Tuesday, February 2, 1999
Breaking the Mold
FEATURE: Jerome Moiso has traveled around the world and back,
but the freshman forward still lacks one thing – confidence
By Brent Boyd
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
Jerome Moiso was flabbergasted. He had just been asked to take
part in his second interview of the day.
"Why me?" Moiso said in a French accent cultivated from his 20
years in Paris and the West Indies. "Why not Baron Davis or Dan
Gadzuric? Man, they’re All-Americans."
It wasn’t a complaint, it wasn’t an effort to ditch the
interview, and it wasn’t a statement of annoyance. No, he is too
polite and too sincere for such protests.
Rather, it was a legitimate question – legitimate in his eyes at
least. And the question was vintage Jerome Moiso.
This freshman forward, who mesmerizes his opponents with
terrifying blocked shots, deceiving quickness and an array of
offensive weapons, also fascinates people on and off the court with
his personality. He is humble, unassuming and insecure – hardly
characteristic of the typical college basketball phenom.
Throw in the fact that the United States has been his home and
English his primary language for less than a year and it results in
a player who is truly unique.
He fears he shoots too much, he’s embarrassed when somebody asks
for his autograph, and he claims – probably only half-jokingly –
that he wears number zero because he’s no good.
Jerome Moiso is definitely a rare find among big-time college
athletes.
"If there’s a person they broke the mold on, it would be him,"
UCLA head coach Steve Lavin said. "With him, none of the logical
theories pan out. He’s an unusual and really refreshing player to
coach."
If a picture of Moiso isn’t clear yet, Phil Gatton – an
organizer of last April’s Eddie Jones All-Star Classic, which Moiso
participated in – further defines the image.
"Picture somebody in your family who is the most shy person you
know, who has the least understanding of some of the things that we
take for granted, and put that person in a 6-foot-11-inch bod,"
said Gatton. "He’s got a great personality and a smile that will
charm the hell out of you."
Oh yeah, he can play a little basketball too.
He is third on the team in scoring with 13.1 points per game,
leads the Bruins with 6.5 rebounds per game, and is the club’s
second-leading shot blocker with 19. In UCLA’s 20 contests, he has
led the team in scoring five times and in rebounding nine
times.
"He’s got those alien-like tentacles," Lavin said. "He’s got
those Stretch Armstrong-type of arms, Gumby-type arms that make it
tough for opponents."
He also is the only player on the team with a double-double –
and he’s got two of them.
And while defenders, opposing coaches and teammates are amazed
by his talent, there is still one person who is not quite
convinced.
That’s right, Jerome Moiso still isn’t so sure.
"You always have to convince him he’s a good basketball player,"
Lavin said. "You have to convince him that he’s good enough to be
on scholarship, he’s good enough to start, and that he should
shoot. It always comes back to shooting. We show videotape of
himself, and every time we say, ‘Shoot the ball, Jerome.’ I see him
in the airport and it’s ‘Shoot the ball, Jerome.’ He says, ‘Hey,
coach,’ and I say, ‘Shoot the ball, Jerome.’"
Shoot the ball, Jerome.
Shoot the ball, Jerome.
Shoot the ball, Jerome.
It is a Lavin broken record, but this one seems to be doing the
trick.
In three of the last four games he’s had 15 field goal attempts.
Prior to these last two weeks he had been averaging less than 10
shots per game.
"That’s what he said to me … He said you have to keep
shooting," Moiso said, with a sly smile sneaking across his
face.
He has a varied offensive arsenal comprised of hook shots,
off-the-backboard turnaround shots and even jumpers.
He can be deadly from the 15 feet out and has been effective on
long-range shots; he has also connected on four of nine three-point
attempts this season.
Not bad for a guy that stands just shy of seven feet tall.
At his height, you’re not supposed to stand 20 feet from the
basket. You’re supposed to be down low, on the inside, fighting for
points.
But, this is something Moiso doesn’t particularly like.
"Something I must do is attack the basket," he said. "Not just
dunk, but take the ball to the basket and go strong. But you know,
I’m kind of, like, trying to make finessy, fancy moves, and it’s
not working all the time. So I have to learn to go up strong."
It’s a style of play that hasn’t been lost on his teammates.
Practicing before the Louisville contest a week and a half ago, all
play stopped and the team broke out in standing ovation.
Moiso had just dunked.
They say, "Jerome, you got to dunk the ball when you’re only two
feet from the basket."
But for some reason, the dunk just doesn’t fit his
personality.
