He Will, He Won’t, He Might 2018: Charlie Moore

By Matt Tait     Nov 6, 2018

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Kansas guard Charlie Moore (2) signals after hitting a three during the first half of an exhibition, Thursday, Oct. 25, 2018 at Allen Fieldhouse.

Our final installment of the 2018 He Will, He Won’t, He Might series brings us to Kansas sophomore Charlie Moore, a point guard who transferred to KU from Cal and sat out last season but finally is ready to play again.

Monday’s news that Ochai Agbaji plans to redshirt and Silvio De Sousa’s uncertain status made those entries unnecessary this season.

There’s nothing unnecessary about Moore’s status on this roster, though. Although Moore might not quite fit the full profile of a starting point guard at Kansas for Bill Self — Self has said he’d like to see Moore play better D — there’s no question that the sophomore fills a couple of important roles for this team.

For one, he’s a good ball handler and has good vision and a knack for setting up teammates in good spots.

For two, he’s a smooth 3-point shooter and rarely hesitates to pull the trigger when he catches in rhythm and is open.

All of that, and more, will help Moore find a role on this team, even if he’s not the primary ball handler or starting point guard.

Here’s a quick look at a few other ways Moore might impact the 2018-19 Jayhawks.

He Will – Lead the team in 3-point percentage
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Moore’s biggest challenger here is probably KU forward Dedric Lawson, who has a terrific stroke and only figures to shoot three or four 3-pointers a game.

But in terms of a player who will be asked to take a bunch of 3-point shots, Moore could very easily end up leading the Jayhawks in 3-point percentage when it’s all said and done.

Self has said on a few occasions that Moore is more of a scoring guard than a pure point guard and he’s never looked shy about pulling the trigger.

Beyond that he has a smooth release, good balance on his jumper and seems confident in the shot every time he lets it go.

As a freshman at Cal during the 2016-17 season, Moore made 45 of 128 3-point attempts for a 35.2 percent clip. He’ll need to improve on that to lead this team in 3-point shooting, but it shouldn’t be that difficult to do it.

I’ll say the attempts come down a hair and the makes stay around the same. Maybe 43 (that’s barely one a game) for 111, for 38.7 percent.

He Won’t – Be a great defender, but that won’t stop him from competing
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Moore’s an offensive player. And he’s a crafty scorer with a good jumper and a pretty smooth all-around offensive game.

He’s not a lockdown defender. But he likes to compete like he is.

Who knows if it’s his Chicago roots or what else it could be, but Moore is not one to back down from a challenge and he won’t be afraid to get right up in the face of opposing ball handlers in an attempt to make life miserable for them.

Sometimes, that will benefit Kansas. Other times, Moore will pay a price for the aggressive play. But regardless of how well he plays defensively or how much he improves throughout the year on that end of the floor, you can count on the Cal transfer competing every night and being willing to give all he has.

All we need to see now is just how much he has and how much that will help KU’s defense. The answer to that question will go a long way toward determining how many minutes Moore logs this season.

He Might – Be on the floor in crunch time
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As mentioned above, Moore’s a reliable ball handler and a good free throw shooter. Those traits alone could get Moore on the floor late in games when the Jayhawks find themselves in tight contests, looking to close things out.

During KU’s two exhibition games, we only saw Moore out there with freshman point guard Devon Dotson for five or six minutes combined. But I definitely think there’s a chance they’ll play together much more than that as the season progresses.

And those minutes at the end of close games could be a place where they both belong on the floor to protect a KU lead and close things out at the free throw line.

**He Will, He Won’t, He Might 2018:**

[• Senior guard Lagerald Vick][1]

[• Junior forward Mitch Lightfoot][2]

[• Junior center Udoka Azubuike][3]

[• Junior forward Dedric Lawson][4]

[• Sophomore guard Marcus Garrett][5]

[• Sophomore guard K.J. Lawson][6]

[• Freshman guard Devon Dotson][7]

[• Freshman guard Quentin Grimes][8]

[• Freshman forward David McCormack][9]

[1]: http://www2.kusports.com/weblogs/tale-tait/2018/oct/18/he-will-he-wont-he-might-2018-lagerald-v/
[2]: http://www2.kusports.com/weblogs/tale-tait/2018/oct/19/he-will-he-wont-he-might-2018-mitch-ligh/
[3]: http://www2.kusports.com/weblogs/tale-tait/2018/oct/22/he-will-he-wont-he-might-2018-udoka-azub/
[4]: http://www2.kusports.com/weblogs/tale-tait/2018/oct/23/he-will-he-wont-he-might-2018-dedric-law/
[5]: http://www2.kusports.com/weblogs/tale-tait/2018/oct/26/he-will-he-wont-he-might-2018-marcus-gar/
[6]: http://www2.kusports.com/weblogs/tale-tait/2018/nov/6/he-will-he-wont-he-might-2018-kj-lawson/
[7]: http://www2.ljworld.com/weblogs/tale-tait/2018/oct/29/he-will-he-wont-he-might-2018-devon-dots/
[8]: http://www2.kusports.com/weblogs/tale-tait/2018/oct/30/he-will-he-wont-he-might-2018-quentin-gr/
[9]: http://www2.kusports.com/weblogs/tale-tait/2018/nov/5/he-will-he-wont-he-might-2018-david-mcco/

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Written By Matt Tait

A native of Colorado, Matt moved to Lawrence in 1988 and has been in town ever since. He graduated from Lawrence High in 1996 and the University of Kansas in 2000 with a degree in Journalism. After covering KU sports for the University Daily Kansan and Rivals.com, Matt joined the World Company (and later Ogden Publications) in 2001 and has held several positions with the paper and KUsports.com in the past 20+ years. He became the Journal-World Sports Editor in 2018. Throughout his career, Matt has won several local and national awards from both the Associated Press Sports Editors and the Kansas Press Association. In 2021, he was named the Kansas Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. Matt lives in Lawrence with his wife, Allison, and two daughters, Kate and Molly. When he's not covering KU sports, he likes to spend his time playing basketball and golf, listening to and writing music and traveling the world with friends and family.