New KU PG Charlie Moore making most of early opportunities as a Jayhawk

Charlie Moore at this week's U19 USA Basketball tryout in Colorado Springs. (Photo courtesy of USA Basketball)

11:31 a.m. Update:

According a late-morning Tweet from Luke Winn of SI.com, Moore did not make the first cut at this week’s tryout in Colorado Springs.

Despite falling short, which is absolutely nothing to be ashamed about given the talent and depth of those players vying for the spots, everything that was written below earlier today still applies to the opportunity Moore received.

If anything, not making the USA roster might add even more fuel to Moore’s fire and inpsire him to take even better advantage of the upcoming year than he already planned to.

Time will tell, but it’s important to remember two things when thinking about Moore:

1 – He’s still just a freshman and seems to be very much on par with where Devonte’ Graham was after his freshman season at Kansas. That’s not to say Moore will become Graham, but Graham wasn’t exactly the player we know him to be today back then either.

2 – Moore does have that one valuable year of experience at Cal under his belt, which should help him approach his current opportunity and what’s ahead with more maturity than your average newcomer.

Original post:

Kansas point guard Charlie Moore is in Colorado Springs this week, trying out for a spot on the 2017 USA Basketball Men’s U19 World Cup Team.

Twenty-eight current college players were invited to the tryout and 12 will make the final roster to compete for Team USA at the U19 FIBA World Cup July 1-9 Cairo.

Consider this the first important step in Moore’s potentially huge transfer year.

While practicing with and playing against current Jayhawks like Devonte’ Graham and Malik Newman will no doubt be big for Moore’s development, these opportunities stand to be even bigger.

Unlike KU’s practices, where Moore can play with little pressure and without the usual make-or-break urgency, this week’s environment is a high-intensity, put-your-best-foot-forward-or-go-home experience that will force the former Cal point guard to be sharp and locked in at all times.

Whether he makes the team or not, that’s a good foundation for Moore to develop as he heads into the rest of the summer with the Jayhawks and, ultimately, the 2017-18 season, where he’ll hang in the shadows but be an important part of KU’s practice puzzle.

“He’s had some good moments,” Self told the Journal-World Tuesday morning when asked about Moore’s tryout thus far. “But he probably needed to have a really good day today to put himself in position to make that team.”

Newman, who came to KU after a year at Mississippi State, talked recently about the huge advantages of his transfer year and how he was able to spend an entire year working on the parts of his game that he thought needed the most help. Doing so under the watchful eye and tutelage of coaches like Bill Self, Kurtis Townsend, Andrea Hudy and many others certainly pushed Newman to a new level and left him saying and feeling that his confidence heading into the summer was at an all-time high.

Now it’s Moore’s turn to do the same. And what better way is there to do that than by competing against some of the best young players in college basketball while trying out for a team coached, and therefore selected, by Kentucky’s John Calipari.

Former Kansas players Tad Boyle (Colorado) and Danny Manning (Wake Forest) are assistants on Calipari’s Team USA staff, so the opportunity for Moore to pick their brains — especially Manning’s — about Kansas basketball and playing for Self only adds to the enormous gains that Moore can get out of the tryout.

Every little bit helps and it has to be viewed as a great sign that KU’s newest guard — and the potential heir to the Jayhawks’ point guard throne — is jumping into life as a Jayhawk with both feet and reckless abandon.

I liked what little I saw from Moore during the recent camp scrimmages. He looks quick, poised and more than competent and should improve his all-around game a great deal during his transfer season, much in the way Newman did.

It’s hard to imagine him being talked about at this time next year the way KU’s coaches have talked about Newman, but it’s not hard to envision Moore becoming an important part of KU’s team for the next couple of years. Opportunities to both test and prove himself like the one he’s getting this week in Colorado Springs can only help.

As for Self, he has spent time in Colorado Springs this week with an eye on recruiting some of KU’s most important targets in future recruiting classes, and on Wednesday he’ll head to New York City for the NBA Draft to join Josh Jackson and watch what fate awaits his most recent one-and-done player along with Frank Mason III.