Rusthoven chooses William & Mary
Wheaton Academy's Tim Rusthoven looked for three things in a potential college.
William & Mary satisfied them all.
The 6-foot-8, 200-pound incoming senior basketball player Saturday accepted a scholarship from the nation's second-oldest college, located in Williamsburg, Va.
He preferred the Tribe over offers from Loyola (Chicago), Virginia, Detroit, Wisconsin-Green Bay and Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
It was the combination of academic challenge, Christian fellowship and, on the court, a basketball system that fit Rusthoven's strengths as a big man who can both post up and face the basket that determined his choice.
"William & Mary just had everything I was looking for in a school," he said.
Former Neuqua Valley forward Kyle Carrabine also played at William & Mary; Rusthoven said New Trier's 6-9 Fred Heldering joins him in the Tribe's 2010 recruiting class.
Under coach Tony Shaver, William & Mary finished 10-20 and 5-13 in the Colonial Athletic Association in 2008-09.
The Division I program recruited Rusthoven hard starting last September. Jonathan Holmes, the assistant who worked with the Wheaton Academy student, came through with a scholarship offer in January.
Rusthoven liked Loyola coach Jim Whitesell. Northwestern saw him five times last season and Rusthoven performed well at an elite camp at Virginia, but in the end Wheaton Academy boys basketball coach and athletic director Paul Ferguson said William & Mary's smaller size and community atmosphere prevailed.
"William & Mary really was the school early on that he really liked best," Ferguson said.
Rusthoven started every game for the Warriors as a freshman, then was forced to sit out all but the last six games his sophomore year with a heart condition that was successfully treated. He is "100 percent healed and healthy," Ferguson said.
Rusthoven proved that last season, an honorable-mention all-state campaign in which he averaged 20 points and 10 rebounds while leading the 17-9 Warriors to a Class 3A regional championship, their first since 1998.
His ability to dominate in the lane and also hit the midrange jumper had scouts from Notre Dame, Davidson, Butler and Miami (Ohio) make their way to West Chicago last season.
"I'm a big guy who can post up and also go outside, too," said Rusthoven, who thanked Ferguson for his devotion to the recruiting cause.
"It was like his second job," Rusthoven said. "He helped a ton."
Headed Wednesday to the Nike AAU Super Showcase in Orlando with the Velocity Red team based in Naperville, the reigning Private School League co-player of the year said that although his entire senior season lies ahead it was "the right time" for him to make a commitment.
"I'm pumped," Rusthoven said. "I knew I had to make a decision pretty soon, so for a while there I was kind of worried. But now I'm pumped, definitely."