June 21 Notebook
June 21, 2006 02:08 PM | General
June 21, 2006
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – LOWES MOORE, the last Mountaineer to play in the NBA in 1983, says he’s very surprised that it has been 23 years and counting since another West Virginia University player has made it to the league.
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| Guard Lowes Moore was the last Mountaineer to appear in an NBA game in 1983 with the San Diego Clippers.
WVU Sports Commnications photo |
The executive director of the Mt. Vernon Boys and Girls Club for the past 14 years, Moore believes a number of former West Virginia players had the potential to make it in the NBA.
“You definitely have to have one great thing you can do in order to play in the league or you have to be multi-dimensional,” Moore said recently.
The standout WVU guard played a full season with the New Jersey Nets in 1981 and parts of two seasons in 1982 and 1983 with the Cleveland Cavaliers and San Diego Clippers.
Today, Moore’s focus is helping mold youngsters into being productive citizens.
“The kids are exposed to much more than what I was exposed to growing up,” he said. “Of course you had the temptations of drinking, drugs and having sex, but now they can almost see this everywhere.
“We had little access to guns and knives and those types of things where there is a lot of access to that today,” he said. “The whole gang this is totally out of control.”
Moore says his club uses things like sports, drama and dance as carrots in helping kids steer clear of making the wrong choices and going down the wrong paths.
“The club’s responsibility is to support parents and the community to help produce productive citizens,” he said. “Nobody talked to me about being a pro when I was growing up. But we were taught to be good men and productive citizens.”
Moore has enlisted a couple of Mt. Vernon natives in his effort to grow the Boys and Girls Club. Nationally known actor Denzel Washington was a member of the Mt. Vernon Boys and Girls Club while growing up with Moore, and NBA standout Ben Gordon recently donated $10,000 won on Celebrity Wheel of Fortune to help buy new backboards and rims for the center.
Moore hopes to have a second facility constructed across town by 2008.
“When I came back we had about 25 members and here we are 14 years later and we now have 1,700,” Moore said proudly.
Briefly:
“I had played at the Dapper Dan in Pittsburgh and the plane came back to the tarmac so he could come on and sign me right there on the airplane,” Moore recalled.
The Parade All-American guard from Mt. Vernon, N.Y., turned down offers from North Carolina and Rutgers to sign with West Virginia.
“It was a very beautiful place and I fell in love with the campus right away,” Moore said of his decision to attend WVU. “During the recruiting process I fell in love with Coach Amick and he treated me as if I were one of his sons. I felt like I would be safe and comfortable.”
Moore says he was satisfied with his basketball and academic experience at West Virginia University.
“I had a wonder experience at West Virginia and if I had it to do all over I would have done it again,” he said.
And former Cavalier GM Wayne Embry says he’s a big Gansey fan.
“He keeps growing on you,” said Embry. “He plays the game of basketball the way it should be played. He makes big shots. He likes to take big shots. He's a legitimate factor. When you look at two-guards, I don't know why you wouldn't put him in your top 10.”
Sacramento player personnel director Jerry Reynolds believes Gansey could sneak into the first round. “Once you see him up close and personal, there's a lot to like,” said Reynolds.
ESPN.com’s most recent draft rankings have Gansey rated the 34th-best professional prospect. Six-eleven center KEVIN PITTSNOGLE is currently 56th on the list.
Gansey or Pittsnogle are looking to snap West Virginia’s streak of eight consecutive years without a player being selected in the NBA draft. The last Mountaineer player to go was 6-11 center GORDON MALONE to the Minnesota Timberwolves in 1997. Malone was a second-round pick.
Nine possible picks played at the WVU Coliseum this past year. NBAdraft.net projects 16 Big East players, including West Virginia’s Mike Gansey and Kevin Pittsnogle, to be drafted next Wednesday.
Other Big East teams expected to be strong in 2007 include Georgetown, Connecticut, Marquette, Villanova and Louisville. All six made Andy Katz’s summer Top 25.
Morgantown realized the largest population gain in the state from 2000 to 2005, adding 1,634 residents during the first half of the decade. The only other West Virginia city larger than 10,000 to gain population was Martinsburg in the Eastern Panhandle, which increased by 1,049 residents.
The state’s four largest cities Charleston, Huntington, Parkersburg and Wheeling each lost population. Morgantown is the state’s fifth-largest city with an estimated 28,292 residents as of 2005.
“The summer is a lot more relaxed,” he said. “Even though we’re working hard the atmosphere is more relaxed. We’re not around Coach Trickett and stuff like that. I go fishing a lot and I get out and go do things.
“Last weekend I went to the beach with some guys (Ocean City, Md.); we worked out in the morning and then went to the beach,” said Sheffey. “We do little things like that to keep our minds off things.”
The Mountaineers will also have the services of three-time all-Big East performer Meg Bulger, who missed most of last season with a serious knee injury. Carey welcomes eight newcomers including Auburn transfer Sparkle Davis and Michigan State transfer Melanie Small.
Five-foot-11-inch guard Lateefah Joye from Okaloosa-Walton Community College is the No. 9-rated junior college transfer in the country, according to All Star Girl’s Report.
Have a great weekend!
