Mosch Uses Maravich-Style Skills For Hoops Success

Dec. 19, 2001

By Julia Bennett, Sports Information Student Assistant

Growing up, most children of the 1980s wanted to "be like Mike." Duke junior guard Sheana Mosch was one exception.

Before one-handed dunks became en vogue, the high-scorer was king of professional basketball. "Pistol Pete" Maravich, the college and NBA star of the 1970's was one of the originators of the basketball tricks that Nike commercials made famous. Mosch, who was introduced to Maravich's special talents by her father while in middle school, was attracted to Pistol Pete's ballhandling tricks from the first moment she saw them.

"The first time I ever heard of Pete Maravich was when I was in about eighth grade," recalled Mosch. "I was outside shooting on my basketball hoop and my dad came outside and said that he had a tape of him that he wanted me to watch. It was one of those shooting instructional videos. I watched it and I thought it was cool, but what I liked the most was at the end when he started doing crazy shots and weird things I had never seen before. So from that point on, I was hooked on him."

Like the former LSU, Utah Jazz and Boston Celtic star, Mosch is a high scorer with a flair for ballhandling. Mosch has career averages of 10.4 points, 4.2 rebounds and 1.4 assists per contest. This season, Mosch is the Blue Devil's fourth highest scorer, averaging 10.4 points per game through nine contests and boasts the squad's second highest three-point percentage. Although Mosch averages 27.7 minutes per game, second to teammates Alana Beard and Iciss Tillis in this category, she has one of the lowest turnover rates among Duke starters.

Although Mosch said that most of the tricks she picked up from Maravich's tapes really have no place in an actual basketball game, she sees their love of ballhandling as the common factor between the two.

"The biggest thing would just be the love of ballhandling," said Mosch. "That's the main thing I always practiced growing up. I always spent about six hours a day outside dribbling the basketball around. I'd always try to do a bunch of the dribbling stuff that Pete did, especially the things I'd never seen before.

"A lot of the stuff about handling really doesn't have much to do with anything you would do in a basketball game. I do it because it's fun, and when you have the ball in your hands, you are working on hand-eye coordination. My favorite thing about it is being able to do the things that no one else can do."

While the ability to hang on to the ball may be the most relevant skill that she has learned, Mosch also picked up a few Globetrotteresque tricks from Maravich's instructional videos.

"My favorite is spinning the ball on my finger or bouncing it on my head or my knee," Mosch said. "I can dribble it around my back, left handed, with two balls, juggle-pretty much anything."

Mosch's tricks are not only a testament to her skills as a basketball player, but also her work ethic. When she was in high school, Mosch would work diligently on any tricks Maravich did that she couldn't pick up right away until she could do them perfectly. Although Mosch loves working on new ballhandling tricks, when it is time to play the game, she is all business.

"There just isn't a whole lot of room for it," Mosch explained. "You can do some crazy dribbling or fancy passes behind the back or between the legs, but it's not like you get the opportunity to do that every time you get the ball. During the game I'm usually more reserved. I just do it for fun when I'm practicing."

It is this same focus and intensity that Mosch and the rest of the Duke squad bring into the 2001-02 season. The team will accept nothing less than perfection during this year.

"Our goal is to win it all," said Mosch. "We want to win the ACC tournament, be the regular season champs, go to the Final Four and win the national championship."

For her part, Mosch hopes to play her very best whenever she touches the ball."I don't really have any awards that I want to win," said Mosch. "It might sound corny, but I just want to play as best as I can because I know that God has given me a lot of talent. The best thing I can do is try to play up to my complete potential."