Anna Moser has been blazing her own trail for much of her young basketball career. She's an ultra-rare nationally-ranked prospect from Vermont who just led Hoosac to its first-ever NEPSAC Class AAA championship.
On Tuesday, Moser logged another milestone for both herself and her college destination. The 5-foot-8 guard announced her commitment to Florida, becoming the first high school recruit for new Gators head coach Tammi Reiss.
"It's definitely really cool," Moser told New England Basketball Journal, on being Reiss' first recruit at Florida. "I mean, the things she was saying about it were obviously important to me, but no, it's really cool."
Moser is No. 79 in ESPN's national 2027 rankings and third on our Best of New England 2027 prospect list. She captured our Class AAA Player of the Year award this past season, dazzling as an elite perimeter scorer and explosive point guard. Moser also won Vermont Gatorade Player of the Year as a sophomore at Rutland High; though she grew up in Rutland, her family now lives in Clifton Park, N.Y.
FEATURE STORY:Â Inside Moser's unique rise and sacrifices as a Vermont star
Moser's ability to punish defenses on and off the ball catapulted her to national relevance. She says Florida's coaching staff believes her impact will look similar in the SEC.
"(Reiss) and the whole coaching staff have a really good vision for what I am as a player and what I could be," Moser said. "It lines up a lot with my own vision and the goals that I have, which is really important to me, and just how they play and their belief in me."
Reiss, now the all-time winningest coach in URI women's basketball history, led the Rams on a 28-5 season to their first NCAA Tournament berth since 1996 last spring before taking the Florida job.
Moser visited Florida, along with Arizona and Indiana, during the past couple of weekends. Though the Gators offered Moser in April, Reiss offered her while head coach at Rhode Island almost exactly two years ago and had established a rapport. That also helped Moser feel confident committing early in this cycle.
"I feel like relationships matter to me. The three schools that I went on visits, I kind of realized after that, that them offering me earlier is like important to build that relationship, and I feel like it would be hard to kind of start a new relationship with someone else if they had offered me at these upcoming tournaments, if that makes sense," Moser said. "So I think that just mattered to me, and I kind of just realized that I was ready."
Moser hopes to major in sports management and wants to pursue a coaching career whenever she is done playing. Though she says she'll "live in the gym" at Florida, she also wants to be a supporter of the school's general SEC athletics. For now, Moser enters the July live period for Team Northeast with the pressure off, and a commitment that again signals her ascension as a prospect.
"It's really cool," she said. "It's something you dream about as a little kid. I kind of just (put my) head down and worked, but it's really cool, and it feels amazing. But I feel like there's a lot more to achieve, so it's just a step."