The dunk connotes showmanship, cockiness and arrogance. But, he
would rather his teammates get the attention. He would rather his
teammates be more successful than himself.
And when they’re not, he does his best to change it.
Against Louisville, forward Travis Reed had a terrible first
half and was the focus of a coaching staff tirade. Moiso was the
first to comfort him and tell him he would have a great second
half.
Against Kentucky, while Moiso was in the midst of scoring 25
points, his teammate and roommate Dan Gadzuric wasn’t getting many
shots. So, Moiso asked to be benched so his friend could shoot
more.
And Sunday, when Lavin was ejected and seemingly on the edge of
a nervous breakdown, Moiso was the one player that was there to
calm him down.
"He’s just so unselfish, it’s his nature to be concerned about
other teammates," Lavin said.
And though he doesn’t want players to get down on themselves,
Moiso is his own harshest critic.
"Getting down on myself, that is something that has happened
before," he said. "I think it’s something where I need to keep
shooting, getting closer to the basket, getting easier shots and
then start flowing."
Sometimes when he does become upset, his head droops, his mind
wanders and he moves a little slower.
In early season practices, no player was yelled at more than
Moiso.
"Move your feet, Jerome."
"Hands up, Jerome."
"Run, Jerome."
"La-zee? Yeah I think sometimes I might be lazy," Moiso said.
"I’m kind of too relaxed. But I know when to put the effort
in."
Just getting to UCLA took a lot of effort on Moiso’s part, since
his road to Westwood was definitely not the most-traveled one.
Born in Paris, France, he moved with his mother to Guadeloupe in
the West Indies when he was only two weeks old. For a decade he
lived there, and for the vast majority of those 10 years,
basketball was just an afterthought.
Not that there was an abundance of other options on the small
island, where there were only a few gyms.
"Oh, I don’t know … there was the sun. We went to the beach
every weekend," he said. "It was little. There wasn’t much to
do."
He moved back to Paris when he was 10 and returned to Guadeloupe
two years later. Finally, in 1994 he returned to Paris and that is
where both his height and basketball skills skyrocketed.
He grew to his current 6-foot-11-inch frame and was recruited by
Paris’ National Institute of Sport, where he averaged nearly 19
points and 10 rebounds per game.
Then it was off to Orlando, Fla., for the annual Nike Hoop
Summit all-star game between the best American high school players
and international players in the summer of 1997.
At the game he made quite an impression on the American squad,
outplaying the entire U.S. front line, including current Duke
sensation Elton Brand. Moiso ended up being recruited to UCLA by
none other than Baron Davis.
"There was this one player from St. John’s, and somebody was
telling me to come there," Moiso said. "But, then (Davis) came up
to me and said, ‘Hey, Jerome you should come to UCLA.’ So from that
point on I began thinking about UCLA."
There was just one three-letter problem standing in the way –
the SAT.
It was a test that caused great consternation for Moiso. Because
he attended secondary school outside the United States, he needed
to score 1,000 – a stricter requirement than for other athletes.
And although the required score is lower than for most of the
student body, it is a target that can be difficult to hit for a
non-native English speaker.
While he was trying to pass the SAT, he attended Milford Academy
in Connecticut – playing sparingly and putting all his
concentrations into the entrance exam.
It took him six tries to meet the magic four-digit mark.
"It was a relief when I passed," said Moiso. "I didn’t want to
delay college any more."
It had already been delayed long enough for the 20-year old
freshman. He had planned to join the team in January of 1998, but
his SAT score stood in his way.
And now the freshman is being fully indoctrinated into life as a
high-profile athlete in America and in Los Angeles in
particular.
The players are tougher, the crowds are more energized, and
worst of all, the media is more prevalent.
"I won’t lie to you, that’s something I really don’t like. I
really don’t like it," Moiso said of the constant media attention.
"But I knew what I was coming to when I decided to come to
UCLA."
In France, the media was around him "a lot." Every two months or
so, anyway – each and every time when something particularly
amazing happened.
At UCLA there are eight local newspapers, numerous other
publications, and radio and TV stations that cover the basketball
team on a daily basis regardless of how well or how poorly the team
is playing.
"I just have to do it and make the best of it," he said.
"I don’t like it, and I know we have to go through it."
And maybe, just maybe, by the time his UCLA career his over,
he’ll understand why somebody would want to interview him.
Jerome Moiso shifted between the West Indies and France before
settling in the United States as forward for the Bruins.
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