{"id":5251,"date":"2026-03-18T21:18:47","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T21:18:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/westcoastaftershock.com\/wca\/2026\/03\/tyrese-haliburton-interview\/"},"modified":"2026-03-18T21:18:47","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T21:18:47","slug":"tyrese-haliburton-interview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/westcoastaftershock.com\/wca\/2026\/03\/tyrese-haliburton-interview\/","title":{"rendered":"Tyrese Haliburton Talks March Madness Brackets, Buzzer-Beaters & Why Reality TV Isn\u2019t For Him [Exclusive]"},"content":{"rendered":"
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This month, Reese\u2019s is bringing together basketball trailblazers Tyrese Haliburton<\/a>, Breanna Stewart, Richard Jefferson, and Andraya Carter for a closed-door Bracket Summit. <\/p>\n

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Source: Jacob Kupferman \/ Getty<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At the Summit, the stars built their men\u2019s and women\u2019s tournament brackets and encouraged fans to join in as those picks inevitably fall apart throughout March Madness.<\/p>\n

BOSSIP\u2019s<\/em> Rebecah Jacobs<\/a> got to chat with Tyrese Haliburton after the Summit, where he broke down his NCAA bracket, Iowa State pride, and what he loves the most about March Madness. He also revealed whether or not he would ever do reality TV, his talent on the aux, and his surprise opinion on the never-ending GOAT debates. <\/p>\n

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\u201cObviously the one and done factor changes things and makes it that much more exciting for everybody,\u201d Haliburton said about the difference between the college basketball tournament and NBA playoffs. \u201cIf you catch a team on a bad day, you could have an upset, and I think that\u2019s why there are so many crazy things that happen.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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He continued, \u201cIn the NBA, we spend so much time watching the NBA games and we\u2019re not watching college basketball as much, so things are a little different. But, in March, in NBA locker rooms, and NBA arenas, you never see people take as much pride in their alma maters or their universities, and that\u2019s fun for me, because I\u2019m somebody who watches Iowa State all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Hali went on to explain the winners of his bracket, emphasizing that he sees no reason for U Conn\u2019s women\u2019s team not to take home the title.<\/p>\n

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\u201cU Conn, I think they\u2019ve just been dominant all year,\u201d he began. \u201cTheir team is so good, I love Sarah Strong, I love Azzi Fudd, they have Ali Isabelle on their team as well, who is from my area back home, so I think their team is just so deep and I don\u2019t foresee them losing\u2026I think their biggest challenge will be getting past South Carolina in the final 4, and then ultimately UCLA in the national championship, but I think that it\u2019s doable, and ultimately, something that they will do.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

On the men\u2019s side, he\u2019s standing by his alma mater. <\/p>\n

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\u201cI have Iowa State winning the national championship, I\u2019m a little biased, of course, that\u2019s my alma mater,\u201d Tyrese admitted. \u201cBut, I think they\u2019ve been a great team all year, they\u2019ve done so many special things and I think they\u2019ve been playing really well all through March. Obviously, they\u2019ll have to get through some tough teams: Kentucky, Virginia, Michigan. There\u2019s really good teams in the region, and in college basketball as a whole, but I believe it\u2019s something that they can get done.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The Indiana Pacers star also spoke about his fan interactions on social media coming naturally to him, chalking it up to his generation and their love for the internet.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI think it\u2019s something that comes naturally. I was born in 2000, I grew up with social media, I\u2019m just as addicted to social media as everyone else my age. I\u2019m on social media all the time, it just so happens that I\u2019m an NBA player, so when I tweet things like I would if I was not an NBA player, they get more attention because of who I am,\u201d he said with a chuckle.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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\u201cI\u2019ve just always liked to interact with people on social media, it\u2019s fun for me to have those interactions with fans or people who aren\u2019t fans and just have banter\u2013it\u2019s just always been apart of who I am,\u201d Haliburton continued. \u201cIt\u2019s something that\u2019s fun for me.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

