UConn's Maya Moore is the best of the best

Who is this basketball goddess, this quiet woman who rarely loses, who rarely is denied? She is a scorer, a rebounder, a deadly shooter, a relentless worker, and a tirelessly driven player.

She is the only player, male or female, to be named the Big East player of the year as a freshman, and she was so dominant so young that in 2008 Rutgers coach C. Vivian Stringer called her "the best player of this decade."

Three years later, she is a two-time NCAA champion, a two-time national player of the year, soon to be a four-time all-American. And she is a lock to be the first pick in next month's WNBA draft.

But just who is Maya Moore, and why does she routinely fall asleep with her backpack still on?

"I'm a competitor," Moore said.

Depending on what happens these next two weeks, starting Sunday at noon with top-seeded Connecticut's game against No. 5 Georgetown in the first semifinal of the Philadelphia Regional, Moore also might be the greatest women's basketball player of all time.

It started when she was but a child. Someone gave Moore's mom, Kathryn, a basketball hoop, and she propped it up against a door in their apartment in Jefferson City, Mo. Little Maya had lots of energy, and Kathryn, a single mom, needed something to keep her only child busy.

A basketball star was born.

When Maya was in elementary school, Kathryn went to take Maya to her gymnastics class. Maya refused. Gymnastics was too slow, too boring. She wanted to play hoops. When she was 8 years old, Maya's Uncle Preston gave her an official WNBA game ball.

"I took that game ball to every AAU tournament I played until I was 16 years old," Moore said.

Moore was focused, and she was grounded, even though her father, Mike Dabney, a guard for Rutgers in the 1970s, was not in her life. Moore played anyone anywhere - boys, girls, adults. She constantly had a ball in her hands and lived outside. She played in Missouri, and then in North Carolina after Kathryn took a job at a phone company, and then in Georgia after Kathryn took a job at a bank in Atlanta.

Playing for Collins Hill High School in Suwanne, Ga., Moore went 125-3, won three state titles, and was just the second player ever to be a two-time national high school player of the year. After graduating with a 4.0 grade-point average, Moore moved on to Connecticut, which she had chosen over Tennessee, Duke, and Georgia after her junior year.

As a freshman for the Huskies, Moore became a starter after junior guard Kalana Greene tore her anterior cruciate ligament in the eighth game of the season, and Moore put together what some have called the most spectacular freshman year in the history of women's college basketball.

Averaging a team-high 17.8 points and shooting a team-high 42 percent from three-point range, Moore led UConn to a 36-2 record and its first Final Four appearance since 2004. Moore became the first freshman, male or female, to be named Big East player of the year, and she finished second to Candace Parker for national player of the year.

Over the next two years, Moore's Huskies would not lose a game. They won two national titles, defeating Louisville by 24 points in the 2009 final and Stanford by six in 2010, and the 6-foot Moore, who averaged 19.3 points as a sophomore and 18.9 as a junior, collected two national player of the year awards.

Connecticut's undefeated streak reached 90, the longest for a men's or women's team, and ended on Dec. 30, 2010, at Stanford, when Moore struggled from the field, missing 10 of 15 shots, and finished with 14 points and eight rebounds.

"Stanford is a really big team," Moore said. "They do a lot of things well, they play hard, and they were able to expose things our coaches had been harping on. After that game, it was easier to really focus on getting better."

The Huskies have not lost since.

Along the way, Moore has averaged 22.3 points, 8.0 rebounds, 4.1 assists, and 1.2 blocks this season. She has done more because her young team has demanded it. They need Moore to score; to rebound; and, perhaps more than anything, to lead.

In December, Moore became Connecticut's all-time leading scorer, accomplishing the feat in 28 fewer games than Tina Charles, the woman she surpassed. With potentially four games to play, Moore is 24 rebounds shy of Rebecca Lobo's career mark of 1,268, and she's 17 three-pointers behind Diana Taurasi, the Huskies leader.

"I think that she is one of the greatest players to ever play women's basketball," Villanova coach Harry Perretta said. "Scoring and stuff like that impresses me, but she does so many other things. . . . She dominates the game on the defensive end almost as much as she dominates on the offensive end. That's what makes her unique."

Like those who came before her, Moore has bought into the Connecticut way. That is why, even though she is the most prolific scorer in the program's history, she does not point to the individual accomplishments when asked which record makes her most proud.

"I think the ones that involved national championships," Moore said. "What we were able to do as a team makes me feel the best. Some of the individual things, that's icing on the cake."

Caroline Doty has been teammates with Moore for three years. Asked what Moore is like off the court, the Doylestown native did not hesitate: "Her three favorite things are eat, sleep, and sing."

Moore, the only women's player in Division I history to reach 2,500 points, 1,000 rebounds, 500 assists, 250 steals, and 150 blocks, is relentless in her approach to practice and to school. She maintains a high grade-point average and aside from the month of March spends an inordinate amount of time studying.

"She would come home, and I'd walk into her apartment, and she'd be asleep with her winter coat and backpack still on," said Doty, who lives in an apartment next door. "Just a quick little catnap. . . . She's never satisfied."

Moore did not disagree with Doty's assessment. Her favorite food is her mother's macaroni and cheese, or anything Italian, and she said she sings all the time, whether she is happy or sad. Moore also plays the drums, loves red velvet cake, and listens to gospel and Christian R&B on her new iPhone.

But while Moore is the "greatest person in the world," Doty said, "whatever you tell her to do, she'll beat you 10 out of 10 times.

"She's that driven," Doty said.

Moore makes no excuses.

"I would say I'm a competitor that plays basketball for the University of Connecticut who loves to win, loves to compete, loves to play every minute of every game with all of my heart, and have fun playing with some of the best players in America and with the best coaching staff," Moore said.

She has lost three games at Connecticut - "Rutgers, Stanford, Stanford," Moore said. She has the records, the stats, the success. She is among the game's elite.

Nancy Lieberman. Teresa Edwards. Cheryl Miller. Chamique Holdsclaw. Tamika Catchings. Sue Bird. Diana Taurasi. Seimone Augustus. Maya Moore.

"She is right there," said ESPN analyst Doris Burke. "The interesting discussion becomes, simply for sports fans and women's basketball fans: If she does win a third and goes and three-peats like Diana [Taurasi], where then does she fit? Does she launch herself to the top, because she will have accomplished something that would truly be extraordinary.

"I think she will. I think she should."

There are potentially four games left in Moore's collegiate career. If she wins the last one, that would be perhaps her biggest accomplishment of all.

SEMIFINALS

Sunday at the Liacouras Center, Temple University

No. 5 Georgetown, noon (ESPN, ESPN3   .com)

No. 3 DePaul, 2:30 p.m. (ESPN2, ESPN3.com)