Peoria native Daniel Ruffin is lending his basketball talents in Champaign now. The new coach of the Champaign Swarm, the Midwest Professional Basketball Association franchise that plays its home games at Parkland College, is a decade removed from helping Bradley reach the Sweet 16. The 31-year-old, whose older brother is former Indiana star A.J. Guyton, caught up with sports editor MATT DANIELS about how his role with the Swarm came to be, what the 2006 NCAA tournament run by Bradley was like and why college basketball in Illinois is struggling:
Why did you decide to take the Champaign Swarm coaching job?