Roy Williams won't be the
only T.C. Roberson High
graduate involved with Kansas University basketball next season.
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Christian
Moody, a 6-foot-7, 207-pound forward from Williams' alma mater in Asheville, N.C,
has joined KU as an invited walk-on. Moody will take one of the spots vacated by
walk-ons Todd Kappelmann, Brett Ballard, Lewis Harrison and Chris Zerbe.
"He's
a great kid, a really good student, a hard-working kid who is probably just
beginning to touch on physically the kind of player he can be in four or five
years," Roberson High coach Rich Sizemore said Monday night.
Sizemore
is just the second coach in Roberson history, the other being Williams' prep
coach, Buddy Baldwin.
Moody
— he will study pre-med at KU and follow in the footsteps of his dad, Mark, in
becoming a doctor — averaged 14 points and 10.5 rebounds per game last year
for 26-3 Roberson, which lost in the semifinals of North Carolina's Class 3A
state tournament.
A good
shooter who was used primarily on the inside, Moody hit 58 percent of his shots.
"All
of us who know Christian are really excited," said Sizemore, adding that
Moody is "a good three point shooter. We know what kind of kid he is and
how he'll work. I think every day that goes by over three to four years you'll
see him get better and better and get bigger and stronger. He really does run
the floor well.
"My
hope is initially he can contribute on the practice floor. What coach Williams
seeks in a walk-on is a kid who will work hard. If something comes up where
there's the opportunity to play, then you play, but the main thing is you work
hard and are happy to be part of the team," he added.
Moody,
who scored an amazing 1340 on his SAT and has a 4.65 weighted grade point
average, told the Hendersonville (N.C.) Times News he's tickled to be a Jayhawk.
"I
hope I can work hard enough to be a contributor," said Moody, a nominee for
North Carolina's Mr. Basketball Award. "It was incredible in high school
playing for such a great coach. Our teamwork at Roberson really created the best
environment possible and when we played our best, we usually had four or five
players in double figures."
So how
did KU become involved with Moody?
"I
met with Christian a year ago," Sizemore said. "He was going to have
opportunities to go to smaller schools. He wanted to go to a bigger school. I
told him that opportunity might not exist, would he be interested in an
opportunity to participate at a bigger school as a walk-on?
"I
asked Buddy to call Roy and see if there were any situations that might be out
there for him. We were thinking maybe Vanderbilt. Roy began to talk to Buddy and
Roy said they took three (walk-ons) each year. One thing led to another. I sent
out tape. He visited and his dad visited. Then he and his mom went back. He
really fell in love with the place."
KU fans
figure to reward Moody with late-game chants as they have former walk-ons during
the Williams era.
"This
is a different level and he knows he is not there yet," Sizemore said.
"His main objective is to fit in and play as hard as he can at practice. I
think Kansas is a good fit for him and I know he'll keep working hard
there."
Former
Lawrence High guard Steven Vinson also is ticketed to play for KU as a walk-on.
He indicated recently he'd passed up offers to UMKC and other schools to walk on
at Kansas.