Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, February 3, 1991 TAG: 9102030172
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: MOUTH OF WILSON LENGTH: Long
That couldn't have been more misleading. After scoring 930 on the Scholastic Aptitude Test as a junior, Alexander took the test again in hopes of reaching 1,000.
"I only got 980," Alexander said, "but I'm not going to take it again. I took the ACT [American College Test], too, so that's enough testing for me."
Alexander is at his third school in three years, which might lead some people to question his motives. He is not a disciplinary problem, however, and his academics certainly are beyond reproach.
He came to Oak Hill in hopes of playing for the No. 1 high school basketball team in the country.
"Schoolwork, honestly, has come easy to me," said Alexander, who had a 4.0 grade-point average in the first semester. "I use a lot of common sense. But if I had the choice of being Michael Jordan or Einstein, I'd rather be Michael Jordan any day."
Alexander, a 6-foot-1 guard, played at Waynesboro High School through his sophomore year, when he transferred to Flint Hill Prep in Vienna. Flint Hill had one of the premier private-school programs in the country, but de-emphasized basketball after the 1989-90 season.
Alexander lived in the home of Flint Hill coach Stu Vetter, who took a job at Harker Prep in suburban Maryland.
"I wasn't all that happy living with Coach Vetter," Alexander said. "You can just imagine living with your coach. You never get away from practice. My mom just feels more secure with me here, living in the dorm."
Alexander was familiar with Oak Hill because a cousin, Darell Crawford, had played for the Warriors in 1987-88.
"He told me all about it," Alexander said, "[but] when I came down here last May, I didn't like it at all. I told my dad I wasn't coming.
"After I found out all the rules, it didn't appeal to me at all. The setting didn't bother me because, after being at Flint Hill, I knew how close a team would get after spending so much time together."
The rules to which Alexander was referring require a student to be in his or her room by 10, with lights out at 11. On weekends, it's lights out at midnight.
As Alexander came to find out, there is little need for a later curfew. There's nothing to do in Mouth of Wilson during the day, much less during the evening.
"We play around the dorm a lot," Alexander said. "I also go over to Coach [Steve] Smith's house a lot. I watch the films of [former Oak Hill star] Rod Strickland and those guys. Rod's one of my idols, Rod and Kenny Anderson."
Alexander has had plenty of time to consider his college choice, which he hopes to announce on the first day of the spring signing period, April 10.
Alexander has visited Virginia, Arizona and Michigan, with Tennessee and Kansas negotiating for a spring trip.
It generally was believed that Alexander favored Georgia Tech until the Yellow Jackets, uncertain that they would sign Alexander, accepted a commitment from point guard Travis Best from Springfield, Mass., only days before Alexander was to have visited.
"I think they were scared they'd lose me," Alexander speculated. "It made me realize this whole thing is a business and I ought to be more careful about what I say. They really weren't recruiting Travis Best that hard until I said I was going to sign late."
One reason Alexander held off signing early was to assess the situation at Virginia, which is 25 miles from his home.
"With [Jeff] Jones being a new coach, I wanted to see exactly how they were going to play," Alexander said. "I also wanted to see if I could beat out the guards at Arizona [Matt Muehlebach and Matt Othick].
"Coach Jones has surprised me a lot. I think they've run more than they would have under Terry Holland. With all due respect to Terry Holland, I don't think I would have gone there if he was still the coach. He's a nice man - I've met him - but I was looking for a different style of play."
It's no secret that Alexander's mother would like him to sign with UVa, which she made apparent when she scattered letter-of-intent forms all over their Waynesboro home during the early period in November.
"She's going to let me decide and, wherever I decide, she's going to be all for it," Alexander said. "But in the back of her mind, she's saying, `Please, don't let him go all the way out there.'
"I was never a Virginia fan, but once I started wondering where I was going to go to college, I never looked at it that way. It'll pretty much come down to Virginia and Arizona. They've been there the longest."
The truth be known, Alexander was a fan of Nevada-Las Vegas and Syracuse, but that wasn't a factor. Syracuse already had signed a point guard in freshman Adrian Autry.
"I've seen too many people go into a situation where, just because they had a nice visit, they sign that letter," Alexander said. "I don't know if Kevin Madden, who was my idol in high school, was unhappy or not [at North Carolina]. But if he'd gone to another school, he definitely would have been pro material."
Some services have rated Alexander the top point guard in the country, although he did not play point guard at Flint Hill and apparently had some things to learn about the position when he got to Oak Hill.
"I played the point on and off at Waynesboro," Alexander said, "but there I was called on more to score. The new things were handling the ball and getting everyone involved. I think I've improved dramatically over the last six months."
by CNB