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Akron boasted one of the sickest teams I've ever seen in probably all of MAC history. They had 3 20-point scorers in Darryl Peterson, Johnny Hollingsworth, and Derrick Tarver. They helped bring the basketball program back on its feet in the 02-03 season. The following season, they would be welcomed by the additions of Jeremiah Wood, Dru Joyce, and Romeo Travis. Matt Futch and Mario Collins filled in as nice reserves and Rick McFadden was back for his 2nd year from transferring from the Buckeyes.


A squad of Darryl Peterson, Jeremiah Wood, Rick McFadden, Tarver, Hollingsworth, Joyce, Travis, Collins, Hipsher, Futch coud have went the distance.

I remember all the attention that AKron was getting..it was unbelievable.

Lindy's, Sporting News, ESPN, Sports Illustrated, you name it.

All of them had Akron in the tourney or at least contending for it.
NOt to mention..that in Sports Illustrated..NCAA tourney bracket rankings...AKron was listed at #48...where as in Dick Vitale's version of it...he had AKron at #38, calling the zips...a "major mid-major". The fact that they had both awesome guards at the 1 and 2 spot...made them the heavily favorites to take it all. Akron also received votes in the USA Today press polls for the first 3 weeks. They were also ranked 6th in ESPN's mid-major poll, which was only 5 behind mid-major powerhouse...Gonzaga. AKron was a leading candidate in the MAC to recieve an At-Large bid , had they impressed the selection committee enough to show that they were deserving of it. Sky was the limit for this team as it could have done wonders for the MAC and brought it so much overdue consideration.

Granted, the team looked promising in the first 7 games of the season, with their only losses coming to Cincinatti and the Tarheels. They came close with the Tarheels, but lost to Cincinnatti by 20. Cincinnatti was there season opener, and this is where the trouble began.

Johhny Hollingsworth has a very close friend in Cincy that same weekend....who gets shot and killed, which turns into a sudden tragedy for the point guard. He only played a few minutes in the upcoming game vs. Cincy and played with heavy emotions. This chip on his shoulder would drag on for another 2-3 weeks. LAter on, team defense and chemistry became an issue, as most of the players weren't sharing the ball enough and were being selfish. Hipsher's coaching philosophies began to be questioned as people wondered how he was handling the team, as players began to be disinterested in games. The coach started to play his son,Andy, in lots of games, in where McFadden should have started instead, he became an achilles heel that would drag on this team. Then the big whammy hit Akron. Tarver and Johnny are outside one day selling T-shirts with their names and jersey numbers on them. They get suspended for the Bracket Buster game. Then, due to concern over Johnny's class attendance and academic performance, he gets suspended for the whole season, and pretty much for good. Talk about senior leadership. Young Dru Joyce had to take over the ship..and Tarver had to practically carry the team on its back. Also, Darryl Peterson hurt his back before the season started, and missed the entire season due to back surgery as Akron sorely missed his presence. Akron struggled the whole way through as they dissappeared into the clouds as the weeks went on by. By the MAC tournament, they were a lost cause and got knocked off in the first round.

What a sad story huh. The MAC ended up not receiving any At-Large consideration as they remained bias towards the likes of Western Michigan and Kent State. Western knocked off Kent State in the MAC final and took the automatic bid and ended up the lone representative of the MAC. Only to get trounced in teh first round by a #4 seed.

Had everything went perfect for Akron, not only would they have enabled the MAC to get multiple bids...but they would have also advanced further into the NCAA tourney as well. This team could have competed against Trevor Huffman's Elite 8 team. I think the one thing that the Akron program is missing, is that mystique and confidence that the Kent and Miami(OH) programs tend to have. As well as the great school reputations. Akron will have to work extra hard to develop that type of aura.

P.S. I attended akron back in the 2001-02 year, my frosh year, I stopped attending afterward, and later transferred to Middle Tennesee State U. I am not really a Zips fan, but if they caused any trouble in the conference last year, on behalf of the zips, I'm sorry for this.

After Akron's debacle, I thought this team was done for good, as they were losing they much-hyped senior backcourt to eligibility. And along with those two, went both the Hipshers and their dad, the head coach, as Akron gave him the boot.

But..to my surprise...Akron's worked hard during the recruiting period that year and found valid replacements for the above formentioned players..replacements I didn't find possible. They replaced Tarver and Hollingsworth....with 2 All-American McDonald's candidates, as well as some other nice recruits to fill in the spots of the other departed players. They made the much needed promotion of Keith Dambrot to the head coaching position. Dambrot was motivated to change the way the team played, and vowed to turn akron from an offensive team to a defensive unit. At this point, Akron was set.

With a starting lineup of:

C Peterson PF Travis SF McFadden SG Walther PG Joyce III.....

and a bench of:

Futch, Middleton, Collins, Milum, Preston....

Much fresher, more talented starting unit that Akron can build on for the future with plenty of potential and very dependable reserves to compliment Dambrot's fast uptempo offense.

