Spring Break
Moore Room To Improve
Freshman Forward Faces New Test In Tournament
Kevin Meacham
Issue date: 3/21/08 Section: March Madness
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"In the last week or so, she's reminded me [that she's a freshman]," Auriemma said. "For a long stretch, she looked like a lost freshman."
Finally, it seems, Moore has hit the freshman wall. Finally, teams are adjusting to her and capitalizing on the few weaknesses in her game.
Finally, Auriemma can coach Moore and help her become the player she wants to be.
"Little by little, she's going to have to come to grips with the fact that this game is a lot harder than she's making it look," Auriemma said.
Such is life for the nation's top freshman. After wowing coaches, opposing players and the media for four months, Moore's output has dropped to "only" 34 points and 25 rebounds in the three games of the Big East tournament.
But while the stats show Moore to be an incredibly productive player of, she was chastised by Auriemma for settling for jump shots and forgoing her aggressiveness on offense.
"In order for Maya to become the player she wants to be, there's more things she has to do as well and it takes a long time to get to that point," Auriemma said. "One of them that we've been working on is 'Why aren't you a better rebounder?' It's just because you haven't decided that you want to be or you think it's adequate. Well, obviously, we're trying to show you it's not.
Auriemma said Sunday that it appeared as if Moore was back to normal.
But perhaps all of the internal and external pressures are finally getting to Moore. She's become one of the most hyped players in America overnight.
She's had major pieces written about her in the New York Times and the Boston Globe. During Sunday's selection special on ESPN, anchor Trey Wingo dedicated most of the program's first five minutes to the freshman.
Later Sunday night, Auriemma could be overheard mocking the media's new obsession with the star forward.
"The story that has to be created, and that's the story. Here's a freshman who came to Connecticut and is the reason why they're No. 1," he said to a group of five or six reporters. "They're the top seed in the tournament. It's something to think about it, it's something to keep an eye on and to monitor because her game isn't able to sustain this."
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