There are few truer signs that March has arrived than Reggie Miller popping up in a Wendy’s commercial.
For the fourth consecutive year, Miller is the face of the Wendy’s March Madness ads, and as he continues to film the spots there becomes more of an emphasis on the “madness” portion behind the scenes. Sure there’s a script, but it’s more of a rough guideline.
“I would say it’s 70-to-75 percent is ad-libbed,” Miller said. “We just came up with it right then and we did it.”
So yes, when you see the NBA icon correcting a server on how to approach him or dancing his way around the set during every media break this month, that’s all Reggie.
Not that it should be a surprise at this point. Few players in basketball history have embraced the spotlight like the Hall of Famer.
“I started with like, the MC Hammer. I did the Running Man. I did the windshield wiper is like it was just silly,” Miller said of his dance moves. “We were just doing crazy stuff. The dancing is good, but it’s the timing of the reactions of the actors [Chris Kleckner, Bill O’Neil, Kathryn Feeney and Willie Earl Jr.]. That’s what’s so brilliant about it. It’s never a dull moment when we’re on set.”
Much like his fictional self in the commercials, Miller plans on spending all of March glued to his TV watching the bracket play out. And because he isn’t calling any of the tournament games he’ll get to watch as many of them as he pleases.
Miller spoke to For The Win ahead of the tournament to dish on his Final Four picks, which team is getting bounced early, the dumbest bets he made with his Pacers teammates and why he rocks Craig Sager Air Force 1s during March.
This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.
Let's just get right to it: Who's in your Final Four?
Why don’t you just get right to it, Blake!?
OK, well, I have Houston coming out of the Midwest. I have my [UCLA] Bruins coming out of the West. I have Alabama from the South. This is where it gets very interesting.
You may call me crazy, right? The way Duke has played. I’ve got Duke coming out of the East as a No. 5 seed. I may be crazy. I may be wrong. But I like Dookie.
The Blue Devils have a tough draw as a No. 5 seed. What do you see as the biggest challenge for them?
They’ve got to continue to shoot the basketball, number one, like they did in the ACC tournament, but kind of like what they’ve done over the last three weeks-to-a-month.
If you remember their season, they go off to a hard start shooting the basketball. They weren’t healthy all season. And they’re young. Yes. And you mix youth with injuries. That’s a recipe for disaster. So they got off to a slow start. Once everyone started to get healthy, and Dereck Lively figured out the college game —the overall No. 1 player in high school a year ago [per ESPN] — I think this team has taken off. They’re 17-1 once everyone’s been healthy.
So if they can shoot the basketball, they defend at a very high level. There’s two things you’ve got to do well to win five games and win the NCAA championship. You got to have great guard play. And you’ve got to be able to rebound the basketball. Those are two things that Duke does very well. They rebound both ends, offensive rebounding and defensive rebounding.
To me, I’m a little shocked if they’re a five seed. Truthfully. But what scares me them being a five seed as you know, there’s always a No. 12 versus No. 5 upset. There will be one 12-5 upset. I’m hoping it’s not this one.
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Speaking of upsets, which team do you think is most likely to choke early this year in the tournament?
When I say that I feel that UCLA should have been a No. 1, then your follow up question is “Who shouldn’t be a number one?”
I think Alabama is a lock. I think Houston’s a lock. I think Kansas is a lock because of all their quad one victories. I look at Purdue, and I do like Purdue, don’t get me wrong. I’m an adopted Hoosier. Please Boilermakers send your tweets to Blake Schuster. I just think UCLA should have been the No. 1, Purdue should’ve been a No. 2.
So in terms of upset: they’ll win against the winner of Texas Southern-Farleigh Dickinson, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Memphis or Florida Atlantic in that next round could give them a go. I’m just saying.
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During the Big 12 tournament, Dick Vitale was talking about Gradey Dick and how much his shot reminds him of your UCLA days. Do you see that comparison at all?
He does have a high release and a high arc. Which I did, especially when I was at UCLA and a little bit in the pros, but I brought it down a little bit. But yeah, he does.
And another thing I like about Gradey Dick is he has that gooseneck. He leaves it up. He has a beautiful follow through, which I don’t see a lot of players do anymore. But I can see the comparison a little bit. I like Gradey Dick’s game. I really do.
.@gradey_dick = 𝗵𝗶𝗺
make that 21 for 4️⃣ tonight‼️ pic.twitter.com/KnMN7p1Yh2
— Kansas Men’s Basketball (@KUHoops) February 7, 2023
Sports betting has changed how we look at March Madness over the last few years with the way it's been embraced across sports. What's the worst bet you've ever made?
You’re gonna hate me for saying this, but I’m not I’m not a real [sports] bettor. In the 80s and 90s it was such a taboo, “don’t bet, you’re gonna get kicked out of the league don’t even think about betting”. So now that it’s so widely accepted and you know, that we promote during our games I just don’t understand it. I don’t know if that’s a good or bad thing.
So the question is the worst bet I’ve ever done. Yeah there’s so many that off the top of my head I can’t think right now because I’ve had so many idiotic bets.
In my Pacers days, rolling the ball from the baseline and seeing if you could stop it at the jump circle. Now, it seems so idiotic. But we used to literally like bowling like bet on that. Who could get it to stop it in jump circle, which I have to say I won most of the time because I have good hand eye coordination, I might say.
Of course I’m going to do things I feel like I can win.
Last year you wore Craig Sager Air Force 1s for games you were broadcasting. You made sure to shout him out a lot during the tournament. What does his legacy mean to you?
Well, we were great teammates at TNT for calling games he and I, him doing sideline and doing a lot of our games on our crew. It’s funny the time we spent away from the court just having dinner and laughing and watching film and his love of the game, right? Craig didn’t mind sticking his nose and finding out all the little tidbits of certain teams and players. And I respected that he respected the game, he loved the game.
He loved to be around people and fans. He was a people person. The one thing he always loved, he loved this tournament. He loved the bands and the cheerleaders and the atmosphere. So that’s why I wanted to make it a point to wear his Air Force 1s just for people to understand how much he loved college basketball.
The old adage is gone but never forgotten, you know, I took that approach. I loved and respected that man. And I’m glad people would get a chance to see what he did for the game, not only professionally, but for college basketball as well.
I will always have the Sagers on [in March] and the Sagers will make more appearances come the NBA playoff this year as well. I might even do a funky blazer like Sager did this year as well.
