Tears in his eyes, A.J. Moye left the court at Assembly Hall for the final time. As he reluctantly trudged off the floor where he had left his blood, sweat and tears, it was impossible not to feel sorry for Indiana’s senior stalwart. No player in the Big Ten better exemplifies the way the game should be played than the 6-foot-2, 215-pound dynamo. He deserved better. Bracey Wright may be the star of the team, but Moye is Indiana’s heart and soul.
“It’s a hard pill to swallow,” a despondent Moye said following Saturday’s 70-52 loss to Wisconsin. “My last game, to go out like that, that’s a disgrace.”
He went out in classic Moye fashion, leading his team with 11 points and ripping down nine rebounds, four of them on the offensive glass. His individual play was anything but a disgrace. Yet he sat, head down in the Assembly Hall media room, like a prizefighter who had just lost a grueling 12-round fight. Were he into personal statistics, he would have nothing to hang his head over. But that is not A.J.’s way.
“I’m proud to have worn this uniform and to represent this school in a lot of wins and a lot of losses,” he said. “I’m not proud of losing. I don’t care if I have good numbers or bad numbers, I want to win. It’s not about me.”
While the numbers have been there for Moye this season — 9.6 points and 6.3 rebounds per game — they have not for IU. The proud and storied program stumbled to a 13-14 record in 2003-04, including a 7-9 conference finish. The pain was etched all over Moye’s face as he reflected back on his final season as a Hoosier. Losing wears him down the way he wears down much taller opponents in the paint.
“I haven’t been able to sleep this year,” Moye said. “I get in bed at 11. I may not sleep until two or three, if at all. I can’t stomach losing, it’s disgusting.”
Built more like a linebacker than a guard, Moye seems to be within a five-yard radius of every bit of action on the court. Any rebound, lose ball or body on the floor seems to somehow involve the Atlanta native. What he may lack in height, he makes up for with a 40-inch vertical and bulldog-like tenacity. Were he 6-foot-8, he would be an NBA All-Star. Who knows, he might still be. Yes, he is small. Yes, he is far from being considered a great shooter. And yes, he really does not even have a position, but those limitations have never once stopped him from pouring every ounce of energy onto the court.
“There’s nothing scientific to it,” he said. “It’s just heart and feel, man. If you don’t want a guy to score, he won’t score. If you want to win the game, you win the game.”
There is not a sane coach in the country who would not want Moye on his team. Put five of him on the floor and they might not win every game, but they darn sure would not get out-worked or out-hustled.
“You’ve got to have each other’s back. It’s just like in life,” he said. “It’s like we’re in the alley. It’s five on five. Let’s say the five guys start jumping on one of our guys; are you just going to watch them? That’s kind of like what it is out there: ‘All right, let him get beat up, at least it won’t be me getting beat up. It’s not my fault.’ But it is your fault. We’re all a team.”
There’s a reason it seems Moye has been at Indiana for ages: people have been taking note of him and his style of play for years. As a freshman, he was part of an IU team that went 21-13 before bowing out to the upstart Kent State Golden Flashes in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
In 2001-02, Moye was the T-shirt-clad energizer of the Final Four-bound Hoosiers. That squad finished conference play 11-5, claiming a share of the Big Ten Championship before making its March run. In IU’s NCAA tournament upset of Duke, it was Moye who came off the bench to tally 14 points and spark Indiana to victory.
Last year, Indiana slipped to 8-8 in Big Ten play but advanced to the second round of the tournament before falling to Pittsburgh 74-52.
Then came 2003-04. All the willpower in Moye’s chiseled body could not prevent the Hoosiers’ fall to Big Ten mediocrity.
Now Indiana finds itself in an unaccustomed position: on the outside looking in on the NCAA tournament and hoping for a bid to the NIT, much to the dismay of one A.J. Moye.
“The person I feel bad for is Moye,” Indiana head coach Mike Davis said. “That’s the guy I feel sorry for. He gives you everything and he’s 6-2.”
He may have left Assembly Hall as a loser, but his Hoosier legacy will be that of an undersized sparkplug who scratched and clawed his way to success. When he made his final exit from the legendary arena, there was nothing more for Moye to give: he had left it all on the basketball court.
