Reggie Miller by Joe Frisar

Author:Joe Frisar [Frisaro, Joe]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781613212516
Publisher: Sports Publishing
Published: 2012-06-05T00:00:00+00:00

Reggie aspired to add his name to a long list of Bruins legends including, Lew Alcindor (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar), Bill Walton, Don MacLean, Jamaal Wilkes, Michael Warren, Kiki Vandeweghe, Sidney Wicks, Henry Bibby, Lucius Allen and Lynn Shackleford.

In Reggie's sophomore season, Walt Hazzard replaced Larry Farmer as UCLA’s head coach. Reggie’s career began to take off.

Hazzard encouraged Reggie to shoot those long-range “rainbow” jumpers. Reggie became the workhorse on the team, missing just 27 of the teams 715 minutes over their final 17 games.

The Bruins advanced to the National Invitation Tournament in that 1984-85 season. Miller became the school's first sophomore to lead UCLA in scoring since Bill Walton.

UCLA advanced to the tournaments semifinals at Madison Square Garden, the site where the Bruins suffered an embarrassing 88-69 loss during the regular season to St. Johns.

The Bruins, however, had made great progress down the stretch. This time, they traveled to New York primed to win a championship.

In the semifinals, the Bruins knocked off Louisville, 75-66. That set up a meeting in the NIT championship game against Bob Knight and the Indiana Hoosiers.

Indiana that year was led by guard Steve Alford.

Like Miller, Alford was a sophomore guard with the reputation as a long-range sharp shooter. The two dueled head-to-head. In the early stages, Alford got the better of the action. But a jump shot by Reggie Miller tied the game at halftime.

In the end, Reggie got hot, and UCLA held on for a 65-62 victory. Reggie was named the tournament MVP in a close vote over Alford.

For Reggie, it was a shining moment in a nationally televised game. It also quieted his critics.

“A magazine article said Reggie couldn’t beat his sister one-on-one,” Coach Hazzard said. “I wish the writer would put some salt and pepper on it and eat that article."

It was sweet redemption for Reggie.

“This is really sweet.’ he told reporters after the game, “We and the coach took a lot of verbal abuse."

Reggie wasn’t just Cheryl’s younger brother any longer. He was a bonafide big-time college basketball player.

As a junior and senior, he established himself as a pure scorer. His scoring average as a junior was 26 points per game, fourth highest in the country.

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