Coach K's Message to Wendell Moore Jr.
Duke’s assistant coaches have praised Wendell Moore Jr.’s maturity as he returns as a sophomore leader on this year’s Blue Devils team.
Head coach Mike Krzyzewski joined the chorus praising Moore’s new, more mature outlook in his appearance on the ACC coaches preseason video conference last week.
“He had a really good freshman year for a freshman in our conference,” Coach K said. “He didn’t have a year where you would go pro in that type of year.”
Moore averaged 7.4 points, 4.2 rebounds and 1.9 assists and was able to defend multiple positions as well as run the team at times. He struggled with consistency, however, averaging 2.4 turnovers per game. That led to some harsh truth when the coaches met with him to discuss ways to improve in the offseason.
“If you want to ever be a pro, you have to develop consistency and a certain mental toughness,” Krzyzewski recalls telling Moore, “that when anything goes a little bit wrong, you don’t let it go a lot wrong.”
“Last year, he was too hard on himself,” Coach K added. “We’re all going to make mistakes and turn the ball over, whatever. Where you let that affect you and at cert times I thought it did. That’s just a sign of building maturity as a player. He’s one of our leaders this year. He’s probably our best talker out on the court with the team. I think that’s helped him, because he’s interested in taking care of everybody, not just himself. We need him to have an outstanding year for us.”
