On Thursday night, Reggie Miller was in Philadelphia to call the highly-anticipated showdown between the Sixers and Nets on TNT, where he watched James Harden pass him for third all-time in three-pointers made as the Nets routed the Sixers on the road.
Next week, he’ll be off to one of the NCAA Tournament first round sites for CBS and Turner Sports’ coverage of March Madness as his attention shifts from the NBA to the college game for two weeks, calling games along side Kevin Harlan, Dan Bonner, and Dana Jacobson. It’s the culmination of a months long multi-tasking process for Miller, as he starts to split his focus between NBA and NCAA hoops in January so he’s ready to dive headfirst into his assignment once he finds out where he’s headed on Selection Sunday.
Along with his presence on game broadcasts, Miller will also frequent appear as the star of Wendy’s March Madness campaign, and earlier this week, we got to talk with Miller on behalf of Wendy’s. The Hall of Fame inductee talked about his shift in assignment and preparation for the Tournament, the teams he’s most excited to see, the fun he had shooting this year’s Wendy’s commercials, and why he feels it’s important to support and uplift the next generation of basketball players rather than being “bitter or a hater” like some stars of the past become.
First off I gotta ask, does Cheryl even answer the phone from you after UCLA beats USC?
[laughs] No, she does not. In very much the same vein, I would not answer my phone from her if USC beat my beloved Bruins. Look, we’ve had this rivalry going on for years between her and I, and I tell people all the time I am partial and do have a little bit of Trojan blood rolling through my veins because of Cheryl D. And she’s very much the same way, but when we go head-to-head we more so trash talk not so much in basketball, but it’s the football games we trash talk more so in. You know, they only play one another once a year. So that’s kind of when we trash talk more than the basketball game.
Okay, okay. Because obviously y’all got it done on Saturday.
Yes, we did.
It’s conference tournament week across the country — some teams are finishing up and others are just starting. As a player, what are your favorite memories of the conference tournament? Because I think we all focus on the NCAA, but for so many teams the conference tournament is the main goal of the season, right? You want to win the conference because that’s what punches your ticket to the Big Dance.
You’re absolutely right. And there’s two objectives, really, for these college teams. You want to be playing well late, which as you just mentioned, leads into conference play. Number two, to win your conference tournament gives you that automatic bid. But even getting to the championship game almost can kind of punch your ticket as well, unless you’re one of those underdog teams that have a sub .500 record and you absolutely need to win that conference tournament.
But I think even getting to the championship game puts all eyes on you. I only played in one conference tournament — it was the Pac-10 then, the Pac-12’s first (conference tournament). But it’s a chance to have rubber match games because you may have split your games against a conference rival, and you get a chance to settle the score in a conference tournament, which is kind of cool. Or get pay back if you lost both games, trying to salvage a win against a particular team. So I think that’s why conference tournament games are so important because it gives the team a little bit of a boost of confidence hopefully leading into the tournament.
For you, how do you navigate this month? Because obviously you’re shifting gears from NBA to tournament time. How do you go about the process of changing your approach and making sure you’re keeping an eye on both things?
Well, that’s the key there. If you’re a basketball junkie, it’s pretty easy, which I am. So you’ve got to watch a lot of games. I do a ton of reading because obviously there’s more colleges. There’s 300+ colleges, so you’ve got to do your research and your reading. But the cool thing about it is because of technology, every game can be seen at some point. So if you are a basketball junkie, whether it’s the high school, college, or the professional range, you have eyes on it already. But I think come middle of January, for me, I start to shift a little bit in terms of watching more college stuff. Because for the pros, you pretty much know that like the back of your hand. Thirty teams, you know all the players, and you’ve been doing it for so long.
