When you are as talented on and off the court as 2020 Arkansas recruiting target and five-star prospect Moses Moody, you are bound to have plenty of opportunities not available to everyone.
Whether it’s the opportunity to win a state title as he did with North Little Rock last season, run with a great AAU organization such as Brad Beal Elite, selected to be a part of USA Basketball or spend his final two prep years at Monteverde Academy in Florida, Moody is living the good life while also making straight As in the classroom.
“I have been very blessed and just try to do the best I can in everything I do,” Moody said. “I have had so many people help along the way and I just try to put in all the work I can to help that pay off.”
Moody (6-5, 185), ranked the 20th best player in ESPN’s 2020 rankings, has decided to make Arkansas his first of five official visits and will be in Fayetteville this weekend.
He said it was just a natural thing to do because Arkansas is his home and because of his relationship with Razorbacks head coach Mike Anderson and assistant Melvin Watkins.
“It is the home state, so it is definitely appealing,” Moody said. “I also like Coach Anderson and Coach Watkins, and the class that is up there now are my guys — Desi (Sills), Isaiah Joe, Justice (Hill) is going up there, Ethan (Henderson) and Khalil (Garland) are there — so I have a lot of people I know and trust.”
That’s the same sentiment for his dad, Kareem Moody, a former Dumas player.
“I definitely have a lot of respect for Coach Anderson being an Arkansas guy growing up when things were really good in 90s,” Kareem Moody said. “I like how he carries himself, what he tries to instill in the young people and how he represents the University of Arkansas in a positive way.
“I think he has a lot of work this season with the production on the floor and a lot of new guys, but I’m looking forward to this season. I have seen him a lot out on the recruiting trail and I know he has been real active, but it comes down to what they get done on the court.”
Moses Moody will be one of three Top 100 nationally ranked 2020 official visitors on hand for Friday night’s Red-White basketball game along with Memphis Whitehaven guard Matthew Murrell (6-3, 175) and Tulsa Booker T. Washington guard Bryce Thompson (6-5, 170).
Arkansas also expects to host up to four unofficial visitors and Fort Smith Northside junior center Jaylin Williams (6-10, 210) — both of whom have Razorback offers — and 2021 prospects Jalen Ricks (6-5, 170) of Sylvan Hills and Terran Williams (6-4, 175) of Marianna planning to attend.
Moody has offers from Arkansas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Florida, Florida State, Baylor, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, SMU, Stanford, Missouri, Illinois and Ole Miss with interest from Ohio State, UCLA and others.
Arkansas is the only official visit he has set up so far.
“I am just going to play it by ear,” Moody said of any other possible official visits during his junior season.
He has already taken unofficial visits to Florida, UCLA and Arkansas, where he watched the Razorbacks down Texas A&M 94-75 on Feb. 17 as part of a crowd of more than 18,000.
“It was a great atmosphere,” Moody said. “I loved everything about it.”
Moody is close to being fully healthy after suffering a stress fracture playing AAU basketball this summer. He was able to see limited action at the USA Basketball Men’s Junior National Team mini-camp Oct. 5-8.
“It’s winding down,” Moody said. “I should be ready to go in a couple of weeks.”
Moody announced Aug. 1 that he would attend Montverde Academy, which counts NBA players Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons and D’Angelo Russell as well as Duke freshman RJ Barrett among its alumni.
Barrett and Montverde won the GEICO High School National Championship last season while going 35-0 for head coach Kevin Boyle, who has four national titles in the last six years and been in the championship game seven of the last nine years.
“It was definitely a sacrifice and somewhat scary,” Moody said of his decision to attend Montverde. “But it’s panning out and I really like Coach Boyle. He knows the game so well and I can pick up a lot of things from him. He has been through what I am trying to get to.”
Montverde Academy’s season will open on Nov. 15th against Winter Haven, Fla., Oasis Christian and the program will play 11 home games. The schedule also includes a contest in Tampa, Fla., against Oak Hill Academy of Virginia as well as tournaments in Washington, D.C., Honolulu, Wheeling, West Virginia, Springfield, Mass., and Union, N.J.
“Playing against top competition all year around will challenge myself,” Moody said.
Moody believes playing at Montverde will allow him to hone his skills.
“I am most definitely a shooter — that’s what I do,” Moody said. “I can get to the rack and finish. I am a good ballhandler, but that is an area that I am working on. I want to be more creative with it, almost daring. Just want to try new stuff and expand my game.”
Moody averaged 18.6 points, 7.2 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 2.1 stats and 1.4 blocks per game last season for North Little Rock head coach Johnny Rice while leading the Charging Wildcats (26-5) to the Class 7A state title.
He had 16 points and was named the tournament MVP after a 64-51 win over defending champion Fort Smith Northside in the title game, which was a rematch of the 2017 state championship game.
“We worked so hard for it all year as a team,” Moody said. “Coach always said there are three seasons. We did pretty good in the first season — which was preseason before conference started — then won the conference title and that all led up to the last season, which was the playoffs and the state championship.”
Moody said it was even more exciting because he got to do it with his older brother, Miles.
“Doing it with my brother and Ray Fresh — who is like a brother to me, too — made it even more special,” Moody said. “My brother and I have been on the same teams for a long time, but this was our biggest basketball accomplishment. It was definitely sweet.”
He spent his spring and summer playing for Brad Beal Elite (formerly the St. Louis Eagles) while averaging a team-leading 15.3 points, 3.3 rebounds and one steal per game in Nike EYBL action. Moody was the lone rising junior on a St. Louis-based team sponsored by Washington NBA star Beal that included Ohio State forward pledge EJ Liddell (6-7, 200), Missouri guard commit Mario McKinney (6-3, 180), Oregon commit Francis Okoro (6-9, 225), and St. Louis pledges Terrence Hargrove (6-7, 185) and Yuri Collins (5-10, 175).
“It was a hard decision to make to play out of state and everything, but at that point I felt it was the best decision I could make,” Moody said. “After playing, I was certainly satisfied with it and how it worked out while getting to play with some great players. I was playing on a team where everybody is going D-I and a tremendous coach in Coach (Corey) Frazier and a great program run by (BBE president) Tim (Holloway).
“Also with Brad Beal being so involved and getting to play with guys like EJ Liddell and Francis. EJ can play any position and finishes so strong at the rim.
“As for Francis, I have always thought of myself and a good rebounder and doing that, but playing with them, there was no room for me to get in there and rebound. If I went in to get a rebound, Terrence Hargrove would be dunking on me.”
Moody enjoyed being on a team of stars.
“It was great not having all the weight on me, but at the same time I had a role, which was scoring,” Moody said. “Just being able to play my role was nice. That is easy when you have a point guard like Yuri Collins and other scorers like Mario McKinney.”
Moody said that his favorite NBA player is Phoenix Suns guard Devin Booker, but does not pattern his game after anyone.
“I don’t want to model my game after anybody because I feel if you are modeling your game after someone, you’ll never really play like someone else and you will limit what you can become and always be doubtful about your game,” Moody said. “I just want to play the best I can through my own game.”
He is a fan of the new NCAA rule allowing juniors to take official visits.
“It allows you to go talk to more schools earlier and you don’t have to wait until your senior year and you can go look at the schools you want to go to earlier and understand more about the programs,” Moody said.