Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, February 21, 1991 TAG: 9102210061
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
When Kagey was a senior at Cave Spring High, he was the recruit then-Roanoke College coach Ed Green really wanted. Kagey instead chose Randolph-Macon College, a Division II success soon to become a Division III power.
There are some who thought the smooth, 6-foot-4 Kagey could have played Division I basketball.
"I don't know if anyone could ever say that," he said. "I thought about it a little after my first two seasons, when we were in Division II. We had tremendous talent. We were 22-5, and we were playing great basketball and I was playing a lot, more than 25 minutes a game off the bench. I couldn't have second thoughts."
Kagey, averaging 18.4 points, figures to be selected a first-team All-ODAC choice when the squad is announced Monday, and he's a strong candidate for ODAC player of the year. The senior wing has played in every game in his four seasons and has participated in more victories, 85, than any other player in R-M history. He leads the seventh-ranked Yellow Jackets (23-2) into the tournament semifinals at the Salem Civic Center on Friday night against Virginia Wesleyan.
"It's been a great four years," said Kagey, who figures to finish his career in the Division III national tournament. "I'm going to miss basketball, I'm sure. I've been playing since I can remember. My dad started me out when I was real young, and I just liked it."
Kagey's father, William, is a pediatrician at Lewis-Gale Clinic. David chose his father's alma mater for college. A biology major with a 3.0 average, Kagey is applying to medical schools. He had an interview at the University of Virginia medical school two weeks ago.
"A lot of people think I went to Randolph-Macon because my father went there," Kagey said. "But he never put any pressure on me. I visited quite a few schools, but I just liked the players at Randolph-Macon. I thought they were a step above what was at other schools.
"I'd never seen a Division II game, but Division II was very intriguing. I didn't know how I'd play, or whether I would. I liked Roanoke College. It's a good school, but I thought at the time it was very important to go away to college, to get the whole college experience. So, I was away, but I was only three hours away."
Another mistaken notion is that Kagey went to the Ashland campus because in Division II he could receive an athletic scholarship. That's not so. His freshman class was the first that didn't get athletic aid, because the Yellow Jackets began weaning their program of grants for the drop to Division III.
Kagey added a much-needed 15 pounds and muscle his first year in college, although he remains slender at 175 pounds. His skills aren't much different now from when he left Cave Spring, he admits, although he's worked at something that already was one of his strengths, playing under control.
"David's ability to change gears on the defensive end as well as the offensive end is what makes him a quality player," said Yellow Jackets coach Hal Nunnally. "On the defensive end, he has as much intensity as anybody's ever had. And when he makes the transition to the offensive end, he's in a very relaxed mode.
"Offensively, he's one of these players who just picks people to pieces. You get players like that sometimes who on the defensive end are no more intense than they are on offense. They can't guard anybody. David understands the game. He's very bright. He appears so relaxed on offense, but he's such a competitor."
Kagey is a stealth bomber in shorts. He's always out there somewhere, quietly getting things accomplished. He's shooting 56 percent, mostly with his jumper. He averages 5.5 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game. He makes the play look smooth even when he penetrates for a hoop and ends up sliding across the floor on the seat of his pants.
He ranks eighth among Randolph-Macon career scorers with 1,426 points. He is fourth in steals, sixth in assists and ninth in field-goal percentage.
"Playing under control is something I've worked on a lot," Kagey said. "In high school I got in trouble on the drive, getting charging fouls. I've learned to be able to go hard, pull up, shoot off the pass. That's been the big improvement in my game."
Nunnally remembers the first time he saw Kagey, and the coach wondered why he was watching the game at the Five-Star Camp in Radford. Then-Macon assistant Gregg Marshall, a former Cave Spring and Yellow Jackets player, had touted Kagey to his boss after watching the senior-to-be in AAU play in the summer of 1986.
"I wasn't impressed," Nunnally said. "Then we went back to a game during his senior year and I liked what I saw in David. If we were going to stay in Division II, I would have still offered him a scholarship. He was our first perimeter reserve his first two years, when we were playing a very strong Division II schedule.
"He knows how to play the game."
by CNB