Education
Ruland, a native of Annapolis, Maryland, played high school basketball at Annapolis High School for four years before spending one postgraduate year at Fork Union Military Academy. He chose to attend JMU to play for the Dukes and was a 6"8", 240-pound center. He is credited with being a key player during what some consider JMU"s greatest era of men"s basketball, one in which they earned three straight trips to the National Collegiate Athletic Association Tournament and won each of their opening round games against traditionally national powerhouse basketball programs.
During Ruland"s collegiate career, he scored 1,255 points and grabbed 640 rebounds.
He improved his season scoring averages each successive year: 5.9, 8.4, 12.7 and 15.1 points per game, respectively, for a career average of 10.1 points per game.
James Madison won the ECAC South regular season title in 1982 and won the ECAC Tournament championships in 1981 and 1983. In each of his final three years, the Dukes qualified for the National Collegiate Athletic Association Tournament, where they won each of their first round games against Georgetown (1981), Ohio State (1982) and West Virginia (1983), giving them a reputation as a "giant killer" during the postseason.
In 1984-1985, the ECAC South became what is now known as the Colonial Athletic Association, an National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I mid-major athletic conference, but the Civil Aeronautics Administration considers its awards to be official dating back to the days of the ECAC South.
Ruland was named the co-Civil Aeronautics Administration Player of the Year with Carlos Yates of George Mason, which was the first-ever Civil Aeronautics Administration Player of the Year honor in men"s basketball. Through the 2011-2012 season, it is still the only tie in the award"s history.