Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 2, 1995 TAG: 9503020026
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: FLOYD LENGTH: Medium
Harman, a 5-foot-10 senior, can quickly rattle off a list of people who had an impact on his playing career. One is his coach, Alan Cantrell. Another is former Buffaloes hotshot Travis Crawford, who graduated a couple of years ago after developing a young protege by the name of Brian Harman.
Then Harman comes to a couple of folks who might surprise you if you assumed that all his sporting influences would be guys.
Harman always makes haste to pay homage to a couple of ladies: Anne Harman and Brenda King. The former is better known as his mother and the latter as a Radford hoops guru.
``My mother got me out for basketball for the first time when I was about 7 years old,'' he said. ``After that, she was always telling me to work harder. She never thought I did my very best.''
Anne Harman's advice went beyond the generalized stuff that many mothers give their youngsters because she had a level of athletic expertise that not many moms have. She is a Floyd County physical education teacher with coaching experience that included basketball along with volleyball and softball.
``One thing she always taught me was to go as hard as you can in basketball because you aren't out there for very long,'' he said.
King shared a different sort of wisdom with him. King has been a successful girls' basketball coach at Radford High and also for a time coached the boys. She grew up in Floyd County and was friend and a softball teammate of Harman's mother.
King ``really taught me to shoot,'' he said. ``I didn't have any form or rotation, or anything. She offered to help me last year. For a week, I went down to Radford and she helped me out for three hours at a time, right there in the gym at Radford High School.''
This year, Harman has led the team by averaging 15.1 points, and more than three assists per game. Harman's scoring and leadership are one of the reasons that the Buffaloes won last week's Three Rivers District tournament and qualified for the Group A Region C playoffs.
Harman has had to remake himself as a player on at least two occasions. The second time, which came with King's help, was before this season.
``Last year, we were always looking to get the ball inside to [now-graduated] Jason Light,'' Harman said. ``I didn't have to score. Now, I'm trying to penetrate and look for my shot more. I still don't have to score, because we have other people who can do that, but it helps.''
Typical of Alan Cantrell teams, the Buffaloes like to run the floor and distribute the scoring load. Along with Harman, the Buffs are getting points out of post Ben Kiser (11.1 ppg.), wing Jamie Warren (10.8 ppg.) and wing Travis Cantrell (10.6), a freshman and the coach's son. The future looks solid for Floyd County because another freshman, 6-1 post Jason Dalton (7.4 ppg., 5 rpg.), also logs substantial playing time.
The only looking ahead Floyd County was doing at the first of the week was to Tuesday's opening round regional game at Glenvar. Should the Buffs get past the Highlanders, the winner of the Narrows-Lebanon game awaits tonight at Lord Botetourt.
As has been the case all year with Floyd County, there is no question that Harman is the man in charge on the floor. Much of his playing style has been borrowed from Travis Crawford, a star Floyd County player who graduated a couple of years ago.
``I was on the junior varsity and we'd be practicing down at the elementary school and then I'd come up to the high school after we finished practicing and would shoot around with Travis when he finished practicing,'' Harman said. ``I really admire the way he played and he taught me a lot about moves and shooting.''
King played a similar role a few years later, when Harman was beginning to be more interested in baseball than he was in basketball.
''I'd gotten away from basketball and was more into baseball, but she got me back into basketball,'' Harman said.
To see him this year, nobody would mistake Harman for a young man who wasn't heavily into hoops.
by CNB