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FRANK PASTORBut the county is not yet a hotbed for sport.
BROOKSVILLE - One county player orally committed to a top Big East Conference program.
A second plans to enroll at a boarding school in the hopes of earning a Division I scholarship next year. A third has received interest from at least three major-college programs.
So, when did Hernando County become a boys basketball hotbed?
It hasn't, Central coach John Sedlack said.
"I honestly do not feel that the basketball is much better than it has been," Sedlack said. "Sporadically, it's been up and down over the 23 years I've been in this area, both in Pasco and Citrus and the last 16 here. Sporadically, people have had good teams with good players."
But never three of Division I-caliber at once.
Central senior Alex Ruoff orally committed to West Virginia on Saturday. Jeff Brown and Kyle Swanston, who played at Hernando last season, received interest from several Division I schools, including 2004 region semifinalist Alabama-Birmingham.
Ruoff is believed to be the first boys player from the county to commit to a major Division I college straight out of high school. Springstead graduate Brandon Curtis played a season at Florida International, a Division I independent in 1989, before transferring to Valencia Community College.
But that doesn't mean the basketball is better. Central, Hernando and Springstead are a combined 3-15 in the postseason, with each winning a game. Springstead, in 2000, was the most recent.
Players have gone on to play at Division II or junior college programs. But, typically, the county hasn't had the 6-foot-7, 210-pound player who can shoot the jumper and handle the ball.
Players who might have had the talent, such as Boston Red Sox pitcher Bronson Arroyo (who ranks third on Hernando's career scoring list), took their talents in different directions.
"He could have played Division I basketball, I'm completely confident of that," Hernando coach Jeff Laing said. "But he went on to play baseball."
So why Hernando County? Why now?
Unquestionably, Ruoff, Swanston and Brown are unique talents. Sedlack said he has not had a player like Ruoff in 30 years of coaching.
But the rise of the Internet and the growing influence of club teams gave them opportunities and exposure that largely were unavailable to their predecessors, coaches said.
A chance meeting between Sedlack and Pat Eckler, who covers recruiting for Florida Basketball News, brought Eckler to a Central game during Ruoff's sophomore year. Eckler was so impressed with what he saw from Ruoff during warm-ups, he left before the game and began spreading the word to schools.
Ruoff added to his reputation by making the top all-star team at the prestigious Five-Star camp the summer before his junior season.
"If you're a good player, they're going to find you," Sedlack said. "I don't care where you play, the word is going to get out."
Brown and Swanston made their marks on the AAU circuit, where they played for Team Breakdown.
Brown was identified as a player to watch after attending Jim Haley's Rookie Sensations camp in Ocala as a ninth-grader. Break-down.com later tabbed him the 17th-best sophomore in the state. Last year, he was seventh among juniors. Florida State, Miami and UAB have asked about him.
Swanston, who transferred from Central before his senior season, was ranked 26th among seniors. But first, he needed a recommendation from Laing to land him a spot in Break-down.com's Battle of the Rankings, where he made the all-camp team.
Swanston plans to enroll in the postgraduate program at Worcester Academy, a boarding school in Massachusetts, in the hopes of earning a Division I scholarship next year. Alabama-Birmingham, Rutgers and Maryland have called to gauge his interest.
Will he be the county's next major-college player?
"Who's to say what the future is going to hold?" Laing said.