Robbie Hummel reflects on his ‘best year of broadcasting’ so far

Few basketball analysts have proven capable of calling both the professional and college game at a high level. But this year, Robbie Hummel showed his broadcasting ability has reached rarefied air.

For the first time in his television career, Hummel called the NBA playoffs through the second round and the NCAA Tournament through the second weekend. In doing so, Hummel is comfortable calling the 2025-26 basketball season as his “best year of broadcasting” so far.

That didn’t come without its fair share of challenges, however. Hummel, who began his broadcasting career with Big Ten Network in 2017, has traditionally focused on the college game. But this year, his first calling Peacock’s Monday On the Bench NBA broadcasts, the former Purdue standout had to bone up on his NBA knowledge.

Awful Announcing caught up with Hummel as he reflected on his first year working a full-time NBA and college basketball schedule.

The following interview has been lightly edited for clarity.

Awful Announcing: What stood out to you the most about your first year calling both the NBA and college?

Robbie Hummel: I was slated to do a minimum of 10 NBA games and I ended up doing 30. That was a thrill. And to do the NBA is such a dream come true. I watched so much of it, especially on NBC as a kid. I grew up near Chicago, in Valparaiso, which is about 55 minutes southeast. We were so glued to those tripleheaders on the weekends, and with what Michael Jordan was doing at that time, it was such an important part of me falling in love with basketball. And getting to watch that and see those ’90s Bulls teams play … I get goosebumps every time that song (“Roundball Rock”) plays, I really do.

And on the college side with CBS, going to the second weekend for TV with Kevin Harlan, Stan Van Gundy, and Lauren Shehadi. That was pretty awesome as well.

AA: Logistically, what is it like to work full-time broadcasting schedules at both levels of basketball?

RH: That was probably the most challenging thing is just figuring out what I need to do to stay in the NBA, because I hadn’t been covering it and now you’re doing a game a week.

And from a schedule standpoint, once January 1st happened, I would do a Monday NBA game for Peacock, a Tuesday college game for Peacock, and a weekend CBS game. Every once in awhile I’d have a Turner college game on a Wednesday or a Thursday. That was pretty much the cadence.

AA: You mentioned needing to figure out the NBA because you hadn’t been covering it prior to this year. Take us through that process.

RH: It was a decent amount of reading but it was also a decent amount of just kind of having the thought that if I’m not doing something, it’s helpful to watch an NBA game. That was definitely something I tried to do throughout the week. With a program called Synergy, you can watch an NBA game way faster than sitting through a two-hour broadcast. So I lean on that, lean on some of the great writers that cover the NBA, and just try to inform yourself as much as you can.

I worked a lot with Austin Rivers, and he’s still so close to his playing career that he still knows a lot of the guys, and I’m kind of further away. I’m James Harden’s class, or Kevin Love’s high school class. There’s not many of us playing, sadly, so I definitely had to do more homework than I will next year because I just needed to get back into it.

AA: Do you hope to maintain the same number of games going into next year?

RH: Yeah, for next year. As long as these networks will still have me.

AA: Do you have a preference between calling college or pro games?

RH: They’re both so different. I love college basketball; I was a ball boy for Homer Drew in the post-Bryce Drew era at Valpo University. That was such a big part of my basketball upbringing. I love the NCAA Tournament and I love the pageantry and home-court advantage of regular-season conference play. I love college.

But I do have a major appreciation for just how good the NBA players are. For the level of skill and what those guys are doing on a night to night basis, it’s just, the shot-making is such a display.

I love doing both of them. I hope I keep getting to do a mix, because I think it’s also helpful. Especially when you’re looking at college players and you start talking about draft stuff, it’s just good to see the difference in skill set and talent and ability and athleticism. You know that from when you played, but that’s getting to be 10 years ago for me, as a player. I think when you do 80 college games a year for the past seven years, you can definitely forget just how good these NBA guys are.

AA: A lot of industry types have pegged high expectations on your career. We at Awful Announcing named you a rising star in 2025, another prominent reporter called you the “heir apparent” to Bill Raftery earlier this year. Do you put the same expectations on yourself to eventually reach the pinnacle of basketball broadcasting?

RH: I think it’s similar to being a player where you’re always striving to get better, and you’re trying to do a better job and have an understanding for what you need to do to be better. And, yeah, those are the games that you want to call and you strive to call.

With that being said, Raf should do this for as long as he wants. He is a legend of broadcasting, he’s a legend as a person. If he wants to call this thing for the next 30 years, I hope he does. He’s so important to the sport, much like Dick Vitale and some of the guys that have come before those guys in terms of setting the tone and building this thing up into what it is.

So, of course, I want to call the best games from a competitive standpoint, but Bill Raftery should call it as long as Bill Raftery wants, because he truly is a legend in this whole thing.

AA: A lot of your biggest games this year have come as part of a three-man booth. Have you learned any tricks of the trade to better navigate a broadcast alongside two other people?

RH: The first thing I would say is it was a real challenge initially. I think we thought it would be a huge challenge initially with Austin and I being on separate benches (during Peacock’s On The Bench presentation, where Hummel and Rivers would call games from each team’s sideline). That certainly did have its challenges.

But in terms of the more traditional ones, getting down the nonverbal cues, you’re pointing at each other like, “You take this replay,” but nothing’s being said. And it’s also just kind of figuring out the cadence that your partner likes to talk at. At the same time, you’ve definitely got to be more economical with your words because there needs to be some time of just the crowd.

AA: Last one. Have you heard the comparisons of your voice to Jay Bilas? Do you hear it/see it yourself?

RH: I have, yes. And I will say, I’m a huge fan, how could you not be? He called games of mine in college, I watched him as a kid, he’s one of the best broadcasters to do it. I can see where sometimes maybe the cadence is there, but I don’t necessarily think we sound similar in voice. But other people clearly do. He’d be a good guy to copy, he’s had an incredibly Hall of Fame career and he’s done it for a long time and he’s always been so great to me.