It´s that time of year again whe it´s lighter outside, warmer and nature is getting ready for spring. In April the German Regionalliga for the most part is history again and American players are already in attack mode for new contracts. It isn´t any different with Jeremy Ingram (183-G-1991, college: AAMU). The walking bucket who belongs to the top Regionalliga players in Germany for years just finished another season this time with SG Braunschweig and is on summer vacation. But he is different than most Americans in that he doesn´t hurray back to the crib, but actually likes to spent a good amount of time in Europe before heading back home for some fine home cooked food and time with the homies. However this time he will mix pleasure with work in that he wants to already secure a deal for next season and where he will play. “I will be traveling all over Germany this summer visiting family and friends and even visiting different teams to prepare for next season. I´m also thinking of playing a few streetball tournaments. But my main objective is to go visit my best friend in Atlanta who just recently opened up a new tattoo shop there called “Trill Studios”, stated Jeremy Ingram.

Jeremy Ingram who recognizes Quran Dublin from Bargteheide this past season as not only the toughest player he faced during the season, but in all his Regionalliga years and was born in 1991 and just finished his 8th professional season isn´t getting any younger is a player that has always logged major minutes in the Regionalliga. After a long season the body usually feels like it just survived a major physical battle, but this time around it wasn´t so bad. “I actually feel 100% healthy and actually feel like I could still play more games. I´m usually so tired after the season that I don’t want to play basketball for weeks. But this year is different, guess it´s because I didn’t play nearly as much as previous seasons”, stressed Jeremy Ingram. This past season with SG Braunschweig wasn´t a great one as the team finished 5-16 and one he isn´t proud of. It was difficult to win games when the defense allowed 90 points per game and offensively produced only 83 points. “This season was probably the worst season and definitely the worst record of not only my professional career but my basketball career. I think there was no real connection on defense where all guys are working together. Defense is all about talking, help-side, and 1 on 1 defense. It´s also about attitude and being willing to play defense and I just think there was none of this on the team”, expressed Jeremy Ingram. The club began with a 6 game losing streak and then caught themselves and won 3 in a row and 4 of 6 games. “When I arrived to the team on game 4 the losing streak was already started. Wouldn’t say that was the fate because we had so many opportunities to turn things around but just couldn’t quite do it for whatever reason. My personal opinion is with a young team when things are going good emotions are good so everything plays good, when things start to go bad, emotions, attitudes and body language are effected which starts to affect the whole team and it´s just hard to overcome that”, commented Jeremy Ingram. Despite the team losing it´s last 7 games, was there anything positive gained from the season. “I don’t think anyone gave up. I just think everyone kind of realized this season was just a total mess and it probably wasn’t going to change. And honestly it showed on the court every night. I think maybe it was a wakeup call season. If you want to be a good team and a good player you have to do a lot of things different starting with how you practice. Because all the bs that was going on in practice showed during the games. I also think players have to learn to accept roles and accept the fact that their role might be just getting rebounds not trying to score 15-20 points or maybe focus on getting 8 assists or defense”, added Jeremy Ingram.

Last season the American who can unleash the mid distance jumper at any place on the court played for the farm team of easyCredit BBL team Basketball Lowen Braunschweig. He was the oldest by a long margin and played with guys 10 years or more years younger than him. Two guys he had immense joy playing with were Gian Aydinoglu who won the NBBL title with Alba Berlin and Romario Holloway who once connected for 41 points in an NBBL game. “It took some adjusting playing with Gian as I assume it took a lot of adjustment for him playing with me also. I think he will be a pretty good player because everyone in this organization is pushing for him so he has all the support he needs to be good. I tell people all the time Romario was my favorite person to play with on the team. It´s always fun when a guard like me can play with a big man like him. Unfortunately injuries kept us from playing more together. He doesn’t complain about shots because he knows what type of scorer I am, he is always coming to set screens and roll to the basket and sometimes I hit him on the roll for an easy dunk or his screen is going to get me free for that midrange. I see him being an important player for a BBL team in a few years”, warned Jeremy Ingram. With Braunschweig he averaged 24/5/1/2 with his scoring being down from past seasons. The whole season was just a struggle for him. “Well from the beginning with the law suit with my 1st team that caused me to miss the first 2 months of the season and then coming to a new young team where I didn’t fit in at all. I say to do what I did in these conditions just shows how good of a player I am. I say that as Humble as possible. But I can honestly say I´m glad it´s over and I´m glad the Braunschweig organization gave me a home for the season, so I´m thankful for that”, stressed Jeremy Ingram. His minutes were 6 less than 2 seasons ago in Mannheim, but only 1 minute less than last season. “It was not my plan or my desires to play less minutes and I was very unhappy about playing significantly less minutes but at the end of the day coaches get to make the decisions so I had to live with those decisions no matter how unhappy I was. But a player like me should be playing 30-35 minutes every game in this league but I guess everyone didn’t see it the same way”, added Jeremy Ingram. A big highlight was that he shot his best from outside in the last 3 seasons at 38%. “More reps was a big part of it. The shooting machine and having access to a gym almost everyday to get up shots was also a big part. But I was more of a catch and shoot or whenever I get the ball type of player on this team. Where as on other teams I was also the playmaker and scorer, but here I had to just focus on shooting because that was pretty much my job”, stated Jeremy Ingram. His assists were down, but he continued to be a real pest on the defensive end. “My assists were down mainly because I was a spot up shooter on this team but also on my other teams I got a lot of assists from the team running the fast breaks with me and back door cuts when I attack the hoop. It was more/less a lot of standing around the 3 point line and pouting when I attacked this season instead of just cutting to the hoop. I think people overlook my defense this season because of how bad we played team defense. But again I´m top 3 in the league in steals again for like the 3rd, 4th straight season”, said Jeremy Ingram.

The off season will last a few months for him who listed Gian Aydinoglu as the team´s most improved player and it will be as usual very interesting where his journey will go. Will a Pro B team or Pro A club finally give him an opportunity? The season is only over since a few weeks, but as usual he is mega optimistic. “I have a few great options so far but again nothing is official until I sign on that dotted line but hopefully everything works out”, commented Jeremy Ingram. There is always the possibility for him to play outside Germany, but he has played his whole career in Germany and feels very comfortable here. “I play basketball in Germany but I´m always traveling outside the country. Besides playing basketball, traveling is another thing I love to do so I´m sure I will be all over this summer”, stated Jeremy Ingram. His age changes every year, but one thing for sure doesn´t change and that is the overwhelming weight of the chip on his shoulder. “The chip will always be there because no matter how many times I have a good season higher league coaches and Gm´s still feel like its ok to pass on a player like me so trust me I will keep my feet in their necks until I hang up my jersey”, warned Jeremy Ingram. The chip answer is no surprise as his motivation and drive to reach a higher level will never end. He will continue to grind and keep his feet on Gm´s necks, because he deserves to be in a higher league. He would take the Pro B by storm. Somebody finally give him a chance!