Remember how Deion Sanders played when he was at the peak of his game?
Sanders, at times, dropped well off the receiver, inviting the quarterback to pass in his direction. Then, with the ball in the air, Sanders closed to it like a streak of light and batted away the ball or picked it off.
That’s the way Tamara Moore plays defense for Wisconsin.
Moore’s ball-hawking defense and the disruptive effect it has on opponents could carry the Badgers past Purdue and all others in the Big Ten tournament scheduled for the first weekend in March in Grand Rapids, Mich.
Moore, a 5-foot-11-inch junior point guard from Minneapolis, averages 14 points a game, 13th in the league. Yet, she isn’t usually regarded as a “star” of the Badgers (15-8, 9-4), currently ranked No. 22 in the country.
The first thing most folks notice about the Badgers is their huge, talented high-scoring front line of 6-4 sophomore Nina Smith, 6-3 junior Jessie Stomski and 6-3 senior LaTonya Sims. Stomski and Smith, respectively averaging 15.9 and 12 points, interchange effectively at the high and low post positions. Sims averages 14.4 points from the wing.
Also, if opponents sag back defenders on Stomski, Smith and Sims, guard Kyle Black can make them pay with her Big Ten-best .429 percentage from three-point range.
With this kind of offensive support, it might seem that Moore would have little to do but distribute the ball in her first season at the point. But as Northwestern coach June Olkowski pointed out after Sunday’s 70-54 loss to Wisconsin, Moore does much more.
“Defensively, Moore was a nightmare for our guards,” said Olkowski. “She’d lay off them three steps and still get deflections. Or when she came up and pressed them, she’s so big, they couldn’t see over her. To me, Moore is Wisconsin’s key on offense and on defense.”
Moore’s size and quickness contributed to the 5-for-29 shooting by NU’s smaller guards, 5-8 Emily Butler (3-for-15) and 5-6 Dana Leonard (2-for-14). Butler scored six points, Leonard eight.
Moore is averaging 5.57 assists, third in the Big Ten. Her assist-turnover ratio is a respectable 128-90. She leads the league and ranks No. 7 in the nation with 3.61 steals a game.
“I know I could take the ball to the basket more, but I want to be an all-around point guard in my first year at the position,” said Moore. “I’d rather pass to others than shoot. I don’t care who scores, as long as we win.
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“I love playing defense because defense creates offense. I like to lay off a player and then deflect or steal the ball. I learned that in high school.”
Splitting time between forward and off-guard, Moore was named most valuable player of the team that won last year’s National Invitation Tournament, which the Badgers hope will be a springboard to this year’s NCAA meet.
No surprise: Notre Dame’s rise to the national No. 1 ranking has not surprised Vivian Stringer, coach of the Rutgers team that plays host to the Irish on Saturday.
“I thought Notre Dame was capable of being No. 1 last year,” said Stringer. “They just didn’t know it. We saw fear in their eyes. Now, they believe, and Ruth Riley is the most amazing player I’ve watched.”
Balanced scoring and remarkably three-point shooting have featured the Irish’s success. All five starters average in double figures: Riley 18.7, Alicia Ratay 13.5, Niele Ivey 13.0, Ericka Haney 11.7 and Kelley Siemon 10.0.
Thanks to Ratay and Ivey, Notre Dame is hitting .491 from three- point range. Ivey is 41-of-82 and Ratay 49-of-88 .
“You can imagine why I’ve been scratching my head,” said Stringer, a defensive specialist. “It’s difficult to extend a zone to cover shooters such as Ivey and Ratay. A zone is not a jack-of-all-trades. It masters only certain aspects of offense.”