Bay Port alum Ruh goes pro 'Down Under'

Marcus Ruh has always wanted to play professional basketball.

Getting to do so in Australia — a place he always wanted to visit — has been just icing on the cake for the former Bay Port standout.

The 6-foot-4 guard is averaging 18.5 points per game and shooting 43.0 percent from 3-point range for the Ringwood Hawks in the Australian Big Victoria state championship men's league.

"It's a dream come true," Ruh said. "I appreciate every second of it. It's so exciting. I know I'm one of the few people that actually has the chance to do it, so it's just a matter of taking it all in."

The Howard native has been in Ringwood, which is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, since the end of January.

Ruh is one of two American players on the Hawks, who are 20-2 and in first place in their league with two regular-season games remaining.

"It's been amazing from the beginning," said Ruh, a 2009 Bay Port graduate. "The team I'm with, and the community I'm in, has just been awesome.

"I think everyone in the states would like to visit Australia at some time in their life, and I've had the opportunity to travel around Australia and see some pretty cool sites."

It's an opportunity Ruh doesn't believe he would have gotten had he not transferred following his sophomore year of college.

After playing two seasons at the NCAA Division III level for the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, Ruh went on to lead Saint Leo University (Fla.) to its first two DII national tournament appearances in program history.

He was named the 2013 Sunshine State Conference player of the year as a senior, after leading the league in 3-point shooting percentage (48.6) and helping the Lions win a share of the regular-season championship.

Additionally, Ruh earned CoSIDA Academic All-American Division II men's basketball player of the year honors by maintaining a 4.0 GPA as a business administration major at Saint Leo, which is located about 35 miles north of Tampa.

"After my senior year my college coaches thought I would have a pretty good opportunity to continue playing," said Ruh, who led Bay Port to its first two WIAA Division 1 state appearances in 2008 and 2009.

Jake Hottenstine, another standout on the Pirates' back-to-back state teams, played in Spain last year.

"Australia was a great option obviously because of the English language," Ruh said. "But from the people I spoke to that played overseas, they all said you'll want to be somewhere where you will enjoy your time outside of basketball. It's a job, but it's an experience at the same time."

In addition to a monthly salary, the Ringwood Hawks organization pays for Ruh's housing and a car, which he shares with former Stony Brook University standout Bryan Dougher.

Dougher is playing in his second season in Australia and helped make Ruh's transition to the country and its style of play an easy one.

"Pretty much everyone out here can shoot positions 1 through 4," Ruh said about the 13-team league. "They can all knock down 3s, so that is definitely different."

In addition to playing, Ruh coaches youth leagues and is an instructor for basketball lessons.

"I heard it wasn't that popular," Ruh said. "But when I got out here, and we started doing camps, I found out they love it. I would say skill-wise they are a little bit behind the United States, but they're catching up fast."

However, probably not fast enough to pass up the popularity of the sport footy — also known as Australian rules football — which Ruh described as a combination of football and rugby.

"They're diehards about their footy out here," he said. "It's probably like the NFL is back home."

It didn't take long for Ruh's teammates to make a connection with his last name and one of Australia's most famous inhabitants, the kangaroo.

"They kind of made the connection right away," Ruh said. "It's pronounced exactly the same. So, I've gotten 'Kanga-Ruh' every once in a while from people down here or back home. They'll also call me Ruh boy out here. It's been kind of fun to go along with that."

Ruh's contract with the Hawks runs through August. He is considering playing there next year or in a different country's professional league.

"I'm a pretty lucky guy to have the opportunities that I've had," Ruh said. "A lot of people would love to be in my position. It definitely makes me realize what I have and not to take it for granted at all."