all gave him a high five, I remember someone asked him why he was so late and he softly muttered "violin practice". The coach threw him in the game and we went on to win by two points!

Academically, he got straight A's and I remember he was in the Spelling Bee with my brother. They had were both chosen to represent the class after our grade held a spelling competition.

Later on, I went to the CCS Championship when he was a Senior at Palo Alto High School. After the win, I went up and talked to him after the game, and I was shocked how much taller he was than me. I finally realized he was the real deal. I don't think I've met anyone as humble or as hard working as Jeremy and I'm really glad he's having such success. If anyone deserves this, it's him.

He's #33 (middle row, center left) I'm #5