Ruoff grateful to ‘lace them up again’ and provide wisdom during ABL event – WV MetroNews

There isn’t much Alex Ruoff didn’t experience throughout a lengthy and successful basketball career.

West Virginia’s all-time leader in three-point field goals with 261, Ruoff enjoyed a memorable four-year career for the Mountaineers before going on to play a decade-plus professionally across the United States, Belgium, Germany, Spain, Finland and Japan.

Ruoff’s playing career came to a close 11 months ago when he accepted a graduate assistant position at his alma mater, and he’s since become one of four assistant coaches at WVU under interim head coach Josh Eilert.

Yet on Saturday, Ruoff experienced something he hadn’t before as a member of Best Virginia in an Alumni Basketball League matchup against College Park Boys at Fairmont State’s Joe Retton Arena.

Ruoff was on the floor for 35 minutes in a 30-point victory over a team comprised of past Maryland players. In the process, had the opportunity to play with past WVU teammates Kevin Jones and John Flowers as well as former Mountaineer guard Kedrian Johnson, who wrapped up his collegiate career at WVU only four months ago.

“It’s a chance to lace them up again and scratch that itch,” said Ruoff, who scored five points to go with nine rebounds and eight assists in a 130-100 victory. “When else can I play with Keedy Johnson? I just coached him for a whole year and then we get to take the court together.”

The contest had extra significance for the 36-year-old Ruoff, who will not play for Best Virginia in The Basketball Tournament (TBT) when the team begins its quest to win the $1 million grand prize as the top seed in the Wheeling Regional on June 25.

“I’m just playing in this one. This was during a dead period, so it was possible, and during TBT, I’ll be recruiting,” Ruoff said.

Much like Jones and Flowers, Ruoff provided a veteran presence for Best Virginia on Saturday — something that wasn’t lost on the team’s five younger players, including shooting guard Sean McNeil.

“The biggest thing that I’ve seen since my college career is that these guys are so vocal,” McNeil said. “Alex is always talking. We have great coaches, but half the time they’re not even talking in the huddle. It’s Alex, Teyvon [Myers], John, KJ and everybody talking amongst each other. We respect one another and listen. It’s so good to learn from these guys. Alex playing the same position, it’s good to be around him and good to be around everybody.”

Ruoff credited the Alumni Basketball League for helping to bring together Mountaineers from different decades as teammates for a night.

“Very similar to the TBT, the ABL is doing a great job of making that possible. Me, KJ and John played in college together, and now we can all come back,” Ruoff said. “For guys that go overseas and play for ten months, they can come here and play in front of family and friends, so it’s pretty special.”

While Johnson and McNeil concluded their collegiate careers earlier this year, the other six players to suit up Saturday for Best Virginia — Ruoff, Myers, Jones, Flowers, Jon Holton and Esa Ahmad — are either current or past professional players.

“It’s nice to work with professionals. They all play pro now or are ex pros, so that makes it a lot easier,” Ruoff said. “Matching up with these guys, we’ve all kind of run into each other overseas. Basketball really shrinks the world. It’s a lot of fun.”

With the ABL event behind him, Ruoff’s full attention is devoted to his coaching duties, which have taken on even more importance than normal during a turbulent offseason within the Mountaineer basketball program that has included Eilert replacing Bob Huggins, Ruoff’s promotion and former WVU players Da’Sean Butler and Jordan McCabe joining the staff as assistants.

“We have the offseason program going. We’re training our guys and we have nine in the gym that are working really hard,” Ruoff said. “We need a couple more pieces and it could be a special season.”