Utah Star’s No. 1 Fan Whistled for Traveling

Time to put away the plane tickets. Fold up those bus schedules.

Andre Miller’s mom is staying home this weekend.

Utah plays at Long Beach State tonight, and this is one trip that won’t put a crimp in Andrea Robinson’s travel budget.

“How much is gas a gallon?” the Compton resident said with a laugh.

She has followed her son’s career--literally--from his days at Verbum Dei High on the road to last season’s Final Four in San Antonio to last week’s tournament in Maui and beyond.

She knows how to scout the air fares and find every deal--and if there’s one thing that bugs her about the NCAA tournament, it’s that the brackets for the first-round games come out too late for her to get a seven-day advance-purchase fare.

Which leads us to three seasons ago, when Robinson took a bus from Los Angeles to Dallas for two NCAA tournament games.

“I don’t know how long it took her,” Miller said. “I know she was tired when she got there.”

Try 29 hours.

“It’s not that bad. You just sacrifice,” said Robinson, who often travels with her husband, Albert Robinson, Andre’s stepfather.

“I went on the Greyhound the other weekend to Salt Lake City,” she said. “It’s 15 to 17 hours. It sounds bad to the ear, but it’s not that bad.

“I look at the basketball books, or doze. I don’t do a whole lot of talking. I look at the upcoming games and do my itinerary for those.”

Robinson once thought she’d be plotting NBA trips by now, but Miller chose to stay at Utah for one more season.

No matter that he had reached the pinnacle of his college career by steering Utah to the NCAA championship game against Kentucky. No matter that he already had his degree in sociology. No matter that he had met Arizona’s Mike Bibby in a regional final and walked away the winning point guard.

“I think I made a good decision,” said Miller, who would have been locked out with the rest of the NBA had he turned pro.

“It really didn’t take that long to decide to stay or go. I wanted to stay and work on my game.”

Though his draft stock was on the rise during the tournament, he could also look to former teammates Keith Van Horn and Michael Doleac, who stayed for their senior seasons and became lottery picks.

Miller was an unusual case. Because he was a former Proposition 48 player who sat out his freshman year but graduated on time, he qualified to have his fourth year of eligibility restored.

Not an hour after losing to Kentucky--in a game Utah had led by 10 points at halftime--Miller stood in the locker room at the Alamodome and said he was coming back.

Mom wasn’t so sure.

“You know what, to be honest, I said, ‘Andre, you guys had such a great season, I’d like to see you go. Why don’t you go?’ ” Robinson said.

“I just respected his decision. He’s 22. He decided. But to be honest, I kind of wanted him to go. As it stands, it was a good decision, with the NBA not playing.”

By not turning pro, Miller was able to help lead a U.S. Goodwill Games team that included Duke’s Elton Brand and Miami of Ohio’s Wally Szczerbiak, and the U.S. beat Australia in the final.

“The Final Four was the No. 1 thing in my career. The Goodwill Games were probably No. 2,” Miller said. “We won a gold medal, and not too many people get to do that.”

And by not turning pro, he’s playing basketball now, unlike Doleac, who was a senior on Utah’s Final Four team and became the No. 12 pick in the draft.

While Doleac works on his game in Utah and waits for the real games to start, Miller is playing.

Not that it’s anything like last season, when the Utes jumped to an 18-0 start on the way to a 30-4 season.

Still ranked in the top 25 with Miller and forward Hanno Mottola back, Utah has already stumbled three times.

A loss to Utah State was humbling. Then the Utes lost to a good Indiana team in Maui, and a talented but erratic Rhode Island team at the Great Eight in Chicago even though Miller scored 28 points.

“‘The losses were pretty tough,” Miller said. “We have so many new guys. They’re getting better and better. We didn’t play that well against Utah State. Indiana, we played better.”

His mother missed the Rhode Island game, unable to get away from her job with the Veterans Administration after taking off the week before to go to Hawaii. Her husband, who is retired, made the Chicago trip instead.

But she wasn’t about to miss Maui.

“No way,” her son said. “They had fun. I think they had that ticket a long time ago.”

She doesn’t see every game, but she sees most.

“I’ve never been to Wyoming, Air Force or Colorado,” she said. “I probably miss three to five a year.”

However, she has flown to Salt Lake City for an exhibition.

“That’s a game!” she said. “A game is a game. If the ball bounces, I’m there.

“My family is my guys, my team. It’s not just Andre. I pull for Andre and all the guys.

“I stay and see them come out and I say, ‘Good game, congratulations.’ Not just to Andre. I’m a team person. I say, ‘Great game, great game.’ You’ve got to give them incentive and encouragement.”

One season after another, she has been there.

Van Horn was the Utes’ star two seasons ago. He went on to become a rookie standout in the NBA. Now Doleac is gone from last season’s team.

“We were kind of worried when we lost Keith,” Robinson said. “I was worrying and worrying and Andre said, ‘Mom, we’re going to do just fine.’ And he was right. But I really do miss Keith.

“I miss Keith’s mom. I miss the Doleacs. I called them from Maui and said, ‘I miss you, I wish you were here.’ Drew Hansen’s family, I miss all the families.”

With apologies to the late Giles Pellerin of USC, she is Utah’s super fan.

“I read about that. Oh my God,” she said. “And he had a brother in his 80s who’s been to all those games. It even mentioned how much money he’s spent.

“It’s been great. Of course, it’s been expensive.”

And next year, the NBA?

“You know what? I’m just thinking, how many do they play? Eighty-two? We’ll see what happens. Andre doesn’t talk about that. He’s ‘One game at a time, Mom. We’ll just take them one at a time.’ ”