Wes Moore has more than 650 wins as a Division I basketball coach and 850 overall, has repeatedly reached the NCAA tournament and even advanced to the Final Four last year.
It’s a resumé most anybody would want. Yet the North Carolina State women’s coach can also feel moments coming when he should turn things over to his elite quartet of guards.
“There’s been times this year that I had to just get out of the way, so to speak,” Moore said, “and let them go.”
The formula to the Wolfpack’s first Final Four appearance since 1998 included leaning on the versatile Saniya Rivers and gifted scorer Aziaha James. It’s even more on the guards this time: the Rivers-James duo is back, but sophomore Zoe Brooks has taken a leap, while veteran Madison Hayes — a former Chattanooga-area prep standout at East Hamilton — has upped her numbers, too.
“We were party crashers last year,” Rivers said in an interview with The Associated Press. “We would love to be party crashers again.”