After appearing on the second season of Starting 5, Tyrese isn\u2019t exactly ready for reality TV, but he is interested in sharing more of his life with fans.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI\u2019m glad my fianc\u00e9e\u2019s not here to hear you talk about me doing reality TV show,\u201d he said with a laugh, implying she\u2019d jump at the chance. \u201cI\u2019ve has some success with my Youtube and my social media, I stream sometimes gaming and other things. I can see myself putting out a more inside look into my life, for sure, obviously with me more in control of it.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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\u201cBut, reality television? I\u2019m probably out on that one,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

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When asked about who in the Pacers locker room has the best taste in music, Hali didn\u2019t hesitate to say \u201cmyself.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cI think I\u2019m versatile, I usually have the aux, because I can play something that connects with everybody in the locker room,\u201d he explained. \u201cIf a guy wants country, I know that I can drop one at the right time and get quickly to another genre that other guys wanna hear fast. So, I feel like I\u2019m a pretty good DJ.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

As for worst? The team\u2019s rookie, Kam Jones.<\/p>\n

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\u201cHe\u2019s been on aux duty since I\u2019ve been injured, and when I\u2019m around the team and hear that stuff\u2026it\u2019s pretty horrible.\u201d the star admitted.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Haliburton is who\u2019s known for taking clutch shots on his own team, and when asked who else in the league he\u2019d pick to take those same shots, he grappled with the question for a bit. <\/p>\n

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\u201cThat\u2019s a great question,\u201d he said before a long pause. \u201cI\u2019d probably say Dame [Lillard], because he\u2019s got the best celebration, you know\u2013Dame Time\u2013for late in the game. Steph Curry, you pick Steph you\u2019re never wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

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And regardless of how willing he is to give other players their flowers, Haliburton doesn\u2019t like to engage in GOAT debates, because of what it means for the rest of the athletes being talked about.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI try to stay out of those conversations because it diminishes other people and I feel like we\u2019ve gone too far as a society in trying to diminish people to put others on top\u2026It can just get corny sometimes for me,\u201d he said when asked his criteria for determining the greatest of all time.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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\u201cBack when I was in those conversations, me being a 26-year-old dude, I love LeBron [James],\u201d he continued. \u201cI can\u2019t speak on guys that I didn\u2019t watch.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Your March Madness bracket will inevitably bust\u2014every bracket does. But this year, when it does, you\u2019ll have the chance to win a\u00a0Reese\u2019s\u00a0<\/em>cup and tickets to the NCAA men\u2019s or women\u2019s\u202fFinal Four AND Championship Games.<\/p>\n

When fans\u2019 brackets inevitably bust, they can share them by tagging and following @Reeses and using #ForAReesesSweeps on Instagram, X, or TikTok for a chance to win free\u00a0Reese\u2019s\u00a0<\/em>Peanut Butter Cups and attend the men\u2019s or women\u2019s Final Four and Championship Games. Official rules here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The post Tyrese Haliburton Talks March Madness Brackets, Buzzer-Beaters & Why Reality TV Isn\u2019t For Him [Exclusive]<\/a> appeared first on Bossip<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This month, Reese\u2019s is bringing together basketball trailblazers Tyrese Haliburton, Breanna Stewart, Richard Jefferson, and Andraya Carter for a closed-door…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14044,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6],"tags":[10,9],"class_list":["post-5251","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-rss","tag-culture","tag-hip-hop"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/westcoastaftershock.com\/wca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5251","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/westcoastaftershock.com\/wca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/westcoastaftershock.com\/wca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westcoastaftershock.com\/wca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14044"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westcoastaftershock.com\/wca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5251"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/westcoastaftershock.com\/wca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5251\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/westcoastaftershock.com\/wca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westcoastaftershock.com\/wca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5251"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westcoastaftershock.com\/wca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}