Very promising team this year, that has raised obviously low expectations into high expectations...being quite the surprise team. Jeremiah Wood is out the whole year, which might hurt Akron's chances of getting to the Mac Final. But really..no need to worry...as the only player they lose this year...is McFadden....who will be replaced by another outstanding shooter at his position come next year..when he transfers from Ohio State for the 05-06 season. Darrly Peterson retains another year of eligibilty due to his back injury last year. So All in all, AKron maintains its talent level to remain competitive in the conference. When last year looked like an all-or-nothing situation, they rebounded with a much better prepared team this time around. I wouldn't complain that Akron doesn't get any tv appearances or media coverage, simply due to the fact that they didn't earn it from last year, and they will have to work their way up to earn it again.

Good Luck to the Zips.

I don't know if you've seen Akron in person this year, but I for one will greatly miss Mario Collins next year. Mario makes things happen and has kept us in a few games - and is one of the quickest players I've ever seen. He's a tad short, but if he were any taller he probably wouldn't be a Zips player right now anyway. Great attitude and a real pest defensively.

Pre-season picks invariably overvaluate raw individual talent, especially in the lesser known schools. You can count on the national pubs to be wrong on the MAC year after year.
The Zip team from last year had some promise going into the season, but they never beat a good team until later in the season when it was all over for them anyway. To say they ever had the potential to win even one NCAA game is quite a stretch. There just isn't any evidence of it. They were 2-5 vs. top 100 teams, with the only two wins coming very late in the season amidst a slew of losses to bad teams. Those early season wins were against very, very weak competition.
There was never much evidence in the the careers of those players now gone that they ever embraced the team concept over individual glory.
This year's team shows much more promise than that team did.

Quote:All of them had Akron in the tourney or at least contending for it.
NOt to mention..that in Sports Illustrated..NCAA tourney bracket rankings...AKron was listed at #48...where as in Dick Vitale's version of it...he had AKron at #38, calling the zips...a "major mid-major". The fact that they had both awesome guards at the 1 and 2 spot...made them the heavily favorites to take it all. Akron also received votes in the USA Today press polls for the first 3 weeks. They were also ranked 6th in ESPN's mid-major poll, which was only 5 behind mid-major powerhouse...Gonzaga. AKron was a leading candidate in the MAC to recieve an At-Large bid , had they impressed the selection committee enough to show that they were deserving of it. Sky was the limit for this team as it could have done wonders for the MAC and brought it so much overdue consideration.

The story ends with Kent State, picked fifth in the MAC East by those same experts, winning the MAC East instead of Akron, capturing a sixth straight twenty win season and fifth straight post season appearance. No apologies needed for me :D

axeme Wrote:Pre-season picks invariably overvaluate raw individual talent, especially in the lesser known schools. You can count on the national pubs to be wrong on the MAC year after year.

To back up your statement, just look at the predictions for EMU this year. Street & Smith picked EMU to finish first in the West and The Sporting News picked EMU to finish second. Can't put much stock in preseason babble other than for pure entertainment purposes.

OK, we apologize for not preventing the death of J. Hollingsworth's friend which led to the collapse of last years team. And for firing Coleman Crawford who won about 5 MAC games over 3 years and hiring Hipsher who brought in (and I quote):

"C Darryl Peterson, PF Jeremiah Wood, SF Rick McFadden, SG Tarver, and PG Hollingsworth. Wow, that is one solid starting lineup.

And if you looked at who they had coming off the bench:

Joyce, Travis, Collins, Hipsher, Futch.....talk about a deep squad."


What the heck

I think firing Hipsher pretty much aknowledges they screwed up major last season, no need for an apology.

As a flash fan i hate to say this but Akron will be in the NCAA tourney within the next 3 years. The next 2 years they are going to be loaded. Throw in a good even keeled coach and look out.

1. Peterson is not a center he's a SF.
2. Peterson's injury had a lot to do with their collapse . . . that and the fact that all this Hipsher's suck.

Akron is a big surprise this year to most; however, I think most experts have no idea about the MAC. They always underestimate the recruiting classes in the MAC. With the balance in the league, A nice transfer and two good freshman can turn a 7-11 record one year into 11-7 the next. The experts always for how deep the MAC is. They asumed that UB was goonna go like 15-3 and blow through the East this year. Travis is a special player for Akron. He is a guy that can carry a team. There isn't that one great team in the league this year. About 9 good teams.

Alright, I'm sorry If I offended any of the Akron fans, I guess it was jsut bad luck and a series of unfortunate situations. Akron was also predicted near the bottom of the barrel as well, and nwo they are contenders. What the hell do these magazines know anyways?

Yea, I do agree that Akron wasn't that team oriented, and that the tragedies and injuries they suffered helped contribute to their downfall. Hipsher may have brought in those aforementioned players, but u gotta remember who helped bring them in. Wasn't Keith Dambrot was in the coaching staff?

I think Dambrot is a good enough coach to propell Akron into the MAC tourney, maybe even this year or next. Also would be nice, if a MAC team could receive an At-Large Bid as well.

If theirs anything we can all agree on.......The Hipshers sure do damn suck.

WutupNJ Wrote:I think Dambrot is a good enough coach to propell Akron into the MAC tourney, maybe even this year or next.

I guarentee Akron will be in the MAC Tourney this year. :withstupid:

Sorry...I meant the big dance