ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, February 17, 1996 TAG: 9602190104
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B2 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: EMORY
SOURCE: DANIEL UTHMAN STAFF WRITER
THE MAIN THING Emory & Henry's backcourt duo has in common is the ability to succeed.
Kevin Alexander has a mind for ESPN and a body for watching it.
Dytanyon Norman has a mind for computers and a body that has no business being anchored to them.
The senior backcourt for Emory & Henry's men's basketball program certainly is an odd pairing. Both have sharp minds that work in different ways. It's their bodies that set them apart.
Alexander, a senior from Pulaski County High School, is a 5-10 point guard who knows his physical limits and excels within them. He doesn't score many points and doesn't fly to the basket, but for the past two seasons, he's been the leading assist man in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference.
Earlier this season, he broke Northside graduate Jimmy Allen's all-time E&H assist record. Alexander now has 573. ``He was a freshman when I was a senior,'' said Allen, now a Wasps assistant. ``I kind of knew then it was going to go.''
Alexander has been so good at running Emory & Henry's offense that coach Bob Johnson keeps him on the floor whenever possible. The worst thing that happened to the Wasps this season was Alexander getting in foul trouble. Once when it happened, Johnson tried Norman at the point. ``Phew ... things don't work as smoothly,'' said Norman, a former Bassett High School standout. ``If there's anybody in the ODAC I could play with, I'd play with Kevin.''
``We can't play without him on the floor,'' Johnson said. ``Everybody knows it. I've never felt that's been the case with anyone else here.''
Johnson's talking about a man who doesn't look to score and certainly wouldn't trade a layup for a dunk. Alexander's been playing basketball since he was 5, but has tried to dunk only once. ``My junior year in high school, I pulled down the rim one time and that's the last time I tried to hit the rim,'' he said.
``He couldn't dunk if you gave him a ladder,'' said Dan Callahan, former sports editor of the Southwest Times, ``but that doesn't matter. He knows how to play the game.''
That's because he's studied it, not only first-hand, but by hours of watching ESPN and reading newspapers and sports magazines. Until prices of packs skyrocketed a couple of years ago, Alexander would set up at the Roanoke Civic Center card shows twice a year. ``My first year, he amazed me,'' Norman said of Alexander, whose nickname is ``SportsCenter''. ``He was spitting out all these facts.''
On the court, Alexander relies on his mind as much as his body. ``Probably more,'' he said. ``I'm definitely the shortest guy, 95 percent of the time I'm the least athletic guy of all of us, so that's the only way I guess I can survive out there.''
While Alexander's room is full of trading cards (including a Michael Jordan rookie card), posters and magazines, Norman's contains an old Model 30 computer, pictures of his family and his books. He has numerous academic scholarships and is well on his way to a career as a computer network technician.
Unlike Alexander, however, Norman's coaches and teammates would like to see him clear his mind and focus on his lean, 6-2, 175-pound body when the Wasps take the court. ``He's probably the most athletic player I've ever played with,'' Alexander said. ``Off the court, he's real laid back, and when he first came here he played like that. Then we talked to him and told him, `Use the skills that God gave you because he gave you something special.'''
Norman has been particularly special lately. In his past five games, he's scored 145 points for a 29.0 average. On Feb.4, against Eastern Mennonite, he scored 30 points in the first half, but a Royals player still told him at halftime, ``I don't think you're going to score again.'' Norman finished with 44.
``He's never been a particularly assertive kid; just a good student, quiet, respectful,'' Johnson said of the two-time first-team All-ODAC player. ``I'm not sure he saw himself as a star, but recently he's begun to play like he's capable of. He always had the tools. Now he has the mind-set to go with it.''
As strong-minded as he's become, Norman said he's always gotten headaches after the Wasps' games. It became part of his routine; he expected it. The headaches have been rough, at their worst during close games. But he hasn't had one lately.
That could be bad news for Emory & Henry's opponents in this weekend's ODAC tournament. Neither the Wasps' five seniors nor Johnson have ever won the title. They would do almost anything to get it.
``I'd give all those assists back that I've had,'' Alexander said. ``Us seniors, we'd give anything to play in the [NCAA] Tournament.''
How about parting with that Jordan rookie card?
``I don't know ... I probably would. If we win it, you can come get it.''
LENGTH: Medium: 93 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: 1. DON PETERSEN/Staff Emory & Henry's Kevin Alexanderby CNB(left) says he would give anything to play in the NCAA Tournament
this year.
2. DON PETERSEN/Staff Former Bassett High star Dytanyon Norman has
scored 145 points in his past five games for Emory & Henry.