Akron is next

[Biggus Piggus]

I can't think of a quieter college basketball success story than Akron. Since Keith Dambrot has been head coach of the Zips (his alma mater), Akron has a record of 253-121. The Zips won 19 games in Dambrot's first season. After that, never fewer than 21 (they were 21-14 last season). Make it 10 straight 20-win seasons, and how many people are aware of that? More people probably know that Dambrot was LeBron James's high school coach.

Akron opened the season with a 65-53 win over Cleveland State. The Zips outscored the Vikings 40-22 in the first half, then coasted. Cleveland State had to replace its entire starting five after last year, but Gary Waters is their coach, and he knows what he is doing.

Starters for Akron:

F Reggie McAdams (6-6, 215 sr)
F Kwan Cheatham (6-10, 235 jr)
C Pat Forsythe (6-11, 245 sr)
G Antino Jackson (5-11, 155 so)
G Josh Williams (6-2, 185 fr)

Top reserves:

F Jake Kretzer (6-7, 220 sr) - something of a co-starter vs. McAdams
C Isaiah Johnson (6-10, 295 jr)
G Jimond Ivey (6-4, 195 so)

Akron had 15 turnovers in a moderately paced game against CSU, including seven by the freshman guard Williams against the pressure defense of the Vikings. This Akron-Arkansas game is clearly a conflict of styles. Akron has four true guards on its entire roster. One of those is Noah Robotham, a 6-1 sophomore from Las Vegas who is coming off an ACL injury (incurred in February).

Jackson is a quick little guard from Houston Cypress Springs who played a lot last season. Not much of an outside shooter. Williams is a freshman from Akron, coming from the same high school LeBron attended. Ivey is a sophomore in eligibility but did not play as a freshman due to academics.

Robotham did not play against Cleveland State. He is expected to be back by the end of December, possibly sooner. Robotham will be the starting point guard whenever he returns. He is regarded as one of the most promising players in the Mid-American Conference.

The guard shortage makes the Akron schedule especially hard to understand. Akron opened Saturday against Cleveland State in Kent, Ohio. Tonight, the Zips play Division III Hiram at home. Then two days later, Akron travels to Fayetteville. Tonight had better be a glorified practice.

Akron is very much a share-the-wealth kind of basketball team. Last season, nobody averaged more than 10 points per game, though four different players hit that mark (including returnees Forsythe and Robotham).

Top returning 3-pt shooters: McAdams (41%), Kretzer (37%), Robotham (36%). McAdams made 65 threes in 35 games. This is the kind of team that manufactures a lot of open threes for big wing players. McAdams in particular looks like a tough matchup for the Hogs.

Forsythe made 57% of his 2-pt attempts and led the team with 131 inside baskets in 33 games. Dambrot likes big men Cheatham and Johnson, too.

This game represents a great test of how Mike Anderson is going to try to cover the Hogs' matchup problems. Clearly, the Razorbacks would prefer to play three or even four guards at a time. Beyond center Moses Kingsley, Arkansas's best players are all guards.

Akron will play a very conventional three-big, two-guard lineup and try to slow the tempo, pound the ball into the paint and kick out for open threes. Akron also likes to turn offensive boards into passes for open threes. Against Cleveland State, Akron made 7-19 threes (McAdams 3-3), 17-34 inside the arc.

One more note:

Dambrot got his first Division I head coaching job at Central Michigan. In an effort to motivate his team before a game in 1993, Dambrot told his players: "We need to be tougher, harder-nosed and play harder. We need to have more n-----s on the team." He was trying to talk in the players' language, but it leaked out that Dambrot had used the big, bad word. Protests arose on campus, and Dambrot was fired. Took him five years to even get a high school job after that.

http://grantland.com/the-triangle/the-second-act-of-akron-coach-keith-dambrot/

[The_Iceman]

This game will be tougher than most fans expect. I wouldn't be shocked if we lost since it will be this roster's first real challenge.

[Bacon_Bitz]

Very tough matchup.  Hopefully the team realizes it will be a challenge.  Hopefully a decent amount of fans show up.

[TomBigBeeHog]

Gonna love watching the 295 lb fat boy run. He ought to lose about 10 - 12 lbs after trying to keep up with Moses.

[010HogFan]

I can't quit looking at the name "Robotham"

Would make a good Hogville name

[jry04]

Definitely a tough matchup. Return most of their starters off a team that won 21 games. Beat USC and South Carolina last season. Forsythe is their best player. This will end up being a quality opponent at the end of the year, much like Iona turned out to be last season. Should be a top 100 RPI team, so beating them would be very beneficial.

