Ruoff Stops For a Visit At WLSC
Mountaineers guard is guest speaker at basketball campBy JIM ELLIOTT, W.Va. Sports Editor
West Virginia University guard Alex Ruoff averaged 13.8 points, 3.5 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game for a basketball team that advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament back in March.
Inside the tourney, Ruoff averaged 17.3 points and five rebounds per game.
For the season, he ranked second in the Big East among 3-point shooters at 41 percent among the handful of players who attempted more than 200, seventh among those who attempted 100.
So what did at least one of the 130 kids in attendance at the 3rd annual Eric Bovaird Hilltopper Basketball Camp at the Hilltoppers' ASRC want to know about Ruoff on Tuesday night?
''Do you have a girlfriend?''
No, Ruoff said. ''I had one, but then Coach (Bob) Huggins showed up, and I was going home and went straight to bed.''
Later, Ruoff said that was no fib.
''The girlfriend story is legit,'' he said. ''I had no energy for a relationship and she blew me off.''
That was one of many questions Ruoff fielded, as he was a guest speaker who volunteered his time at the request of Bovaird and West Liberty basketball players Shane Maynard and Kameron Law, friends of Ruoff's.
After a shootaround in which Bovaird had Ruoff run through a series of jump shots - stopping once to point out the way the Mountaineers star is already in position to shoot by the time he receives the pass - Ruoff found himself in a 3-point shooting competition with Law and West Liberty guard Ben Howlett.
And he didn't fare well, winning only one of the four or five in which he participated against the two players, one of whom was wearing sandals.
''Man, I need a rematch,'' Ruoff said. ''I wasn't expecting competition out here. I thought we'd shoot around for a little bit, but I'm real competitive, I need a rematch before I leave the gym.''
Then it was on to a Q&A session, where the queries ranged from girlfriends to preparing for Marshall.
Q: So, how do the Moutaineers prepare for the Marshall game?
A: We do a lot of praying that we don't lose that game, Ruoff said.
Q: Who is the toughest player you've played against?
A: Texas' Daniel Gibson.
Q: What do you remember about your first game?
A: It was against an overmatched non-conference team, so Ruoff said he is not going to count it. His first memory against upper-level competition was when he was going up for a layup against LSU, and he doesn't remember who, but somebody swatted it 10 rows deep.
Q: Who is his favorite guy to go head-to-head against?
A: Notre Dame's Kyle McAlarney.
Isn't that odd? McAlarney was the only guy in the Big East to rank ahead of Ruoff in 3-point shooting percentage among those who shot 200 or more.
Ruoff then signed everything from hats to shoes in a brief autograph session and the kids went back to playing what was their fourth 30-minute game of the day.
The camp is running from Sunday through Thursday and Bovaird has marvelled at its growth in such a short time.
When he started it two years ago, 60 kids came on board. Last year, 100 showed up. This year, 130 are participating.
''We're ecstatic about the number of kids that have shown up and the majority of them are repeaters,'' Bovaird said. ''That's definitely a plus.
''With the facility we have here and with the number of kids we have, it's perfect for what we're trying to do.''
Bovaird, a former West Liberty player who ranks fourth on the school's all-time scoring list and is now Jim Crutchfield's assistant coach, said he started this camp looking as an alternative to the normal, run-of-the-mill options out there.
It's more offensive-minded, like he was more than a decade ago and his team is now.
''I've of course been to tons of camps in my life,'' he said. ''One of the camp's focuses is on offensive development, and I think I have a really good group of players to teach that.''
West Liberty has been among the nation's leaders in scoring for the last three seasons.
''I'm just excited about having it,'' Bovaird said. ''Our players do a great job of teaching it.''
Note
Ruoff said that while he enjoys teaching the game, public speaking is not his forte.
''I don't know what it is,'' he said. ''Some people just can't do public speaking. I hate it. Even if it's just 10 kids in a classroom, I'd rather play Syracuse ...
''I do this a lot. I do this for high schools around our area. We're real busy, so we don't have a lot of opportunity to talk to kids. In situations at camps like this, you're able to interact with them a little more.''
