I think this is one of her greatest plays ever in terms of defensive anticipation, as she races cross court to make a block.
I was at that game and this play is the most amazing defensive play i have ever seen. in addition to what you wrote above, the DePaul player was fast breaking with the ball, dribbling with the one hand (i'm not sure if it was right or left) and Maya was chasing...if the DePaul player would have continued to dribble with that hand, Maya would have not been able to steal the ball without fouling the player but luckily (to UConn), the DePaul player changed hands and moved the ball to be dribbled with the other hand and that gave Maya the angle to steal the ball. The awareness of all of this happening in real time by Maya was just out of this world.There's one Maya Moore play that was unforgettable, because it told us that she was on a different level than any freshman should be. It was the DePaul game where after a turnover with about 10 seconds left in the game, she chased down the ball handler and stole the ball. BUT--that wasn't what made the play special. Immediately after the steal, she called time out. I can't imagine anyone having the presence of mind to do that. She could't have thought it through, because at the start of the play UConn had the ball.
Then--as most fans know--UConn in-bounded to Ketia Swanier who ran up the court and made a lay up to win the game. But the steal and the layup pale in comparison with the instinct to call time out, after being on the dead run to make the steal.
But even on the final play (Ketia's layup), Maya had a big role in making the play succeed. Geno knew that Doug Bruno would never let Maya take a potential game-winning shot, so he had her spot up in the right corner, while Ketia drove on the right side of the lane. As Geno anticipated, Maya's defender stayed glued to her rather than helping off to defend the drive. It still took a skillful long layup by Ketia to score the winning basket.There's one Maya Moore play that was unforgettable, because it told us that she was on a different level than any freshman should be. It was the DePaul game where after a turnover with about 10 seconds left in the game, she chased down the ball handler and stole the ball. BUT--that wasn't what made the play special. Immediately after the steal, she called time out. I can't imagine anyone having the presence of mind to do that. She could't have thought it through, because at the start of the play UConn had the ball.
Then--as most fans know--UConn in-bounded to Ketia Swanier who ran up the court and made a lay up to win the game. But the steal and the layup pale in comparison with the instinct to call time out, after being on the dead run to make the steal.
Maya has 40-minute highlight videos for each of her years at UConn. No one other than Michael Jordan has comparable highlights. These are just her FRESHMAN highlights.
Arguably, the best Uconn WCBB passer everWatching some of those Maya Moore clips reminded me what an exceptional passer Kaili McLaren was. Precise, creative, completely unselfish.
We sure did and we definitely miss her here in Minnesota.Maya is the best player I’ve ever seen play. Being a Lynx fan, I watched every single game they played from 2013-2018 of Maya’s career. She is an absolute winner on and off the court. Minnesota fans were treated to excellent basketball from the moment Maya joined the team. We miss her in Minnesota.
I was there!