But starting in January, I start to shift my focus a little bit towards the colleges. And personally for myself, I call the games a little bit different because this is a Cinderella moment for a lot of the team come tournament time — especially the lesser known teams, so I want to make it special for them. For Kevin Harlan, Dan Bonner, and myself, for us to be calling their games, I want them to be like, “That was kind of cool how, Reggie Miller said my name this way or he talked about me this way.” I think in the professional ranks, we’re a little bit more critical because these guys are making big money and it’s a big business. And so is the NCAA, but the kids aren’t seeing any of this money, the institutions are. So I try to be less critical and speak more x’s and o’s and try to uplift the kids a little bit more and make it fun for them. Because I want them to have a Cinderella experience if our crew is calling their game.
Yeah, and I think the having fun part of that is something that is important to you and you can tell on your call for NBA and NCAA. I mean, if you’re in the basketball gym, you seem like you’re having fun, right? That for you is your happy place, and it is something I think is appreciated as a viewer that you are happy to be there, and it comes across on the broadcast.
Well, I want people to understand at the end of the day this is a game. It’s a game that we all love and enjoy, that we’ve all sweated and put a lot of time in, and I want fans and people at home to be appreciative of the young men and women that have sacrificed to try to reach the highest level: Winning an NCAA Tournament and hopefully eventually going pro in the WNBA or the NBA. This is a lifelong dream. So, I do want to have fun when I’m calling games because I’ve got the best seat in the house, center court where I can see everything and hear everything. And I want to pull back the veil a little bit and let the viewers see and experience what I’ve experienced. And that’s I think the cool part about it.
Absolutely. And going along with that it seems like, when you’re picking out opportunities and things to do off the court, like with this Wendy’s campaign, it seems like a thing that you have a lot of fun with. How did you come to this partnership and why is this something that you wanted to continue now for a third year?
Well we started in 2020, and the first year we had such a blast. I knew in this third year that Wendy’s and the producers were so happy with the first two, they were going to kind of allow us — when I say us meaning the actors — they had a script. But they were like, “We are not going to stick to the script. We want you guys to kind of wing it.” All of our eyes went kind of like, really? This is cool. More improv, and to date, I think this is arguably been the most fun I’ve had on a commercial shoot probably ever. The men and women I’ve worked with, the actors, the comedic timing was fantastic. We worked off one another.
I would be remiss not to, if you don’t mind, if I can mention them to you that would it be great. Kathryn Feeney, she’s the only one that’s done all three Wendy’s commercials with me. Chris Kleckner, Willie Earl Jr., Ericka Kreutz, and last but not least, Bill O’Neill. I would be remiss not to mention them because I like to give love to everyone. And I know people see my face, but they don’t even know who these great actors are. And they uplifted me, and hopefully I tried to uplift them, and I was entering their world of comedic timing and improv, and we had so much fun doing it. So by far I think these will be the best commercials because they’re just, what you see was literally made up right then. We were just working off one another, and that’s what made them so fun. So fun.
It’s interesting that you said and you do that, and I think it kind of speaks to how you approach a lot of things because we see some players are more critical of the current generation where you seem to take the approach, like Allen Iverson, like Isiah Thomas, of trying to uplift and really celebrate the current generation and celebrate those that you work with and come before you. Why is it that you find it important to do that when you’re talking about, specifically on the basketball court, the guys that have come after you? And lifting them up and celebrating them and doing that as opposed to maybe being more critical of them?
Robby, I was raised and mentored by Earvin “Magic” Johnson, Byron Scott, and Michael Cooper, the heyday of the Showtime Lakers in the ’80s. So when I got to UCLA, those three guys, during the summers when we would have our workouts up at the men’s gym, they took me under their wing each and every summer and they taught me life — life after basketball, life during the league, how to conduct yourself, how to be respectful, how to be on time, how to have interviews like this. I wouldn’t be in this position if it wasn’t for Magic and Byron and Michael Cooper. And I know a lot of former players, they become haters. It’s all about them. “This is what we did.” That’s not how you turn over our game. And if you want this league to be successful, which it is, there’s always a turnover effect. And people come up, “Aren’t you upset or bitter at Steph Curry?” Absolutely not.
