Maybe it was just the name playing tricks on my brain or it might’ve been the sly smile and smaller frame.
Either way, the first person who came to mind when I began looking into new Kansas point guard Charlie Moore was none other than Nic Moore.
You remember Nic, the former SMU point guard who led the American Athletic Conference in scoring as a senior and, the summer before that, joined the Jayhawks to bring home the gold medal from the World University Games in Korea.
That Moore started every game of the tournament that summer and this Moore might very well do the same thing when he becomes eligible for the Jayhawks during the 2018-19 season.
Both players carried a listed playing weight of 170 pounds, with Nic Moore standing two inches shorter (5-9) than Charlie Moore, who is listed by KU at 5-11.
Regardless of the specifics of their frames, their games seem awfully similar, with both guards liking to play as fast as possible and attacking the defense both to score and pass.
Although Charlie Moore hails from Chicago, which has produced some of the baddest dudes to play college and professional basketball over the years, Nic Moore came from not-too-far-away Winona Lake, Ind., which is just 122 miles east of the Windy City.
While Charlie Moore was talented and mature enough to start at point guard for Cal last season, there likely will be at least a little bit of a gap in the kind of leadership delivered by the two players. At least initially.
By the time Nic Moore joined forces with the Jayhawks for a summer, he was a grown man who had played a bunch of college basketball and had no problem taking control and running the show in Korea. He fit KU coach Bill Self’s need for that team to perfection and it seems like Charlie Moore might be ready to do the same when it really matters.
After a year in the program, watching Devonte’ Graham lead the 2017-18 team and learning both the game and the Kansas culture from Self and his staff, Charlie Moore figures to be a much more polished and mature player ready to contribute big things for the Jayhawks for the next three seasons.
What Charlie Moore lacks in veteran presence — at least at the moment — he makes up for in scoring ability. In just his second college game ever last November he scored 38 points against UC Irvine and finished the season with 13 games of 15 or more points.
Nic Moore, while capable of scoring in bunches at SMU, played more of a facilitator role during the World University Games and the newest Jayhawk point guard could find himself inheriting more of a hybrid role of the two styles.
Much like many of Self’s point guards in the past, it seems likely that Charlie Moore will be asked to score when the opportunity presents itself while setting up others the rest of the time.
Nic Moore was a born leader and carried himself with a ton of confidence. Hailing from Chicago, I’m sure Charlie Moore has plenty of confidence himself. The key for him will be bringing that to the floor day in and day out and using it to inspire peak performance and improvement in those around him.
People more familiar with both players probably could find more differences in their games than I’ve spelled out here. But I think there are enough similarities to make this a fairly decent comparison.
If you’re looking to compare Charlie Moore to Jayhawks that you might be more familiar with, consider him to be a combination of Russell Robinson and Devonte’ Graham.
Here’s a quick look at some recent highlights from both players so you can see the similarities a little more clearly.
