Players valued by coach, each other

by THAD SMITH
reporter

Any team with a six-foot-nine-inch swingman possessing a three-point range and a six-foot-10-inch center averaging double digits in points and rebounds would be a threat for a conference title.

The 2001 Marshall men's basketball team is no different.

Senior swingman Tamar Slay begins the season as the only Mid-American Conference player listed as a pre-season Wooden Award candidate. Slay averaged 17.3 points and 5.4 rebounds per game last season and shot 32 percent from three-point range, making 56 total.

J.R. VanHoose averaged a double-double last season as a junior with 16.6 points and 11.1 rebounds per game. The senior center's rebounding average earned him third in the nation.

Each knows the other is essential to the team's success.

"Every game, J.R. is going to get a double-double," Slay said. "You can mark it down."

Slay also said VanHoose's presence in the paint helps him get good looks at the basket.

The center appreciates Slay, too. VanHoose said he like to just watch Slay with the ball.

The veteran pair accounted for about 44 percent of both the Herd's scoring and rebounding last year.

Each came to Marshall in 1998 as his state's "Mr. Basketball." Slay was honored in West Virginia; Vanhoose won in Kentucky and was named the state's player of the decade for the 1990s.

Marshall head coach Greg White said that Slay and VanHoose will determine how well the team performs.

"We go as they go," White said. "It's time for them to stand up and take us where we want to go. The responsibility is square in their hands."