STORRS -- There was a time when Maya Moore was a starry-eyed youngster looking on in awe of UConn All-American Diana Taurasi, easily influenced by her every move both on and off the court. She was sitting behind one of the baskets with her Georgia Magic AAU teammates at the 2003 Final Four at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta.
Moore, then just 13 years old, was an up-and-coming star. Taurasi was the star. She was the best player in the country on the nation's top-ranked team. She was the player idolized nationwide.
When Taurasi swept past her that day to give her mother, Lily, a hug in the stands after a UConn open practice, Moore and her teammates struggled to control their delight. Now, nearly a decade later, Moore finds herself as one of the game's greatest icons. Moore is a role model, a well-rounded young woman who is being touted as one of the game's all-time best players. And being compared to Taurasi.
"It feels like just yesterday,'' Moore, an honor student, said of that day at the Georgia dome. "... When you're a kid, get excited about that. And then when you have that role, make it exciting for the kids.
"It's really cool because I think my story can give people hope. I wasn't supposed to be here. I was a little kid from Jefferson City, Mo., who just liked to run around and be outside and play in the mud and shoot.''
Moore called that day in Atlanta her first UConn connection. These days, there is an ongoing debate whether she is better than Taurasi. As far as Moore is concerned, there is no debate. Taurasi is the definitive best player. Taurasi has said that Moore reigns supreme.
Beginning with their matching date of birth (June 11), there are several similarities between the two players. They are both 6-feet tall. They are both prolific scorers. They are both fierce competitors. They are both winners, leading UConn to 285 wins in a combined 296 games entering today's NCAA tournament first-round game against 16th-seeded Hartford at Gampel Pavilion (noon, ESPN2). They have been part of five of the Huskies' seven national championships and seven of their 11 trips to the Final Four.
However, Moore and Taurasi are also different. Moore is a forward. Taurasi is a playmaking combination guard.
"You can't compare anyone to her,'' Moore said. "She's one of a kind. But I do like to think that by people comparing me to her, I know I've done my job. I know I've made her proud. I know I've played the role that she had to play. But as far as who's the better player, I'm always going to think she's great.''
The only category Moore would like to be compared with Taurasi is wins. This would mean that she has been successful in carrying on UConn's rich tradition that began with an undefeated national championship season in 1994-95.
The debate regarding Moore and Taurasi is one that seemingly will never be finalized. There are people who cannot, and will not, pick between the two players. There are those who will side with Taurasi and those who will side with Moore. In this type of debate, there is no wrong answer.
"I'm not answering that question," UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. "There's been a lot of things accomplished at the University of Connecticut. The accomplishments of Diana can stand on their own merits. The accomplishments of Maya Moore certainly stand on their own merits. And I think it's great for people to want to compare and contrast, argue, debate.
"So people can discuss it all they want, who's better? When Maya gets the ball in her hands, there's not anybody better."
But there's also a scenario when he prefers Taurasi. "Two passes from now and you know you have to score, there's only one guy you'd want out there two passes away,'' he said, referring to his former star.
ESPN analyst Doris Burke said she dislikes debates such as these because there is not a definitive answer. She equated this debate to comparing UConn with the UCLA men's team when the Huskies were chasing -- and surpassing -- the Bruins' NCAA-record 88-game winning streak earlier this season.
Fellow ESPN analyst Kara Lawson, a former All-America guard at Tennessee, brings a different perspective to the debate because she has played with and against Taurasi. Taurasi led UConn to wins over the Lady Vols in the NCAA national semifinals in 2002 and in the NCAA tournament final in 2003.
Lawson and Taurasi won an Olympic gold medal together in Beijing in 2008.
"Maya, I think, will end her career as probably the most decorated player ever in terms of her dominance relative to the competition that she played against,'' Lawson said. "But the best overall, and there's obviously a great deal of subjectivity involved in that, if I have to pick one player for one game in the history of women's college basketball, I'm probably going to take Diana Taurasi.''
Moore and Taurasi were teammates on the U.S. national team that won the gold medal at the 2010 FIBA World Championship in the Czech Republic this past fall. It is expected that they will again be teammates during the 2012 Olympic Games in London.
"Just playing with her this past year has just inspired me to continue to be a leader and continue to work my hardest to be the best because she's won at every level,'' said Moore, the all-time leading scorer at UConn and in the Big East with 2,921 points. "I just try to soak in everything I can when I'm around her. She left a big legacy here and I want to make sure that I continue to lead the way she did and bring as many championships to Connecticut as possible.''
The Huskies were a 139-8 during Taurasi's career with three national championships, four Final Four appearances, four Big East regular-season championships and two conference tournament championships. She went on to win a gold medal in the 2004 and 2008 Summer Olympic Games, two WNBA championships with the Mercury in 2007 and 2009, and was named the USA Basketball Female Athlete of the Year in 2006 and 2010.
"Obviously, Maya is a more physically natural athlete, I think, than Diana,'' Burke said. "Not that Diana was a bad athlete, but I wouldn't say that that was something that popped with her immediately. There was just something so different and unique about Diana that I'd still take her above every other women's basketball player I've ever seen.''
