UConn Nabs Another No. 1

Maya Moore's commitment to Connecticut gives Geno Auriemma back-to-back national No. 1 prospects. Tina Charles, the top-ranked prospect in 2006, already has signed with the Huskies.

Maya Moore, the nation’s top prospect for 2007 and Naismith Award winner, has verbally committed to play for the Connecticut Huskies. She made the announcement during a Monday press conference at her high school, Collins Hill, in Suwanee, Ga.

Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma now has landed the top-ranked player in the country (according to HoopGurlz.com and Full Court Press for Scout.com) in consecutive years. Tina Charles, the top player in the 2006 class, already has signed with Connecticut.

Charles and Moore squared off at the Nike Tournament of Champions this past December in one of the most exciting and intense girl’s high-school basketball games ever in the tournament’s championship game. The two players carried their respective teams in the Chandler, Ariz., tournament and represent a new, bigger and more athletic breed of player in the women’s game. Both are known dunkers and actually held a mini-dunk contest at the Nike Girls Skills Academy in Beaverton, Ore., last summer.


Maya Moore Moore joins Tennessee-bound guard Angie Bjorklund, North Carolina-bound guard Italee Lucas and Purdue-bound post Ta’Shia Phillips as elite high school juniors who have made their college choices known early.

Charles and Moore are impressive talents that should give Connecticut a real shot at the program’s sixth National Championship in the future. Moore should come in and press for big minutes early. She can score, defend, rebound, lead – you name it and this kid can do it. She projects in college at either forward position and has the range and handle to play off-guard position as well. Her leaping ability and quickness make her a matchup problem for any team and, as hard as Moore works on both ends of the floor, it will be hard for Auriemma to keep her off the floor, even with Charde Houston in front of her.

Moore is a multi-dimensional player on both ends of the floor. Her turnaround jumper looks eerily like that of Kobe Bryant’s, with an undefendable fade and great use of the glass. She can hit the three, get offensive rebounds and score on put-backs. She also can put the ball on the floor and get to the basket. Defensively, Moore has quickness not only in her feet but also in her hands, making her effective in the passing lanes and on the ball. Her leaping ability makes her a shot-blocker coming off the weakside.

Statistically Moore is a one-woman wrecking crew, averaging 23.2 points, 11.3 rebounds, 5.4 steals, 4.6 assists and nearly two blocks per game. She led Collins Hill to the Georgia AAAAA State Championship and posted a career-high 40 points against Charles’s and the nation’s No. 1 girl’s high-school team, Christ the King of Middle Village, N.Y., at the TOC.

Moore chose Connecticut over Duke, Georgia and Tennessee.

Connecticut remains in the running for several other top prospects from the 2007 class, including Charles’ high-school teammate, Lorin Dixon, a lightening fast point guard. The Huskies are also pursuing another highly rated point guard, Jamine Thomas from Oakton High School in Vienna, Va., as well as 6-4 post Jantel Lavendar, the top rated post player in the 2007 class from Cleveland Central Catholic High School.

For Auriemma to pull off a three-peat, he would have to land Elena DelleDonne, a 6-4 wing from Ursuline Academy in Wilmington, Del., who already is the consensus No. 1 prospect in the Class of 2008.

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Chris Hansen is the National Director of Scouting for Women's Basketball at HoopGurlz.com and Scout.com. Chris leads the panel that evaluates and ranks girl's basketball prospects nationally for HoopGurlz, Scout.com and Full Court Press (www.FullCourt.com). Chris has been involved in the women’s basketball community since 1998 as a coach, trainer, evaluator and reporter. He can be reached at [e-mail].