The last time this writer wrote about Akron, it was after attending a preseason exhibition game against NAIA D-II Walsh College, a game in which the Zips were outrebounded 37-29, and held on by the skin of their collective teeth to win 83-81. If the game had gone on just a minute or two longer, it could have become an embarrassing loss for Coach Keith Dambrot’s program.
What a difference four months make.
Now it’s March, the MAC Tournament beginning tomorrow in Cleveland, and with the 5th seed Akron (now 19-12, 10-6 in the MAC) opens up against No. 12 Toledo at 6 pm at “the Q.” Along the way, redshirt freshman Ronnie Steward from Columbus won the point guard battle, then became injured and was replaced at that spot by diminutive true freshman Anthony “Humpty” Hitchens from Chillicothe. Joining Humpty in the starting lineup for much of the year has been 6-8 freshman forward Nikola Cvetinovich from Serbia via Virginia. And while the original plan was to redshirt freshman shooting guard Brett McClanahan from Nitro, West Virginia this season, halfway through the year, partly as a result of Steward’s injury, along with the McClanahan family the coaching staff removed Brett’s redshirt, allowing him to contribute significantly during the conference season.
It’s no surprise to our readers that in recent years the MAC has been a bit down, with particularly few power forwards and mostly small guards. The East Division continues to be better than the West; if the seedings were done without regard to division the first 5 MAC seeds would have come from the East Division. Preseason favorite Kent has the strongest and deepest group of guards in the league, with last year’s Player of the Year Al Fisher, Chris Singletary, Jordan Mincy, Mike McKee and well-traveled newcomer Tyree Evans. But weakness at the forward spots resulted in Kent earning a disappointing 6th seed in this year’s tournament. The best forward in the league is Ohio’s Jerome Tillman, but he’s not really 6-6 as listed, and inconsistent guard play resulted in a disappointing 9th seed for the Bobcats.
Back to Akron, this year’s team needed to replace graduating point guard Nick Dials, Jeremiah Woods and Cedrick Middleton, returning as forwards finesse rebounder and mid-range scorer Nate Linhart and the McKnight brothers, Chris and Brett. They would so heavily rely on first two and then three freshmen. But despite greater successes at Central Michigan and recently here at Akron (NIT appearances two of the last three seasons, sandwiching a regular season East Division crown), this may have been Keith Dambrot’s best coaching job ever. Fighting through the inconsistency inherent in relying on freshmen (particularly at the point), Dambrot got his group to play aggressive yet largely sound man-to-man defense, to continue their tradition of home court dominance at Rhodes Arena (posting a 10-3 home record), and to produce a season-changing 7-game win streak in late January and early February.
But most of all there was the development of Hitchens. Never at a loss for confidence, the athletic, skilled but undersized guard started off slowly, most nights posting more turnovers than assists and shooting a poor percentage. The win at Fairleigh Dickinson was a hopeful exception, with Humpty scoring 12 points on 5-8 shooting (2-3 in treys) in just 15 minutes of play. Better still at Niagara, 15 points on 5-11, including 3-8, and just two turnovers in 30 minutes. He was less reliable against Dayton (17 points, but five turnovers), stronger in the North Carolina A&T win, in the VCU loss, and in the St. Francis win. Humpty was now scoring (especially in transition), but still turning the ball over too much and sometimes reaching too much on defense.
Then the conference season, in which Humpty raised his scoring average to nine points per game, and began closing in on a 1:1 assist to turnover ratio. He’s hit a bit of a wall of late offensively, shooting poorly in three of Akron’s four games preceding Sunday’s rivalry game at Kent (Akron losses at Valparaiso in the Bracketbusters and to Bowling Green, and last Thursday’s home win over Ohio), but that’s to be expected from all freshmen. Humpty recovered to play well in a close loss Sunday at Kent, scoring 13 points on 4-11 shooting, and credited with three assists and just one turnover in 25 minutes of play.
Now they have a first round game against No. 12 Toledo to get back in the swing. Humpty didn’t play well in the Zips’ win at Savage Arena, scoring just 2 on 1-5 shooting, and credited with no assists and two turnovers in 19 minutes. A win against Toledo would be Akron’s 20th of the year, the fourth straight year Dambrot has won 20 or more (Akron was 19-10 Dambrot’s first season, 2004-05).
If the Zips can prevail against Toledo, No. 4 seed and traditionally powerful Miami awaits in the next round Thursday night at 9:30, the two teams having split a pair of games this year, each winning on its home court. The RedHawks will be looking to extend Coach Charlie Coles’ final season in a stellar coaching career, but Dambrot just might have his three freshmen ready this week, specifically his exciting freshman point guard. And if he does, look out Toledo, look out Miami, look out MAC, and look out to the participants in any post-season tournament the Zips play their way into.
