University of Arkansas Coach Eric Musselman and his staff will get the first shot at hosting highly regarded West Memphis forward Chris Moore for an official visit that starts today.
Moore, 6-6, 220 pounds, had more than 30 scholarship offers, but has set his five allotted official visits with Arkansas being his first. He also made an official visit to Fayetteville a year ago with former coach Mike Anderson along with several unofficial visits.
Chris Moore highlights
His brother Alvin Hawkins, who's an assistant basketball coach for the Blue Devils, said this trip is about learning more about Musselman and his staff.
"He's been up a few times, but this is more of going up and seeing Musselman's version of the official visit," Hawkins said. "We've seen the facilities and the program, but it's more of understanding Musselman's philosophy and getting to know where we stand with them as well."
Moore had planned to officially visit Iowa State last weekend, but that's changed.
"It will either be the next weekend or the weekend of the 18-20 of October," Hawkins said.
Memphis will get an official visit on the Oct. 4-6 weekend. Moore will attend the Tigers' Midnight Madness the Thursday before the weekend trip. He'll finish with official visits to Texas A&M on Oct 11-13 and Auburn on Nov. 1-3.
While other schools have been recruiting Moore for a year or two, Musselman and his staff have been in place for about five months.
"The staff has done a good job of playing catch-up," Hawkins said. "The thing about it, I get it so I'm not going to hold that against them because it's not their fault they just got in. They have done a good job of hitting the ground and actively recruiting him. Even guys who offered Chris early in the ninth grade or so, they fell off the bandwagon because they stopped recruiting. Our biggest thing since the summer ended was to actually see who was recruiting him and see where we stand with all of these institutions."
Moore was named the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette All-Arkansas Preps Boys Sophomore of the Year after averaging 14 points and 7 rebounds. He earned first-team Arkansas Democrat-Gazette All-Arkansas Preps honors as a junior.
He averaged 17.7 points, 6.1 rebounds, 1.3 assists and 1.1 blocks for the 17-under Woodz Elite during the highly competitive Nike EYBL regular season in the spring and summer.
Musselman's strong NBA background is evident at Arkansas and helps the Hogs with Moore.
"One thing about Musselman, I like how he breaks down stats and analytics," Hawkins said. "That's something that's next level even past college. That's something the game of basketball is turning to, and he has a good staff that's big on numbers. I do feel like that separates them on breaking down the game."
The early signing period for basketball is Nov. 13-20, about the time Moore has an opportunity to make his college decision.
"We should know roughly during the early signing period," Hawkins said. "We should be close to a commitment. We owe that to the institution we choose."
Email Richard Davenport at [email protected]
Sports on 09/20/2019