We are less than 17 days away from the tip-off of the new college basketball season, which means that we have plenty of time to start preparing for the action ahead. We will do so via a series of season previews featuring the best players/coaches in the country. HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel continues our coverage with North Carolina A&T associate head coach Ricky Moore, who talked about winning an NCAA tourney as a player and coach and his expectations for this season.
In 1995 you were named a Parade All-American: which of your fellow honorees from that legendary class impressed you the most (Vince Carter/Kevin Garnett/Ron Mercer/other)? I would say Garnett: I had the chance to play with him in AAU ball and we also played together at Nike Camp. His tenacity stood out: whether it was practice or a game he had the same mentality of wanting to dominate his opponent. Ron/Vince both had great size and were able to score againt anyone. It would take me all day to review the great players in that class. Back then there were only be a few travel teams in each state so the competition was very tough. Now there are so many teams that the competition level has been watered down.
You were born/raised in Georgia: what made you choose UConn for college? In the early 1990s UConn was trending upward and starting to become 1 of the teams in the Big East who stood out. They played at a fast tempo on offense and used a 2-2-1 press on defense, and I wanted to go to that kind of system because it would showcase my talents. They had several future pros including Ray Allen/Doron Sheffer. I was told that I would start, but I ended up playing most of the minutes and was on the court at the end of each game: I was all about winning. UConn is far from Georgia, but everybody got along and I wanted to be a part of that.
You were a 3-time co-captain: what is the secret to being a good leader? You must bring the same energy day in and day out because everyone is looking to see how you will perform. You must be a great communicator who can motivate your team. Some of my coaches told me to shoot when I was wide open, but sometimes I would try to make a play for a teammate because I was unselfish.
In 1999 you were named national DPOY: what is the key to being a great defender? I was a defensive guy who liked to keep his opponent under his scoring average. It is all about effort and energy: you must always be ready in your stance, but also have very good teammates who you can trust on a pick and roll. Part of that is taking care of your body with treatment/ice because you must be available to play.
In the 1999 NCAA title game you scored 13 PTS in a 3-PT win over Duke: what did it mean to you to win a championship? Nobody except our fans expected us to win that year, but it was the highlight of my career! Duke had 4 lottery picks, so most people did not give us a chance, but Coach K knew how good our perimeter play was. We had great chemistry with guys like Rip Hamilton/Khalid El-Amin. There is no feeling like winning a championship: not many guys can say they won 1 as a player and another 1 as a coach.
In 2001 you were named to the Huskies’ all-century team: what did it mean to you to receive such an outstanding honor? That is more of an individual award, but there is nothing like cutting down the nets after beating 1 of the best teams in college basketball. I love being on the all-century team, but at the end of the day, there is no better feeling than being part of the 1st team in school history to win a title.
You later returned to your alma mater as an assistant coach and had a 6-PT win over Kentucky in the 2014 NCAA title: how does winning 1 as a player compare to winning 1 as a coach? I joke about it all the time. As player you can do certain things to change the game…but as a coach you are just screaming from the sideline! We had a great pair of guards in Shabazz Napier/Ryan Boatright, which made my job a lot easier. From the time that we rolled the ball out at practice, they knew they had to go out and perform. We got back to work after losing to Louisville in the AAC tourney title game, and once we got into a rhythm, we knew that we had a good chance to win an NCAA title.
You have spent the past 3 years as an assistant to Monte Ross at North Carolina A&T and increased your win total from 7 in 2025 to 11 in 2026: how have you been able to get things going in the right direction? There were several coaching changes in the years before we got here, but my job is to make Monte’s job easier. During the 1st 2 years our team was very young, so this is the 1st time that we have older guys heading into the season, which makes a huge difference. When we were 1st building the culture here, we were just piecing things together, but now we have been able to recruit some guys who can shoot the ball and make plays on the perimeter. This will be the 1st team we have with an offensive identity. We were picked last in the preseason poll that was announced earlier today, but it is great motivation and I think that we can shock some people this year.
Your roster includes players from 10 different states and 2 guys from Greece: what sort of recruiting philosophy do you have? “What fits us”. The guys are always in the gym getting up shots even if we had a long practice. They are hungry and want to compete for a conference title. It will take some time with so many new guys, but hopefully we will be trending upward by the end of the season.
What are your goals for the upcoming season, and what are your expectations for the upcoming season? The goal is to win a CAA championship, and we will have an opportunity to do that. In the past when we were young and our NIL was lower, it was a lot tougher to even think about competing for a title, but that is our aspiration this season. The guys have been working as hard as they can, and the staff is trying to help them get better at each practice, so I think we will have a great season.
