“I always dreamed of playing for the Techsters,” Moore said. “From going to camp every summer and going to every game, I loved everything about the program.”
But Moore’s love for Louisiana Tech did not translate into playing time for the rookie on a team of WNBA prospects. Though her career for the Lady Techsters began with promise, Moore spent very little time on the floor, though the way she conducted herself impressed Barmore.
“A lot of times, players that don’t play a lot of minutes think they don’t contribute,” Barmore said. “That’s totally the opposite of Beverly’s case. Something about her, she was a Lady Techster through and through.”
Though Moore suffered in playing time, she was still a member of an elite team that dominated despite youth during her freshman season. During Moore’s freshman and sophomore seasons, Louisiana Tech was underrated during preseason and advanced to the fourth round of NCAAs both years. The Lady Techsters fell to Penn State in the Midwest regional final in 2000 and to UConn in 2001. All the while, Moore got into 24 games, while averaging 1.2 points per game and 0.5 rpg.
“I loved basketball so much and I just realized that growing up, all the time, all the effort that I put into playing was all so that I could reach my goal of playing college basketball and making a difference on a team,” Moore said. “I felt some of that at Tech, but I really wasn’t feeling the whole thing.”
“When I graduate, I don’t want to look back and have any regrets about not doing as much as I could have,” she added. “I knew that not playing wasn’t an option.”
So Moore began exploring other options after discussing the situation and gaining the support of her family and Barmore. After calling coaches and sending tapes—and Barmore sending his recommendation—Moore settled on a short list of Duke, North Carolina, Wake Forest, Yale and Harvard.
After a visit to Yale, Moore was ready to make the move to New Haven but forced herself to take a look at Cambridge, too.
“I just came here and loved it,” Moore said. “I think what sold me the most was the coaches were great, the players were great, and the town. There’s so much to do, which was so different from where I was at because, at Louisiana Tech, there’s not much there.”
“I think she made a very good decision,” Barmore said. “I think she made one based on academics first, and sports second. And when the two fell into place for her, thank goodness, it was the best of both worlds.”
A Southerner in Beantown
Bev Moore feels like she’s wearing too many layers when she talks to her friends from home and hears that they’re wearing bikinis in March. However, the weather came with the town.
“It’s definitely been somewhat of a culture shock,” Moore said. “My friends are telling me that I’ve lost my Southern accent, but I hope not.”
She hasn’t lost the accent or the vitality that made her a popular player and student at LaTech. She has, however, adjusted back to dining halls and dorms after living off-campus during her second year of college.
An Economics concentrator, Moore is also an enthusiastic Republican. After working for Louisiana Congressman John Cooksey for two summers as an intern at the Capitol, Moore was hooked.
“The Republican Club was actually something that I wanted to get involved with here, but lack of free time got in the way,” Moore said.
“I make it a habit in my life—I’m a very staunch liberal democrat—not to get into discussions with conservative republicans because we never get anywhere,” Delaney-Smith laughed. “She loves to go hunting. What does that mean? We don’t associate that with one, a woman, two, someone her age. I tease her about the poor deer just trying to get home to the mother kind of thing. It’s wonderful, it represents what Harvard is.”
Now that Moore represents Harvard on the court, she can finally fulfill her drive for academics and basketball at the same place.
“There’s just not many people who have that passion for playing this game,” Barmore said. “I’ve only had two or three. I’ve had two or three that might have been playing more, but man, ain’t nobody been bigger at heart than that kid.”
—Staff writer Jessica T. Lee can be reached at lee45@fas.harvard.edu.