LITTLE ROCK — Highly regarded forward Chris Moore reduced his list of about 30 offers down to 14 recently, but the level of communication with college coaches is still at a high clip.
“It’s constant and confusing. Those are the two words that I have for today,” said Moore, who was participating in the Born to Hoop camp on Saturday at Mills High School. “A lot of schools are hitting me up and it’s getting even harder to come down with my commitment. I’m hearing a lot of good things from a lot of good schools.”
Moore (6-6, 220) named Arkansas, Memphis, Kentucky, North Carolina, Auburn, Iowa State, Ole Miss, Murray State, Oklahoma State, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Tulsa, St. John’s and Wichita State as his top schools.
Just a few schools aren’t hitting Moore up on a consistent basis.
“It’s probably two or three that’s not constant like the others, but I would say at least 10 are constant with it,” Moore said.
Arkansas is one of the schools aggressively recruiting Moore.
“They’ll call me every week,” Moore said. “They’ll tell me things and check on me - what a coach is supposed to do. They’ll check on me to see if I’m doing good and ask what I’m doing sometimes.”
“Kentucky started contacting me. Same thing, coach is asking me how I’m doing and everything. Auburn, coach (Wes) Flanigan, he’ll call me and give me some gameplan and tell me what he wants me to work on. Memphis, I got coach (Tony) Madlock, he’s on me all the time. It’s like he’s already my coach. He’s on me all the time. A lot more schools like Texas Tech, Wichita State, St. John’s.”
Moore averaged 13 points, 14 rebounds, eight blocks, four steals and four assists for West Memphis and was named the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette All-Arkansas Preps Boys Sophomore of the Year. He earned 1st 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 per game for 17-under Woodz Elite during the Nike EYBL regular season while shooting 66 percent from the field.
Moore is humbled to be one of the more highly sought-after prospects in the nation.
“It’s a blessing because coming from where I come from, I just think not too many people get this opportunity," Moore said. "I try and cherish it.”
The next time he narrows his list, Moore plans to cut nine schools.
“I think we’re going right down to five,” Moore said. “No weird numbers. We’re going right down to five probably around October, especially after I’m done with my visits and getting to some of the schools I haven’t seen."
With basketball basically being a year-round sport, Moore admits high school basketball along with spring and summer basketball can be a grind.
“It is. You have to give all you got in everything you do,” Moore said. “So I just believe in that. I put that in my mindset in every game. It just comes natural.
“There’s a couple of times I hit the wall. It’s part of the game because you’re going to get tired going the extra mile. Sometimes you have to kick in that second gear.”