With 753 points and as many as six games remaining in her career, Moore needs just two points to break the team single-season scoring record she set as a sophomore in 2008-09, when she averaged 19.1 points over 39 games.
"There's no single individual defender who can deal with her,'' Burke said. "It's either going to have to be multiple defenders, and frankly multiple defenders with a really good scheme. And even that might not be enough.''
Moore is also the only women's basketball player in Division I history to reach 2,500 points, 1,000 rebounds (1,224), 500 assists (535), 250 steals (296) and 150 blocked shots (197). She is also the only player in team history ranked in the top 10 in scoring, rebounding, steals, blocks and assists. No other player is ranked in more than three of these categories.
"Maya is an incredible player,'' said Kerry Bascom Poliquin, who became UConn's first All-American in 1991. "When you look up at the Huskies of Honor, each player brought something different to those teams or to the success. I just think Maya, just like Diana, just like everybody up there, gives and does whatever's needed.''
The Huskies are 146-3 in Moore's career with two undefeated national championship seasons, three trips to the Final Four and four Big East regular-season and tournament championships. They are among the favorites to win an NCAA record-tying third straight national championship in the coming weeks.
Moore -- who, like Taurasi, has won several collegiate player of the year awards -- will be the No. 1 overall pick in the WNBA draft next month.
"She's really, really gifted,'' Lawson said. "But she's very, very skilled. I played with Tamika Catchings, who's one of the greats in our game. And Maya is more skilled than Tamika at the same stages. She just has an incredible outside jump shot. She has the ability to put the ball on the floor. Her skill and her athleticism combined is something that's really rare.''
"I think Maya Moore is the best player to ever play in college at the NCAA level," former UConn national player of the year and current Hartford head coach Jennifer Rizzotti said. "She's just amazing to me, and I have so much respect for her. Not just as a basketball player, but who she is as a person. I love her. I root for her all the time.''
Like Auriemma, Seton Hall coach Anne Donovan did not want to name the better player. Donovan coached Taurasi in 2004 as an assistant with the U.S. National Team and again in 2008 as the head coach. She looked on from the Seton Hall bench at the XL Center on Feb. 22 as Moore totaled 20 points, six rebounds, five assists and three blocks in 31 minutes in UConn's 80-59 win.
"They're two of my favorite players,'' Donovan said. "But Diana, I've never met anybody more competitive. I haven't been able to coach Maya to understand what kind of teammate she is, but I could speculate pretty darn good. She has a passion for it like D does. So I don't know if you can pick who's better.''
Both players have been at their best in the NCAA tournament.
Taurasi was 22-1 in the tournament, including a six-game championship in 2003 that still stands as one of the best in the history of the tournament. She scored 157 points in 2003, which is third all-time (26.2 average). She scored 54 points at the Final Four, which is fourth all-time, in wins over Texas in the semifinals (26) and Tennessee in the final (28).
Taurasi also scored a career-high 35 points against TCU in the second round to help UConn avoid an upset at Gampel Pavilion.
"It was unbelievable that you could possibly win a national championship with that crew,'' Auriemma said. "Some of the things that she did during that year just defy explanation.''
Taurasi is ranked second in NCAA tournament history with 430 points (18.7 average), third with 106 assists (4.6 average) and first in made 3-pointers (61). She was named the Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four in 2003 and 2004 as UConn joined Tennessee (1996-98) as the only women's programs to win three straight national championships.
"I think Maya is phenomenal and there's no better scorer than her,'' former UConn All-American/ESPN analyst Rebecca Lobo said. "But there's something about the swagger of Diana. And Maya is supremely confident, but the swagger's not the same. But, that being said, if Maya wins the championship this year with this group and wins three championships in her last three years with one loss, can you really even argue with that? Probably not.''
Moore, who is 16-1 in the NCAA tournament, has the opportunity over the next two-plus weeks to etch her final imprint on the tournament record books. Not only are the Huskies looking to three-peat, but an eighth overall national championship would move them into a tie with Tennessee for the record.
Moore can become only the fifth player to twice be named the Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four. She would join USC's Cheryl Miller (1983, '84), Tennessee's Chamique Holdsclaw (1997, '98), Taurasi and Tennessee's Candace Parker (2007, '08). She is averaging 21.2 points (361 points), 8.4 rebounds and 3.6 assists in the NCAA tournament.
Moore also is ranked sixth in tournament history in points, second in made 3-pointers (47) and tied for ninth in scoring average. Like Taurasi did during her junior year, Moore is being asked to carry a young team to the national championship. The Huskies had two freshmen starters in 2003 -- Ann Strother and Barbara Turner. They have two this season with point guard Bria Hartley and center Stefanie Dolson.
Moore is also leading a team that is utilizing a six-player rotation. The margin for error is virtually non-existent.
"I think the big question will be if Maya can get a third because I think the greatest players oftentimes get judged by number of championships,'' former UConn forward/CPTV analyst Meghan Culmo said. "I don't know if I can pick one. Right now, D, because she's got three national championships.
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