Maya Moore goes for the ball over a Team SRP player on Wednesday, Nov. 12.

Moore looks to surpass the hype

By: Mike Northup

Posted: 11/14/08

The numbers and accolades speak for themselves.

First UConn freshman and just the second freshman ever to earn First Team All-American honors. First freshman to be named Big East Player of the Year. Finished just 16 points shy of Kara Wolter's record for most points in a single season in UConn history with 678. First on the 2007-08 team in points and 3-point field goals made, second in rebounds and third in assists.

Forward Maya Moore put together a rookie season for the ages last year for the Huskies, and she's still got three more to go.

So what can the favorite to win National Player of the Year do to improve upon her game going into her sophomore season? If you ask Moore and coach Geno Auriemma, there's plenty of work still to be done.

"Sometimes when you have a case like Maya Moore, there's so many things that she does to impact the game as a freshman that you almost think she's not," Auriemma said.

The average freshman, Auriemma said, needs work adjusting to the pace of the game and the demands that go along with it. By the time sophomore year rolls around, it's expected that you're adjusted and fewer problems result.

"And at that point, you start to ask more of them, and to think better, be more alert, recognize things that happen," Auriemma said.

The 6-foot-tall Moore has never had problems physically dominating her opponents, whether it was at Collins Hill High School in Suwanee, Ga., in AAU ball with the Georgia Metros or even throughout the course of the previous year for UConn.

The biggest step this season for Moore, according to both Auriemma and herself, will instead need to take place inside her head.

"All her time in high school and AAU, there never had to be a Plan B," Auriemma said. "So now, as players get better that are guarding her and as situations we put her in are a little bit more difficult, how do you go to Plan B without thinking about 'I have to go to Plan B.'"

According to Auriemma, Moore is at her best on the floor when she can play to her instincts rather than having to read the game. Most of Moore's problems stem from when she's already made up her mind on what she's going to do before letting the play develop.

"In other words, if we would come down and isolate Maya in one-on-one situations, she would have a pretty good idea of what it is she's gonna do," Auriemma said. "And 30 percent of the time, she makes that decision ahead of time."

Auriemma's goal for Moore this year is to get her to be able to handle those situations when the other team takes away that first option, which he said is the step all great players need to make. Moore has been working hard to avoid falling into such traps this year.

"I think that people will see a more composed player when I'm on offense," Moore said. "Sometimes I tend to make it go too fast, or make quick turnovers. Some of the little things that, you know, maybe I rushed last year, I think I'll be able to be more composed, take my time and make good strong, solid plays."

That will be critical this year as even more of the spotlight will shift toward her. Opposing defenses will undoubtedly gear more of their game plan toward shutting her down on offense.

"I think it's just one of those things where you have to keep your perspective and know that I have to tune my listening to what my coaches say and not so much about a lot of outside expectations," Moore said. "I just do have to realize that every time I do go to a game, many more people, some defenses may be geared toward stopping me."

One huge asset working in Moore's favor, though, is her versatility. She has the talent, Auriemma said, to fill in any role for the team, be it playing inside or outside, as well as with the ball or without it.

While she made all but one of her 30 starts last year at the wing position (she started at power forward Jan. 19 against Syracuse), Moore still feels most comfortable in the power forward slot, where she said she is more aggressive and doesn't settle for shooting 3s as much.

"I look at the 3 spot as like a challenge just as far as I think I have to get better at guarding people, perimeter players," Moore said. "I have to get better at taking people off the dribble."

All the necessary adjustments won't come overnight, or even by time the regular season begins against Georgia Tech Sunday, Auriemma said. But he remains confident that she has the potential brewing within her - potential that could very well be unleashed in the not-so-distant future.

Until then, it's going to be nonstop work until one of the best college basketball players out there gets even better, and Moore is just fine with that.

"I think that's a reason why a lot of people don't come to UConn because they know they're going to have to work," Moore said. "They know it's a whole different atmosphere, so you have to be a special player to come here."