FIrst Word: Moore now the focal point

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First Word with Jeremy Werner is a quick take on the latest in Illini athletics. Enjoy it every weekday morning with your morning coffee.

There was Demetrius Jackson. Then Xavier Rathan-Mayes. And Quentin Snider. And Jalen Brunson. And Jawun Evans. And Marcus LoVett.

Illinois basketball coach John Groce's now four-year search for a lead guard has focused in on some big-time targets, some who have already turned into big-time college players. But, as you all know, none of them play for Illinois.

So here we are, four recruiting classes into the Groce Era with Jaylon Tate - and his 5.7 percent three-point percentage - as the lone prep point guard to sign with Illinois since 2012 (though freshman Jalen Coleman-Lands certainly has some potential to grow into a part-time lead guard). So the focus continues to shift to "who's next?"

Charlie Moore, it's your turn as the focal point.

In the evaluation business, we always seem to be in search of the perfect 'comp,' or comparison that can give us and our audience an idea of that players' style of play and potential. Moore, a 5-foot-10 Class of 2016 point guard out of Morgan Park, often is compared to two names familiar with Illini fans: Ahmad Starks and Tyler Ulis.

Moore is not Ahmad Starks, the 5-foot-9 Illini transfer - I still maintain that he was closer to 5-foot-7 - who shot an inefficient 34.3 percent last season. The undersized and natural shooting guard was forced into the point guard role due to Tracy Abrams' injury. Moore is not Ulis, an undersized, in-state point guard who Illinois did not pursue early before he ended up at Kentucky. Ulis always was and is a premier table setter and pure point guard.

Moore, a top-100 composite recruit, isn't as pure of a point guard as Ulis (few are) but has shown more point skills than Starks.

"Over the course of the year, he played off the ball a lot with Marcus LoVett there and did a great job," said Joe Henricksen, analyst for City/Suburban Hoops Report. "He cut down a little bit on his wildness, cut down on his poor shot selection. He used to be a kid who'd shoot 27-footers and throw it in the third row of the bleachers. Now, over the course of this year, he's really toned that down. Then I saw him this spring and I kind of fell in love with him. He just has a spark to him. He's an offensive catalyst, even at 5-10. He's a really good shooter. He's a little bit of a high volume guy but he's got good range. He's a scorer. He's a competitive kid who plays hard. He's going to be able to defend eventually when he decides to. He's not there yet."

Moore - who has scholarship offers from Illinois, Iowa, Ole Miss, Georgia Tech and St. John's - may not be as highly-touted as the Illinois point guard targets that came before him. But he can handle, distribute and make open shots.

Sign me up.

Now, Illinois has to sign him up this fall.

"Charlie Moore, I don't care where he's ranked," Henricksen said. "I don't care what kind of hype he's getting from anybody else. He becomes the next must-get for Illinois and John Groce. I really believe that. ...To me, Charlie Moore makes so much sense to me for what they need - what they desperately need - and the type of player he is."