[Biggus Piggus]

Definitely a tough matchup. Return most of their starters off a team that won 21 games. Beat USC and South Carolina last season. Forsythe is their best player. This will end up being a quality opponent at the end of the year, much like Iona turned out to be last season. Should be a top 100 RPI team, so beating them would be very beneficial.

If Arkansas can't crack that Akron backcourt, the Hogs have no business playing pressure defense.

[UNCLE BACK]

We will need to really push the tempo and score in bunches. I could see our bigs getting into Foul Trouble. I predict 81 to 69 Hogs and it will be close with 6 min left.

[poloprince]

Hogs by 20 at least

[Biggus Piggus]

Hogs by 20 at least

Akron lost to Miami, Fla., 79-51 last season. Lost at Toledo 84-67. Those were their only big losses. If the Hogs can't give the Zips ballhandling problems, it will be a very difficult game. They are going to score inside and from the wing.

This also ought to be an interesting game for the whistles. Akron's coach is head of the NCAA rules committee, has been on the committee for several years during the crackdown on contact (which is supposed to get much more serious this season).

[NLRHog92]

Don't expect us to win honestly. Just don't think we're very good this year. Hopefully they prove me wrong, but I see right around 15 wins.

[TexArkHogFan]

This is the first game in tne NIT preseason kick-off isn't it?  I keep reading the schedule that shows us playing another game at home and then on to the big one where we play Georgia Tech.  But, since this is a tournament,if we lose this game to Akron then we are done right and wouldn't be playing any more of those games.  Isn't that the way it works?     

[Biggus Piggus]

This is the first game in tne NIT preseason kick-off isn't it?  I keep reading the schedule that shows us playing another game at home and then on to the big one where we play Georgia Tech.  But, since this is a tournament,if we lose this game to Akron then we are done right and wouldn't be playing any more of those games.  Isn't that the way it works?     

No, because it's not bracketed until the games at Madison Square Garden.

No matter what, Arkansas plays Georgia Tech in NYC. The winner takes on the winner of Stanford and Villanova. The loser plays in the third-place game.

[PonderinHog]

This is the first game in tne NIT preseason kick-off isn't it?  I keep reading the schedule that shows us playing another game at home and then on to the big one where we play Georgia Tech.  But, since this is a tournament,if we lose this game to Akron then we are done right and wouldn't be playing any more of those games.  Isn't that the way it works?   

http://www.bloggingthebracket.com/2015/7/23/8955635/2015-nit-season-tip-off-bracket-projection-scheduling-teams-history

[Danny J]

We will struggle with Akron....

[Biggus Piggus]

The NCAA did not allow the preseason NIT to have 16 teams, so the early games are there merely to allow all NIT participants to get the maximum allowed number of exempt games. If you play in an exempt tournament, you get extra games on your schedule.

[The_Iceman]

The NCAA did not allow the preseason NIT to have 16 teams, so the early games are there merely to allow all NIT participants to get the maximum allowed number of exempt games. If you play in an exempt tournament, you get extra games on your schedule.

Good info.

[TexArkHogFan]

The NCAA did not allow the preseason NIT to have 16 teams, so the early games are there merely to allow all NIT participants to get the maximum allowed number of exempt games. If you play in an exempt tournament, you get extra games on your schedule.

Thanks for the info.  That clears it up for me.Looks like we play four games regardless of the outcome.   Learn something new every day. 

[Jonteviosk]

Don't expect us to win honestly. Just don't think we're very good this year. Hopefully they prove me wrong, but I see right around 15 wins.

Where do these idiots keep coming from? Here is the thing good team yes but Arkansas does not lost to mid major teams on the hill. It doesn't happen.

[dbhog]

I think we could very easily lose this game.  Akron is going to present major problems at the forward and center position.

[husker71]

^^^   for the guy that says we will win by 20  that would be great BUT  I think this will be a really tough game and hope we can win.   Dambrot can coach and he seems to get the most out of his talent. 

[HOGINTENNESSEE]

We will struggle with Akron....

We struggled with Southern.... Just not as bad a Miss State did

[nwahogfan1]

That is a great record for a mid major so I am surprised he has not moved on to a bigger school. 

[TomBigBeeHog]

We struggled with Southern.... Just not as bad a Miss State did

I thought we beat Southern pretty handily. Took our foot off the gas in the second half then when threatened, closed them out. Seemed pretty routine to me.

[nwahogfan1]

What is the spread for tonights game in Vegas ?    I would guess we are favored by a point or 3 only because of the game being played at Home.


