Moore works way from walk-on to scholarship player

Daniel Moore used to have a lot in common with the typical IU student.

He was a generous 5 feet 10 inches tall, rocked a crew cut and some IU students said he would have been a decent basketball player at the School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation.

“Nobody really recognizes me,” the senior guard said. “I just kind of blend in with the average student unless I’m walking with somebody tall. Then they might recognize me.”

But unlike his fellow players, Moore didn’t pay for the candy-stripe pants he wears at Assembly Hall for IU basketball games.

There’s another thing Moore doesn’t have to pay for anymore: tuition. Moore is on scholarship for the first time this year after spending three years as a walk-on.

“Now that he is being rewarded with a scholarship this year, I think he appreciates that,” said Mark Galloway, Moore’s coach from Carmel High School. “Some kids don’t. Some kids probably wouldn’t have stuck it out. But again, that’s his intestinal fortitude, and that’s his toughness that he has.”

Before he was diving after loose balls at IU, Moore’s career took off while he was starting for Galloway’s squad in Carmel, Ind.

Carmel was pitted against eventual 4A state champion North Central in the Regional semifinals of the 2006 IHSAA Boys Basketball State Tournament. North Central’s star player was future IU freshman sensation Eric Gordon.

Who was the lucky guy with the responsibility of guarding the future Indiana Mr. Basketball? Moore was the chosen one.

While Carmel lost 47-22, Moore’s containment of Gordon made an early impression on his coach.

“As a sophomore, he guarded Gordon and didn’t back down for one minute,” Galloway said. “Here’s a little sophomore guarding this McDonald’s All-American candidate, and he’s not backing down for a minute. We knew right then that we had a special player.”

Just 17 days later, IU announced the hiring of former Coach Kelvin Sampson. While the heavily publicized recruiting war for Gordon was unfolding between IU and Illinois, Sampson also pursued the guy who shut him down.

Moore, who grew up an avid IU basketball fan, said he quickly turned his focus to the newly hired coach.

“(Sampson) didn’t really have to recruit me that hard,” Moore said. “I went to Elite Camp a couple times with Sampson, so he noticed me there, and he started talking to me. He actually asked me how tall my parents were because he was wondering if I was going to grow any more.”

The 5-foot-10-inch Moore faced height obstacles on the basketball court, but that didn’t carry to the soccer field. In addition to earning first team all-state honors in his senior year in basketball, Moore received the same honor in soccer.

“A lot of people told me that I should play soccer,” Moore said. “Five(foot)-10(-inch) white guys don’t make it in basketball very often.”

Though outsiders told him his physical chops were more suited for college soccer, Moore had different plans. His summers were spent playing AAU basketball, not travel soccer.

His ultimate goal was still to play college basketball and to do so at IU. But Moore’s lifelong dream would soon be in jeopardy.

Moore verbally agreed to a preferred walk-on spot from Sampson. But when Sampson was fired by IU in February 2008 for making impermissible phone calls to recruits, Moore’s future was suddenly in limbo.

With IU potentially out of the picture, Boston University swooped in and offered Moore a full-ride scholarship. His senior season had already come and gone.

Moore was still undecided when IU hired Tom Crean on April 1, 2008.

Crean reached out to the Carmel point guard within a week of being hired. Moore said Crean still wanted him as a preferred walk-on at IU, though Crean had never seen him play.

With Boston still on the table, Moore sent Crean film and asked him to evaluate him after watching. Crean called Moore back and said he liked what he saw. Moore immediately decided that he would take his talents to Bloomington.

Unfortunately for Moore, only two players from the 2007-08 IU team who made it to the NCAA Tournament would be joining him. Sampson’s firing dismantled IU’s recruiting, forcing many of his scholarship players to withdraw their commitments.

A total of six walk-ons filled the roster for IU, Moore being one of them.
But being a true freshman walk-on didn’t keep Moore out of the fire. Moore logged 20-plus minutes in nine of IU’s first 10 games and averaged 4.5 points and 4.1 assists per game all in 2008.

