Washington State Point Guard Reggie Moore Dismissed
By Josh Davis
March 7, 2012; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Washington State Cougars guard Reggie Moore (1) keeps the ball inbounds in the second half of the game against the Oregon State Beavers during the first round of the 2012 Pac 12 Tournament at the Staples Center. Oregon State won 69-64. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-US PRESSWIRE
Yesterday, WSU PG Reggie Moore was dismissed from the basketball team, the citing was for violation of team rules and I assume it was somewhat serious. According to Ken Bone “Reggie has been an important part of the basketball program for the last three years and I wish him the very best in the future.” While things like these are generally out of the blue, to some that knew him this particular result may not have been a blindside hit:
[blackbirdpie url=”http://twitter.com/brett_gleason/status/250378186767077377″]
Moore is a Seattle kid. A lot of big city ballers have a lot of arrogance in their personalities, it’s not an inference, just the facts. It’s what makes them as good as they are, but sometimes it gets the best of them. I have officiated kids like Reggie in many summer high school camps (Venoy Overton comes to mind from an Eastern Washington camp and I think we all know his rep), and they all have the same “I’m untouchable” attitude. Kids like that have a lot of trouble not causing trouble. Kinda makes you appreciate when someone comes out of a big city and really keeps their nose clean for 4 and 5 years in a major college situation. I hope the rest of the WSU team can do that.
I have personally interacted with Reggie a few times, from being an official in a practice for some team drills during their high school camp, to serving him a burger at A&W. Nice enough kid but he just had this air of “I’m better than you” surrounding him. I didn’t much like it, but again, he’s a nice-ish guy, so I just brushed off the feeling. Honestly though, I’m not surprised either that this happened.
It’s a blow for sure to the Wazzu basketball team, as Moore seemed to be coming into his own over the past few weeks of the 2011 season. In a lot of basketball minds around the Pac-12, he was all set to become one of the best point guards in the Conference and was by far the best ball handler the Cougars possessed on the floor at any given time. With the rest of the Conference on the rise, and in a league where premier guard play is always king, this is the last thing that WSU needed.
The Cougars will now have to divvy up the primary ball handling responsibilities between the 6’5 Sr Mike Ladd, 6’3 Soph Davonte Lacy and another 6’3 soph, Royce Woolridge. In particular, Woolridge benefits in playing time and scoring role, but this may also increase the playing time of Will DiIorio, who has always been an underdog on the team but has fought hard when given a chance over his first 2 seasons.
I mean it’s too bad, really, that this had to happen. I feel for Reggie that his mistake cost him his senior season of basketball here, but at the same time, you gotta be respectful of your surroundings and Reggie just wasn’t that type of personality.