Akron is huge.  So will we try to press them and try to force TOs?  I am sure they will play alot of Zone on us so we need Bell and Hannahs to be Double HOT.

[Hawg Red]

We struggled with Southern.... Just not as bad a Miss State did

Nah. We handled them. They flirted with a run early in the second half, but we went over-the-top when it was time handle business. Like TBBH said, pretty routine finish for a low-major non-con opponent in a season opener. For comparison purposes, last year's 27-win team beat Alabama State (same conference as Southern) by 18 points in the opener just like we did Southern on Friday in this season's opener.

[Hawg Red]

What is the spread for tonights game in Vegas ?    I would guess we are favored by a point or 3 only because of the game being played at Home.


Akron is huge.  So will we try to press them and try to force TOs?  I am sure they will play alot of Zone on us so we need Bell and Hannahs to be Double HOT.

Game is tomorrow night, but I'm seeing that we're favored by 2 1/2.

[hawginbigd1]

I thought we beat Southern pretty handily. Took our foot off the gas in the second half then when threatened, closed them out. Seemed pretty routine to me.

IMO we handled them in the first half but not in the 2nd when Southern quit throwing up jumper after jumper. They pretty much won the 2nd half by beating us off the dribble consistently, that is how i saw it anyway.

[Hawg Red]

IMO we handled them in the first half but not in the 2nd when Southern quit throwing up jumper after jumper. They pretty much won the 2nd half by beating us off the dribble consistently, that is how i saw it anyway.

I'm struggling to understand how they could have "won the 2nd half" when we outscored them by 3 points in the 2nd half.

[azhog10]

We struggled with Southern.... Just not as bad a Miss State did

Your definition of struggled must be different from mine.

[azhog10]

IMO we handled them in the first half but not in the 2nd when Southern quit throwing up jumper after jumper. They pretty much won the 2nd half by beating us off the dribble consistently, that is how i saw it anyway.

The box score is not your friend.

[hawginbigd1]

I'm struggling to understand how they could have "won the 2nd half" when we outscored them by 3 points in the 2nd half.

The score got away in desperation time, until the last 5 or 6 minutes Southern was beating us by quite a bit in the 2nd half, because they had totally changed how they were playing on the offensive end. Just telling you what I saw, and i didn't like how easy they were getting to the bucket in the 2nd half. Come on now, you know how many legitimate 6 to 10 point games end up with a 15 to 20+ point final deficit.

[TomBigBeeHog]

Hannahs and Bell are going to be key to us beating Akron. We need to hit from outside early and often. Moses will be high energy, that will be a constant. Should be more of a challenge from Akron's bigs for him on the boards and in the paint. The equalizer will be how much do we get to force our pace and get their bigs into a transition game because Moses will run them ragged in a up an down game.

[gopigs]

We really need to protect home court and beat these two teams before we head to Brooklyn next week. I expect us to win by 2 or 3 points against Akron.

[HOGINTENNESSEE]

Your definition of struggled must be different from mine.

The lead dropped to 6pts with about 6-5 mins left. Now credit to the team for coming back as putting it away.

But, we didn't just boat race Southern. Part of that I understand is our style, but there was a struggle.

[Hawg Red]

The score got away in desperation time, until the last 5 or 6 minutes Southern was beating us by quite a bit in the 2nd half, because they had totally changed how they were playing on the offensive end. Just telling you what I saw, and i didn't like how easy they were getting to the bucket in the 2nd half. Come on now, you know how many legitimate 6 to 10 point games end up with a 15 to 20+ point final deficit.

It was close at times, but we never lost the lead. Obviously it wasn't a perfect performance, but I was never worried. At no point in that game did I feel like we were getting beat. They were getting some easy buckets, but I don't think we should jump straight to "they were beating us by quite a bit" based on that. The lead was 8 points with 6 minutes left and only went up from there. I chalk that up to a struggle to stay engaged with an inferior opponent. We see it multiple times a season, each season. And it happens to every team.

[jry04]

The score got away in desperation time, until the last 5 or 6 minutes Southern was beating us by quite a bit in the 2nd half, because they had totally changed how they were playing on the offensive end. Just telling you what I saw, and i didn't like how easy they were getting to the bucket in the 2nd half. Come on now, you know how many legitimate 6 to 10 point games end up with a 15 to 20+ point final deficit.

