PREP WATCH: Moser moves up in rankings

Grant forward getting more major-college attention

By Steve Brandon

The Portland Tribune, May 31, 2008, Updated Oct 30, 2009

Grant High forward Mike Moser is expected to start taking his college recruiting visits in late summer.

L.E. BASKOW / THE PORTLAND TRIBUNE

Grant High’s Mike Moser, who will be a senior next school year, is gaining more and more attention from major college recruiters.

Moser had a strong showing in the annual Cactus Classic, a basketball tournament for prep stars in mid-May at the University of Arizona.

“Arizona stepped in and gave him a (full scholarship) offer,” says Kumbeno Memory, who coaches Moser and the I-5 Elite AAU team sponsored by NBA forward Ime Udoka from Jefferson High.

The 6-8 Moser has risen in the rivals.com rankings, Memory says, to No. 79 in the country and 16th among prep senior small forwards.

Grant coach Tony Broadous says Washington and the University of Portland also have offered scholarships to Moser, who helped Grant win the Class 6A state title this year.

Broadous and Memory both say rumors that Moser has committed to Oregon are not true.

“He’s not close” to deciding on a college, Broadous says. “He wants to take some visits and be patient.”

"There is definitely interest (in Oregon) on Mike's part and interest in Mike on Oregon's part," Memory says. "I believe he'll take most or all of his visits once our season is over in August."

Memory says Moser “dominated in all aspects” in a Cactus Classic game against a team with four or five players ranked among the nation’s top 100. “He had 26 points, 14 rebounds, five assists and a few blocks,” Memory says. “He’s a really well-rounded player.”

In a game against Team Odom from the Los Angeles area, Moser had 10 points and 13 rebounds and “more than held his own,” Memory says, playing against Jordan Hamilton, a forward from Compton, Calif., who is considered No. 8 among prep players and is expected to be in next year’s McDonald’s All-American game.

“Things have constantly heated up for Mike since last summer,” Memory says. “He was more of a post-forward last season, but he has the capability of playing on the perimeter, and he’s honed that and now can legitimately do things out there as well as play on the block.

“He’s a really driven kid who spends a lot of time in the gym, working on his game. He’s a naturally thin player, but he’s getting stronger, and by the time he enters college you’ll see a difference in his body.”

Memory says he is trying to get Moser invited to the NBA Players Association Top 100 camp in June and a Nike Skills Academy/LeBron James camp in July in Akron, Ohio.

With the graduation of Grant seniors Paul McCoy and Mike James, Moser will be called on for even more as a General next season.

“He’ll play all five positions,” says Broadous, well aware of Moser’s versatility. “His volume of shots will go up tremendously, and he’ll be facing double- and triple-teams.”

• Grant will return only five players from its title squad, but the Generals will have junior Kenneth Acker ready to step into McCoy's spot as floor leader.

Acker and others are football players, which might lead to Grant getting a bit of a late start in basketball again.

Broadous says he plans to take his team to Seattle for a December game against one of the top teams from that area. The Generals will be back in the annual Les Schwab Invitational, and Broadous says he is keeping two dates open "in case we get into something nationally, like Lake Oswego did during Kevin Love's senior year."

MORE BASKETBALL

• Another member of the I-5 Elite is Ameer Shamsud din, a senior for Benson last year, could be headed to a prep school in the East, Memory says.

• Wilson standout Mario Gill remains undecided on a college. Portland State has asked the 6-1 guard to walk on next season, and he has a lot of junior college offers, including one from Midland (Texas) College.

Gill was a first team all-state player and was voted PIL 6A player of the year.

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