Stephen Curry, when he was a little boy, I was his favorite player. Why would I hate on what he’s doing right now? Maybe I inspired a little bit of that in him. And there’s so many kids that Stephen is inspiring now, that Ray is inspiring now. You can’t tell me Ja Morant — look at old Allen Iverson tapes, Steve Nash tapes. Absolutely. So why be bitter or be a hater? We want the game to rise, not stall. So I think that’s why I’m so open-armed with a lot of these young players in today’s game. Because we couldn’t shoot the threes! We weren’t allowed really. We played inside-out in the ’80s and ’90s. Today’s game is played outside-in. So how the game has evolved, and hopefully I had a small fraction of that by the way I played and shot the basketball, maybe I inspired Klay, Damian Lillard, Stephen Curry, Joe Harris. Maybe I had a small part in that. So it’s all about uplifting, my friend.
Shifting back to the to the tournament, what teams are you most excited to see? Not necessarily the ones that you think are gonna — we’ll get to predictions — but the teams that you’re looking forward to getting your eyes on, possibly in person depending on how the draw shakes out?
First, let me say this. I think there are 10 to 15 teams that could literally win this tournament. Remember, neutral site, no home court advantage, and we kind of talked about this, if a team gets hot late. For instance, Memphis is hot late. We know that they’ve got the pedigree. They’ve got a lot of young players, but the way they’re playing defense. Penny Hardaway, Larry Brown, a former coach of mine known for his defense, Tyler Harris, Landers Nolley II, and they’re without Jalen Duren and Emoni Bates, too. I want to see Memphis. I think in a tournament like this where defense is key, and you’ve got to have good guard play, Memphis is one of those teams I want to see.
Purdue and Jaden Ivey. If you have great guard play, that can carry you for six games. Jaden Ivey is one of those players, if he gets hot, who can carry the Boilermakers. I might be a little bit of a homer because it’s an Indiana team, but I like Purdue.
And I will go with the interesting game tonight that I want to see, because I do believe Gonzaga. I have them in the Final Four. I’m leaning towards them winning it all this year. But a team that has always been a thorn in their side has been one of their conference rivals, St. Mary’s, in the rubber match game tonight, that I’m excited to see. Again, neutral floor. St. Mary’s just beat them by 10 a couple weeks ago. St. Mary’s is one of those teams because they can shoot, and they have floor spacers. That’s going to be a fun game to watch, to see who wins the WCC. I’m not saying St. Mary’s gonna go deep in the tournament. But if I’m gonna pick Gonzaga to win it all, a team that’s been a thorn in their side, St. Mary’s is one of those teams I’m keeping an eye out as well.
I’ll close with this. You mentioned that Gonzaga is in your Final Four. Obviously we don’t know the bracket yet, but if you were going to pick four teams that you would expect to be there, I know you said it does feel wide open this year, who would be the four teams, before we know the bracket, that you would think we will see that first week in April?
Gonzaga. Kentucky. Auburn. I like Auburn. And, wow. I will go with … see, to me Kansas is going the other way. I don’t like how Kansas is playing right now. I will go with … I’m gonna surprise you again like I did with Auburn. Kofi Cockburn.
Ooh, the Illini.
“Ooh the Illini!” Such a surprise. Such a good team turned around here, Robby.
They’re playing well late if you’re looking into a team that’s starting to play better.
Kofi Cockburn.
He’s a beast.
He is. He is. But see, here’s the problem. You’ve gotta spoon feed him. Big men, they’re almost like a dinosaur now. That’s why, you know, their guards are good, but he can get in foul trouble. But I don’t know, if you’re gonna guard him one on one he’s gonna score.
It would be fun, I mean, you talk about a matchup like him and Chet (Holmgren). Polar opposite big men. But that would be fun.
Ooh, Chet and Drew (Timme) versus him? I would love that, right? Wouldn’t you love to see that? Or all those bigs for Kentucky? I would love to see it.
