
{"id":7914,"date":"2009-11-12T09:53:23","date_gmt":"2009-11-12T17:53:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/?p=7914"},"modified":"2009-11-12T09:53:23","modified_gmt":"2009-11-12T17:53:23","slug":"rum%e2%80%99s-ready-to-rumble","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/2009\/11\/12\/rum%e2%80%99s-ready-to-rumble\/","title":{"rendered":"Rum\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s ready to Rumble"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By John Holt, Correspondent<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>From Alexandria, Va. to Chapel Hill, North Carolina, to Baltimore, Md., Matt Rum has grown and exceled in each spot. A Chapel Hill resident from 1995 to 2005, Rum attended McDougle elementary and middle schools before moving to Baltimore. He now has earned a full scholarship and will play basketball at William &#038; Mary this fall. <\/p>\n<p>Rum never envisioned himself leaving Chapel Hill. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I hated that decision at the time. I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want anything to do with it,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Rum said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I had to move into an all-boy\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Catholic school \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 That was a big change. School was a lot tougher there and everything got a little harder.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Rum began playing basketball when he was 5. The sport, though, began to pick up for him when he moved to Chapel Hill. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I played for the North Carolina Gators [AAU Team],\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Rum said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153My dad and I would commute to Greensboro for the practices. We had some good success while I was a part of their team. We won two state championships, and then we moved to Baltimore.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n<p>Rum, who is 6\u00e2\u20ac\u21224, 180 pounds, attended Loyola Blakefield High School in Towson, Md. Loyola is an all-boys\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 private Catholic day school. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Going to Loyola was probably the biggest adjustment for me, and moving from a public school to a private school,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Rum said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We had a dress code each day. We had to dress in a coat and tie, and that took awhile at first to get used to.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n<p>As soon as he arrived at Loyola, though, he established a name for himself. He played on the varsity team for three years and led his school to a 19-13 record and a runner-up finish in the conference tournament his senior season. Rum was selected to the Baltimore Catholic League and Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association first team, having averaged 18 points, 4.5 rebounds and 2 assists and shot 85 percent from the free-throw line. He concluded his career with 1,191 points and helped Loyola reach the Baltimore Catholic League Championship game for the first time since 1993. <\/p>\n<p>Rum received offers from a number of schools, including Boston University, Radford, Towson, University of Maryland at Baltimore County and Loyola University Maryland, before choosing William &#038; Mary. <\/p>\n<p>Rum didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t take any official visits to schools (recruits are each allowed five). He took an unofficial visit to William &#038; Mary during his junior year and verbally committed to the Tribe soon thereafter. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I felt that committing to William &#038; Mary was the best decision,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Rum said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I loved the campus. I wanted to come down South. I also really felt welcome with the coaching staff. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a top-notch school.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n<p>After graduating from Loyola in June, Rum is thrilled at the opportunity awaiting him. The schedule for the 2009-10 season will feature quite a few competitive teams. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153My first college game ever, we play at UConn,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Rum said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We also play at Wake Forest and at Maryland. Richmond comes to play us at William &#038; Mary. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s my dream come true.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n<p>Rum doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know how much court time he will see his freshman year, but he hopes for the best. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m hoping to play, and I know it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not going to be right away,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I have a lot of upperclassmen and good guys ahead of me. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m going to have to work hard for my time.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Rum has one major goal while being a part of the William &#038; Mary program: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I want to make the NCAA Tournament. William &#038; Mary has never ever been to the big dance. We have a really good team this coming year. Definitely, making the tournament one of my years there would be amazing.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n<p>If everything goes according to plan, Rum would like to continue to play basketball after his college career concludes in 2013. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153If I have a good enough career at W&#038;M, I want to try to go over to Europe and play for a little bit,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153After that, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m probably planning to come back and live in North Carolina.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n<p>Rum said he is pleased with the way things worked out. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It was a tough four years [at Loyola], but it was worth it,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Rum said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It got me ready. Who knows what would have happened if I would have stayed in Chapel Hill. But it definitely worked out for the best.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<br \/>\nWilliam &#038; Mary is not just the perfect fit for Rum, but also for those who have supported him throughout. Williamsburg is only three-and-a-half hours from both Chapel Hill and Baltimore. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m trying to put William &#038; Mary on the map,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Rum said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Nobody even seems to know it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a Division I school. We definitely have to win to be recognized.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<br \/>\nWhatever happens, Rum says he won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t lose his memories of Chapel Hill. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It was so tough to leave my friends in Chapel Hill and the area,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It all started here in Chapel Hill for me. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll always be home.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By John Holt, Correspondent From Alexandria, Va. to Chapel Hill, North Carolina, to Baltimore, Md., Matt Rum has grown and exceled in each spot. A Chapel Hill resident from 1995 to 2005, Rum attended McDougle elementary and middle schools before moving to Baltimore. He now has earned a full scholarship and will play basketball at&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7914","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7914","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7914"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7914\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7915,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7914\/revisions\/7915"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7914"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}