'Playful' fan favorite likes attention

If you don't like A.J. Moye, you're among the minority.\nIU fans chant his name. Everywhere. All the time. \nWhen he's on the bench. When he -- in what has become his signature -- cringes his face, bounces up and down and flails his arms in response to a positive swing of Hoosier momentum. Even during campus post-game parties when he's 180 miles away in Lexington, Ky.\nIU's seventh man has quickly established himself as a crowd favorite through his emotional play and knack for being in the right place at the right time. The result has come in the form of chants and cheers that don't go unnoticed by Moye, an outspoken sophomore with an entertaining personality. \n"I respect it, and if they want to do it, then I support it," Moye said. "It gets me going."\nHis statistics reveal that much. \nIn his last five games -- four Hoosier victories -- Moye is averaging 10.2 points per game, is shooting 74 percent from the field and is 18 of 20 from the free-throw line. During IU's run to the Final Four, Moye is the Hoosiers' fourth-leading scorer at 9.3 points per game, leading the IU bench to score at least 19 points per game.\nMoye began the season on fire, putting up a career-best 20 points at North Carolina and 17 more at Southern Illinois. But he then endured a 12-game stretch in which he scored just 33 points. \nSince that dry spell, Moye's stock has skyrocketed. He's scored double figures in five games, averaged 6.6 points per game and shot 59 percent from the floor in just more than 15 minutes per game in IU's last 17 games.\nHis biggest performance came in IU's win over top-ranked Duke in the South Regional semifinal. With 11 seconds on the clock and IU clinging to a two-point lead, Moye saved IU from a turnover, got fouled and drained two free throws that provided the winning margin for the Hoosier upset. \n"I just like playing on pressure," Moye said. "There's no bigger challenge. When I get charged up, I'm a real tough guy to compete with."\nHe's revved up more often than not. And this weekend will be no different, when Moye returns home to Atlanta for the Final Four. The 6-foot-3, 215-pound Moye earned Mr. Basketball honors at Atlanta's Westlake High School, where he holds the school record for points (2,480) and rebounds (1,432) and where he recorded a perfect 4.0 GPA. \nMaybe Moye learned how to affix the spotlight on himself at Westlake, something he's done with regularity this season. He's the butt of jokes, the center of conversation and always spicing up stories with his knack for saying just what he means -- in a wacky way. \nHe's already compared Duke to the "University of Jesus Christ with 12 Disciples" on the team, discussed the "major love" he and fellow Atlanta native and teammate Jeff Newton will receive upon their return home tonight and compared himself to an "unchained, loose" panther, for which he wears a tattoo on his left arm. \n"He loves to be at the center of everything," IU coach Mike Davis said. "Just listen to him."\nLike this: \n"I'm a people person," Moye said Monday. "I just get along good with people. Every team has a guy who's the playful one. I'm pretty much the playful one."\nBut as much as he thrives on the attention, he realizes one of the criticisms Davis has for him -- he gets too emotional and lets that disrupt his performance. The chants of "A.J. Mo-ye" in Assembly Hall and most recently at Lexington's Rupp Arena have contributed to the sporadic play. \nCase in point: The three pointer Moye flung up from about 22 feet Saturday against Kent State in the South Regional Final. He had just hit a driving layup and a three from the left corner after about two minutes of playing time. His emotion called for a deep three pointer that wasn't in IU's offensive plans. It missed. \n"(The chanting) can cause me on occasion to lose focus," Moye said. "If you have 20,000 people chanting your name, you feel like you can do no wrong. It's good and I hear it, but I try to block it out of my mind. At times, I get too pumped up and it really hurts us."\nThose times haven't rolled around too often. Even when they do, expect the bubbly and determined Moye to continue his antics. And expect the chants and cheers to continue, too.\nAfter all, said Moye, "I'm a lovable guy"