Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, November 17, 1994 TAG: 9411170068
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ANDREA KUHN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
It's where Canfield takes young men and helps develop them into solid all-around players and students. And he's been doing it for over 30 years.
This season will be the 31st and last for Canfield at W&L, where he has led the Generals to eight titles in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference and four NCAA tournament appearances. He ranks 10th among active Division III coaches in wins with a career record of 450-322.
``I'm sure at that last practice, there will be a lump in my throat somewhere,'' he said. "Practice - that's my laboratory, my classroom.
``I'm just going to savor going to every practice and working with a group of young men and watching them grow and develop.''
Leading the way for the Generals this year should be junior forwards Derek Carter and Cam Dyer, and 6-foot-7 senior center Mark Connelly.
The versatile Dyer averaged a team-high 15 points and 5.4 rebounds per game, earning honorable mention all-league honors last season when W&L was 9-15 overall.
Carter, who has missed most of the preseason following a knee scope, got hot down the stretch last season and finished as the team's second-leading scorer (9.8 ppg).
Connelly, one of two seniors on the team, averaged 8.1 points and 4.6 rebounds per game off the bench last season.
Chris Couzen, a 6-1 sophomore guard, will return to the Generals' backcourt this year. Couzen is regarded as the team's best defensive player and averaged 8.3 points per game last season.
The Generals open the season Saturday by hosting Amherst, Geneseo State and Tufts in the W&L Tip-off Tournament. Geneseo State will play Tufts at 2 p.m. and W&L faces Amherst at 4.
The Generals open the ODAC season Dec.1 with a tough opponent at home: Hampden-Sydney, the preseason choice to win the conference.
The Tigers - ranked third nationally in the preseason by Division III News magazine and eighth by The Sporting News - have all five starters returning from a team that advanced to the final 16 of the national tournament last season.
Among the starters back is Tee Jennings, a senior guard from William Fleming High School. The Tigers also have junior forward Nate Schwab, a first-team All-ODAC selection last year, and senior center Jason Leonard, the top rebounder in the league.
Once again, it will not be until the end of the season that Hampden-Sydney will face Roanoke, the defending ODAC regular-season and tournament champion. It was the Tigers that knocked the Maroons out of the national tournament with a 95-80 second-round win in Salem.
Also expected contend for league honors this season is Emory & Henry, which returns four starters from a team that advanced to the ODAC tournament final.
Among the Wasps back is Dytanyon Norman, a sophomore guard from Bassett who averaged 15.6 points per game. Kevin Alexander of Christiansburg returns to the point guard position, where he averaged 5.6 assists per game last season.
by CNB