The562’s coverage of Long Beach Poly is sponsored by Bryson Financial.
In the final week of his junior year, Long Beach Poly guard Jovani Ruff was looking toward the future, announcing his college commitment during a ceremony at Ron Palmer Pavilion on Wednesday afternoon.
Joined by his mom and younger brother, Ruff declared that he would be attending Cal once his high school career is finished. Ruf chose the Golden Bears over the rest of his Top 4 schools: Kansas, Oregon, and USC.
“I feel good,” said Ruff after making his commitment public. “I was very nervous in class before this, I didn’t know what I wanted to say, but it just feels like a big weight off my shoulders.”
The decision to attend Cal came down to a family atmosphere within the program and a comfort level with the coaching staff, which was important to Jovani and his family.
“It’s just Mark Madsen and the staff. When I took my visit, they treated me like family.” Ruff said of his future coaches. “They believe in me. When I was playing bad this high school year or I was playing good, the love remained the same.”
Ruff got emotional while making his commitment, especially while thanking his mom, Tiana, for all her love and support over the years.
“It’s unexplainable. Unbelievable,” said Tiana. “I’m just so blessed and so grateful that he’s in a position like this … I work in basketball, and I always pictured my kids being on the court and me working their games and everything. So for this to be full circle and get to see him play at the collegiate level, and hopefully the professional one day, it’s amazing. A dream come true.”
It’s never easy for moms to send their kids off to college, but Tiana said she was thrilled with how welcoming the Cal coaching staff was, and she’s confident it will be the best place for her son to develop both on and off the basketball court.
“They treated us like family from day one. Calling day and night, checking on us, not just basketball, but life in general,” she said. “And I did tell Coach Madsen, (Jovani) is a young man growing up, he needs to be around good role models. And there the whole staff is a perfect example of perfect role models for my son. Everything just fell into place with everybody, and it’s just … it’s meant to be.”
Ruff has been a three-year varsity starter for the Jackrabbits under head coach Shelton Diggs, who has seen the four-star guard steadily improve as a player.
“It’s good for him trusting the process, and not the process of us or Poly, but just the process of basketball, getting better every year and continuing to improve,” Diggs said. “We see a lot of kids that are highly ranked coming in as freshmen, and they kind of fall down, they don’t keep working hard and they’re complacent with certain things. But he always continued to keep working, to keep getting better. It’s just a product of his hard work, and it’s all him and his family. So I’m just really excited for him and excited for his future.”
With the recent conference realignment in college sports, Ruff has a unique opportunity to play basketball in the powerhouse Atlantic Coast Conference, while still remaining on the West Coast and close to his family and friends. Diggs spoke about what makes Ruff special as a player and how he’ll be able to succeed at the next level.
“His defense and his shooting,” said Diggs. “He can come in and guard anybody one through three, lock your best player down if need be, and he’s going to shoot the ball lights out and will also be a really good team player. So he’s gonna come in there and really play well for them.”
But before Jovani makes the trip up the coast to Berkeley, he’s still got one more year of ball in Long Beach. He made it clear that he’s committed to winning a CIF title for the Jackrabbits after reaching the title game as a junior, and he’s also on track to be the program’s all-time leading scorer.
“I need a CIF championship,” Ruf stated. “Me and my team work hard, and we’ve been working hard this summer to go get that.”