IBL McFadden continues journey

The Struthers High graduate is excited about playing with the Mahoning Valley Wildcats.
By JOE SCALZO
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
AKRON -- One of the perks of playing basketball at the University of Akron is getting to meet a certain NBA player who plays a few miles up the road.
A lot of people would be awed by meeting LeBron James.
Not Rick McFadden.
"He would come down and play in our open gyms, but it wasn't that big of a deal because I've been playing with him since I was a junior in high school," said McFadden, a Struthers High graduate who played three years with the Zips. "But it was fun. He's just a tremendous athlete and an unbelievable guy."
Two of McFadden's teammates at Akron, Romeo Travis and Dru Joyce, played with James at Akron St. Vincent-St.
Akron's coach, Keith Dambrot, coached James his first two years of high school.
Together, they led the Zips to a 19-11 record this season.
"It's been a great experience," McFadden said of Akron. "I got the opportunity to play basketball again and this past season was my best by far. And it was the best for our team as a whole. It was a lot of fun."
Strong play
McFadden, a 6-foot-7 forward, averaged 8.4 points and 3.4 rebounds per game this season for the Zips while starting 12 of 29 games.
He shot a team-high 43.3 percent on 3-pointers this season and led the Mid-American Conference as a junior by shooting a school-record 48 percent from behind the arc.
An education major, McFadden has been student teaching this semester at nearby Akron Buchtel High School. But he's not quite ready to commit to a teaching career.
He's still got a little basketball left in him.
"I'm keeping a door open for playing or maybe getting into coaching somewhere," McFadden said. "We'll see. There's a lot of question marks in the air."
Opportunity knocks
Enter the Mahoning Valley Wildcats. A few months ago, McFadden's friend, former Springfield standout Mark Metzka, approached him about playing for the new International Basketball League team coming to Youngstown.
McFadden was initially skeptical -- everyone knows how the Youngstown Pride and the Youngstown Hawks turned out -- but the more he learned, the more interested he became.
"Once I saw they were bringing in some quality guys and doing things the right way, I got involved," McFadden said. "It gives me a chance to get back on the court again. I think it's going to be a good opportunity."
The Wildcats are still finalizing their roster -- all the players are expected to be in town by next week -- and will open the season against Akron on April 9 at the Struthers Fieldhouse.
And McFadden, who was all-state in football and basketball as a senior at Struthers, will be the main draw.
"They needed some local guys and I'll probably bring in some people who wouldn't have come, especially for the first game," he said.
Played at Ohio State
McFadden initially chose to play quarterback at Ohio State after high school. But after two years as a reserve, McFadden was stuck in a logjam at quarterback with Craig Krenzel and Scott McMullen.
Meanwhile, he longed for a chance to play basketball again. He transferred to Akron and has no regrets about his decision, even though it cost him a chance to win a national title in 2002.
"If the opportunity and the situation was right, I would have stayed at Ohio State," McFadden said. "Honestly, with football, you have so many guys on the team, but there's just a core group of guys who play. Those are the guys who are deserving of [the ring]. But there's 20 walk-ons who also get a ring.
"To me, missing out [on the title] wasn't that big of a deal."
scalzo@vindy.com