THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, March 2, 1996 TAG: 9603020385
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ED MILLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. LENGTH: Long : 108 lines
An hour before Tuesday night's game against North Carolina, Wake Forest guard Tony Rutland moved around the 3-point arc at Lawrence Joel Coliseum, dropping in shots as casually as someone tossing coins in a fountain.
Each ball left Rutland's right hand with perfect rotation and caressed the net as it found its mark. Seven, eight, nine in a row splashed down before Rutland misfired.
Then he began again.
It was an impressive display, but one that no one who has followed Rutland's career would be surprised to see. The Hampton native - who was the ``other'' guard on the Allen Iverson-led Bethel High state championship team in 1993 - was best known locally as the skinny kid with the sweet shot and the impossible range. How could Rutland shoot from so deep, so effortlessly?
He could. He can. But this season, with Rutland struggling with his shot, the question has changed. This year, what they're wondering is this: How can someone with such a sweet stroke be shooting just 35 percent from the field?
Wake coach Dave Odom has thought a lot about that question himself. After Rutland went 1 for 9 from the field, including 0 for 6 from the 3-point range, Odom pulled his point guard aside for a little heart-to-heart.
``We challenged him,'' Odom said. ``I didn't know whether I challenged him too much. Obviously I didn't.''
Rutland responded by hitting 5 of 11 3-pointers and scoring 22 points in an 84-60 win over North Carolina.
``After I got out of class, I just went to the gym and shot about 100 shots by myself, without anybody at all,'' he said. ``I felt comfortable with my shot. It was just a couple of minor adjustments.''
They were nothing compared to the adjustments Rutland has had to make in moving to point guard this season. At Bethel, Rutland played shooting guard to Iverson's do-everything point guard. Last year, he shared the Wake backcourt with the ultimate take-charge guy, Randolph Childress.
This year, the ball is his, and he's trying to apply lessons he's learned from both of his famous backcourt-mates.
From Childress, Rutland learned how to lead.
``Randolph was a great leader,'' Rutland said. ``He told you what to do, and when to do it. And normally, when he told you what to do, it was the right thing.
``He was just outspoken. He took control when things went wrong.''
Playing with Iverson, Rutland said, honed his competitiveness.
``In practice at Bethel, we'd usually end up checking each other,'' he said. ``We just challenged each other.''
Iverson and Rutland, a pair of 6-foot guards, led Bethel to the state title in 1993, and might have won it again in 1994 had Iverson not missed his senior year because of his involvement in a bowling alley brawl in Hampton.
``We could have won it with ease,'' Rutland said.
Instead, Rutland rode solo, and scored 26 points per game for a bad Bethel team. In one memorable outing, Rutland scored 43 points in a half.
Rutland signed with Wake, and began his career as a starter. But his performance waned after his mother, Bonnie, had a recurrence of the cancer that had been in remission for several years.
Rutland missed no games, but did miss practices. The worries about his mother combined with the normal adjustments that come with being a college freshman made for a difficult year.
With his mother's health improved, Rutland has been able to devote his attention this season to learning his new position. And while he's struggled with shooting, Rutland generally has pleased Odom with his running of the team.
Heading into today's regular-season finale against N.C. State (1:30 p.m., WAVY), Rutland is seventh in the ACC in assists, with an average of 4.3 per game. He's also third in the conference in steals, at 1.7 per.
Rutland's ballhandling, passing and defensive skills have come a long way since his days as an unrepentant gunner at Bethel.
Now, if his shot would only come around.
Pete Bacote, the man who taught Rutland to shoot, thinks it will. Bacote, father of former Hampton High and current University of Alabama player Damon Bacote, taught both players the fundamentals of shooting when they were about 12 years old.
``They were a couple of slap-happy kids,'' Bacote said. ``Still are. But they were terrible shooters.''
Bacote taught his pupils how to position their elbows. How to square their shoulders. How to extend and follow through on their shots.
``We used to practice from the 28-foot mark,'' he said. ``That taught them that your motion is always the same, but your range comes from your legs.''
Rutland occasionally launched from that range at Bethel, and says he has to fight the urge to do it at Wake.
``I tend to spot up far outside the 3-point line,'' he said. ``That's something I don't realize. I'm just out there. I've got to focus on getting down to the line.''
Adjustments. If Rutland can make them, and continue to improve the rest of his game, he could one day parlay his NBA range into an NBA uniform.
The money he'd make there would allow Rutland to realize a dream. He would like to take his mother and the rest of his family back to her native Korea, a land she has visited only twice since emigrating two decades ago. A land Rutland has never seen.
Rutland's father, Larry, met his mother while he was stationed in Korea with the Air Force. Rutland has met his maternal grandmother just once. He's also met an aunt on his mother's side.
``I'd like to just take a visit, spend a little time with the family, and just get to know everybody,'' Rutland said. ``Right now I really don't know everybody like I want to. It's just one of those things, it costs a lot of money.''
And that requires a jump shot he can take to the bank. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Overshadowed in the past by Allen Iverson and Randolph Childress,
Tony Rutland has emerged as his own man.
by CNB