He grew up thirty minutes from the Dean Smith Center. UNC offered him a scholarship as a freshman in high school. He could have been a Tar Heel. He chose Duke anyway.
Wendell Horace Moore Jr. was born on September 18, 2001, in Richmond, Virginia, but his family moved to Charlotte, North Carolina, when he was young. He attended Cox Mill High School in Concord, just northeast of the city, and from the moment he stepped on a high school court, he was the best player in the building. As a freshman, he started all 29 games and averaged 17.9 points, 8.6 rebounds, 3.3 assists, and 1.8 steals, leading his team to a sectional championship. As a sophomore, the numbers jumped to 25.0 points and 9.2 rebounds while guiding Cox Mill to a 27-6 record and the 3A state title. As a junior, he became the fastest player to score 1,000 career points in Cabarrus County public school history, averaging 25.4 points with a second consecutive state championship. By his senior year, he was North Carolina Gatorade Player of the Year and Mr. Basketball — and a McDonald's All-American, Nike Hoop Summit participant, and Jordan Brand Classic invitee.
The recruiting trail was unusually personal. Moore was a North Carolina kid, a Charlotte kid, growing up watching Duke and UNC battle on Tobacco Road. UNC had offered first. NC State, Wake Forest, and South Carolina were in the mix. But on October 8, 2018, Moore committed to Duke. 'What an incredible journey this has been,' he later wrote on Instagram. 'Long before I stepped on campus in the summer of 2018, I knew that Duke was home.' He was ranked 25th nationally, a five-star recruit and the consensus #1 player in North Carolina. He was also a two-time USA Basketball gold medalist, having helped the United States win the FIBA Americas U16 Championship in 2017 and the FIBA U17 World Cup in 2018 — where his teammate was another future Duke guard named Jeremy Roach.