Then reality kicked in. After a 5-5 start, IU finished the season 1-20. The 6-25 mark was IU’s worst record in school history.

“It was really hard, especially being a fan of IU basketball my whole life,” Moore said. “I just kept saying to myself, ‘How would I feel if I was still watching?’

“It was tough because at the same time, we knew that we were playing as hard as we could. We were just undermanned a lot of the time.”

By season’s end, Moore had started in 10 of IU’s 31 games. But just because Moore started in games as a freshman walk-on, didn’t mean he was protected from the public wrath. Moore became a target on several fan message boards, where they criticized the fact that he was even playing for IU.

“If I listened to everything that everybody said, I wouldn’t be able to keep playing,” Moore said. “People can be harsh, especially when they’re upset and they love Indiana basketball. I understand. I’ve been in that spot where I’ve been mad at players in the past, too. You’ve just got to take it with a grain of salt.”

Help was soon on the way. Two ESPNU 100 recruits, Christian Watford and Maurice Creek, committed to IU, along with Jordan Hulls, who was named Indiana’s Mr. Basketball his senior year.

The arrival of Crean’s first hand-picked recruiting class meant Moore would play a lesser role in years to come. It also meant Moore would still be fighting for minutes as a walk-on, but he said the diminished role was one he embraced.

“I’m a guy who helps guys get better in practice,” Moore said. “The minutes I get are great, but my main role is getting guys better at practice.”

Moore’s numbers have taken a hit since his freshman season. His last start came as a freshman. He went from 17.2 minutes per game his freshman year to 7.2 in 2009-10 and 6.5 last season. He hasn’t scored in double figures since his freshman year.

But Crean still calls Moore’s name, whether it is to shut down an opposing guard or provide a defensive spark. Moore said he knows what he has to do to earn minutes.

“I knew that I wasn’t going to come here and be a guy that scored 20 points a game,” Moore said. “I was going to have to be a guy like Eric Suhr, who came in and was an energy guy and played as hard as he could as long as he could, who also pushed guys in practice and was a good teammate.

“Those are the things that I knew I could do, and those are the things I’ll continue to do, regardless of whether or not I’m a scholarship player.”

No longer can he be victimized by his critics with the walk-on stigma. So what does Moore say to those who still wish to bash him on the message boards?
Bring it on.

“I’ll see or hear a couple things, but it’s whatever,” Moore said. “People are entitled to their own opinions. If they really feel like that, then they don’t appreciate what I do. Obviously, I’m not the most skilled basketball player, but I play hard. I’d feel free to take on any challengers at the HPER.”

Like Moore, IU will look to silence its critics this season. In Moore’s three seasons at IU, the Hoosiers are 7-47 in conference play.

Additionally, IU is coming off a last-place finish in the Big Ten.   

The Hoosiers added freshman big man Cody Zeller this year, their first McDonald’s All-American since Gordon in 2007. They lost only one senior and boast players like Hulls, Watford and Verdell Jones III, who have multiple years of Big Ten experience under their belts.

Moore said he thinks the time is now.

“It’s definitely time to start winning,” Moore said. “We have enough talent, and we have enough experience. It’s not about playing hard anymore. We need to start
winning.”

Moore will not be enshrined in the IU Athletics Hall of Fame. His name will likely remain foreign to all college basketball fans who don’t bleed cream and crimson. He might even get a mixed reaction from the IU student section during senior night.
 
But that’s not why Moore came to IU. That’s not why he shook off criticism after enduring the worst season in the history of one of college basketball’s most historic programs.

That’s not why he stuck out three years of getting floor burns as a walk-on.
It was about seeing his favorite childhood team win again and being one of the players who helped it do so.

“He told me the other day, that as a senior, he wants to be remembered as a guy that helped get the program back where it should be,” Galloway said. “Now, that doesn’t necessarily mean starting in his senior year but rather helping the guys coming in there. He just wants to see Indiana win.”