Desperation time? They were beating us easy, but still desperate? Doesn't make sense. We went into a shooting slump for a few minutes to allow them back. We made adjustments, and then started hitting shots. We won by 18, and the game was close for maybe 5 minutes of the 40. You didn't watch the game if you think we struggled much. There is a 22 point swing between MSUs game and ours, and MSU was losing almost the entire 2nd half, while we never trailed after the first 5 minutes.

[jry04]

The lead dropped to 6pts with about 6-5 mins left. Now credit to the team for coming back as putting it away.

But, we didn't just boat race Southern. Part of that I understand is our style, but there was a struggle.

They made a run for about 3 minutes to make it somewhat close for about 1:30. We didn't really struggle...


At 7:36, Southern made back-to-back threes to make it a 6 point game. By the next time out, two minutes later at 5:20, Arkansas was up 12. In those 2 minutes, Southern committed 3 turnovers and had a shot blocked.


Arkansas lead from the 15 minute mark in the first half on, and spent about 33/40 minutes leading by double digits. Maybe we struggled based on who we were playing, but that was far from a struggle.

[azhog10]

The lead dropped to 6pts with about 6-5 mins left. Now credit to the team for coming back as putting it away.

But, we didn't just boat race Southern. Part of that I understand is our style, but there was a struggle.

The game was never in doubt. Runs happen, but to say we struggled would imply a single digit win, something decided in the last minute or two. We were leading by 15 plus at halftime, lead got to 20 then shrunk then was extended back out. Hardly a struggle.

[PonderinHog]

Hannahs and Bell are going to be key to us beating Akron. We need to hit from outside early and often. Moses will be high energy, that will be a constant. Should be more of a challenge from Akron's bigs for him on the boards and in the paint. The equalizer will be how much do we get to force our pace and get their bigs into a transition game because Moses will run them ragged in a up an down game.

Think we need to keep Moses out of foul trouble?

[TomBigBeeHog]

Think we need to keep Moses out of foul trouble?

Goes without saying. I hate to even think of him in foul trouble. Trey and Willie haven't garnered much confidence with their play yet. Hope they show something tomorrow night.

[hawginbigd1]

It was close at times, but we never lost the lead. Obviously it wasn't a perfect performance, but I was never worried. At no point in that game did I feel like we were getting beat. They were getting some easy buckets, but I don't think we should jump straight to "they were beating us by quite a bit" based on that. The lead was 8 points with 6 minutes left and only went up from there. I chalk that up to a struggle to stay engaged with an inferior opponent. We see it multiple times a season, each season. And it happens to every team.

When they cut it to 6 I had a slight twinge of concern, but i did not really think we would lose. It really started with a few left in the first half that they quit jacking up jumpers and started going to the basket. From that point until time started running short they were our equal or maybe slightly better.  Southern had 2 totally different offenses that we saw, and the 2nd one was getting points almost at will, and we started having foul issues.

[hobhog]

My concern for this Hog team is all in Moses. He has great potential, and is a great team player, but I fear he can't stay out of foul trouble. Ever. He just can't help himself. His fouls per minutes played historically has been horrific.

MA's biggest challenge will be to keep him on the court. Without him this team will struggle mightily IMO.

[WxHog]

Should be a close game.  Vegas only has us a 4 point favorite. 

[King Kong]

The game was never in doubt. Runs happen, but to say we struggled would imply a single digit win, something decided in the last minute or two. We were leading by 15 plus at halftime, lead got to 20 then shrunk then was extended back out. Hardly a struggle.

That's your opinion of the word struggle. Clearly, he's is different. I can see how one would call a game in which was at one time a 15point lead have time lead to 6 point with 6-5 mins left a struggle. At that point the game was in doubt.

Now Arkansas put it away like the other poster said.

[Jonteviosk]

Am I the only one who realizes we don't lose at home to mid majors no matter how supposedly good Akron is. The hill itself is worth 8 pts for us.

[Karma]

Am I the only one who realizes we don't lose at home to mid majors no matter how supposedly good Akron is. The hill itself is worth 8 pts for us.

I hope you have this level of confidence after the game.

[TomBigBeeHog]

I hope you have this level of confidence after the game.

Gonna be a tough game. Should tell us a lot more about this team.

[jry04]

Am I the only one who realizes we don't lose at home to mid majors no matter how supposedly good Akron is. The hill itself is worth 8 pts for us.

The problem is, most of our fans who can attend tonight do not realize how good Akron is. They will chalk it up as another easy win over a mid-major, and elect to stay home on a Wednesday night. BWA is one of the toughest places to play when it is packed. We will probably have 5,000-7,000 there tonight, which makes it far less intimidating.

[PonderinHog]

Bump.