moore 10/13 commitment to ucla

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SoCalHoops Recruiting News

Josh Moore Reportedly Still
Committed To UCLA--(Oct. 13, 1999)

Josh Moore (7'-0" Gr. C) from Newark, New Jersey, who spent the summer bouncing around the gyms at Camden, Cherry Hill, and Rutgers before deciding to come out to visit UCLA a couple of weeks ago, was, as everyone by now knows, turned down for academic reasons by the admissions office at UCLA. Sources had indicated that he was going to enroll immediately at Santa Monica City College to complete some course work which would make him eligible, but apparently he won't enroll at SMCC until January. For now he'll stay in New Jersey and continue to audit classes at Essex County CC, a local JC there.

Jim Downs' UCLA Hoop News website had a link to an article from a local New Jersey newspaper, the Home News Tribune, and since the link will probably become outdated in a couple of days, here's the text of the article pertaining to Moore and his plans to come to California. Moore is certainly not humble, but then for a guy who can dunk flat-footed, as Josh did last spring at the Dada Classic (formerly the Eddie Jones Classic) which took place at UCLA's Pauley Pavilion, he doesn't really have to be a humble guy, at least not on the court. But it's not everyday that you find a basketball player who talks about himself in both the third person and first person, and all in the same sentence.

Here's the article:

Former Rutgers recruit Moore picks UCLA

Published in the Home News Tribune 10/12/99

By JIM CARTY
STAFF WRITER
If all goes according to plan, former Rutgers recruit Josh Moore will wear a UCLA uniform next year.

Moore yesterday confirmed he recently committed to UCLA coach Steve Lavin. The 7-foot Newark native is currently auditing classes at Essex County Community College and plans to enroll in Santa Monica (Calif.) Junior College in January on the recommendation of the UCLA coaching staff. "Their admissions people, because I didn't do too good in high school, told me they thought I should go back and take two more classes," Moore said yesterday. "They want me to take one English class and one math class, get like a 'B' and a 'C' and they'll enroll me next fall. They have a junior college out there and they told me to go for a semester and get my grades and they'll bring me to the admissions people and admit me next year. I said, 'OK, I'm going to LA.' "

Santa Monica and UCLA would be fourth and fifth schools attended by Moore since early 1998 when he had a falling out with St. Anthony coach Bob Hurley and chose to leave the Jersey City school. He has since attended St. Thomas More Prep in Connecticut, struggled to contribute on the basketball team there, verbally committed to Rutgers, enrolled at the Christopher Robin Academy in New York City over the summer in a last-ditch attempt to meet NCAA academic requirements, and then de-committed from Rutgers in August. At the time, Moore said he had not done well enough in his summer classes to compete as a freshman. Now, however, he said he has been cleared by the NCAA to play this season, but could not gain admission to UCLA.

Once rated among the top 25 prospects nationally by many college basketball recruiting experts, Moore considered going back to prep school for another year, but said he preferred the option presented to him by UCLA, particularly since he trusts Lavin, whom the player has known since he was a high school freshman. Leaving St. Anthony, struggling on the court last season at St. Thomas More and de-committing from Rutgers has combined to hurt Moore's basketball reputation, something the player is clearly aware of and influenced his decision to head west. Moore attributes his problems at St. Thomas More to a knee injury he recently had surgery for and believes that with a fresh start, he can be the standout college center most experts once projected him to be.

"I think what Josh Moore needs is to get away from the East Coast." Moore said."I've been here all my life and I want a change of scenery, not being in an environment where everybody knows everything about everybody and has preconceived notions of Josh Moore. Out there, I'll get a fresh start. "I think this decision is good for me both academically and athletically, I can maximize my basketball potential and my brain in an environment like UCLA and silence my critics in the process. I'm going to be the next Kareem."