Former Washington County basketball star reflects on Final Four run

In 1997, Chris Acker arrived on campus at Saint James School.

Born and raised in Compton, Calif., Acker transferred to the private boarding school his junior year to elevate his high school basketball career.

Acker had played for an AAU team on the West Coast, which at the time, according to Acker, was notorious for sending athletes to the East Coast to play at prep schools where the competition was stronger.

Saint James was an up-and-coming prep school in terms of basketball, Acker said, and his AAU teammate, Larry Scott, had already been attending the Hagerstown-area school for a year. Thus, Acker found himself at Saint James, leaving behind his hometown for western Maryland.

“Initially it was a tough transition just because of a little bit of a culture shock being out in a different place than I’d ever been at before,” Acker said, "being surrounded by trees as opposed to buildings, interacting with people that were much more sophisticated and much more goal-oriented than a lot of the people that I grew up around at the time.”

The rules at Saint James took Acker a little bit of time to get used to, but ultimately, he understood how important it was to have some of the same values the school had, he said.

“I grew up, and so I credit today a lot of the things I’ve been able to accomplish in life to Saint James because of the discipline that was installed and because of the character people I was around and the standard that was set from day one when I got there,” Acker said. “I carry those same standards and values today.”

Two years after arriving, Acker graduated from Saint James as a McDonald’s All-American nominee.

Acker is now an assistant coach for the San Diego State men’s basketball team. At this year's NCAA tournament, he helped take the Aztecs to the national title game against Connecticut.

The ‘West Coast Connection’ 

Playing inside Alumni Hall at Saint James, Acker put the Saints’ basketball program on the map. Whether it was the Saint James Invitational Tournament, which hosted some of the country’s top-ranked schools, or playing against eventual North Carolina star Jason Capel and nationally-ranked St. John’s at Prospect Hall, Acker and his AAU confidants helped change the narrative for Washington County basketball.

“I remember competing against (St. John’s) and having a chance to beat the No. 1 team in the nation,” Acker said. “I remember competing in the SJIT and competing with my teammates and having all the students that I was going to school with cheering us on and celebrating. That was like the biggest event at the time, competing in the SJIT.”

Some of Acker’s high school teammates echoed his memories and recalled his dominance and leadership during their days playing in Hagerstown.

Regarding the famous game against St. John's at Prospect Hall, Acker’s former teammate, Philip Scott, said everybody expected St. John’s to blow the Saints out.

“But (Acker) didn’t let that happen,” Scott said. “He was resilient, and playing them he had ultimate confidence and we took them down to the wire. We ultimately lost, (St. John’s) had to hold the ball on us to win. And nobody thought Saint James had any players at that time. So they started to call us the ‘West Coast Connection.’”

Scott, a 1,000-point scorer at Saint James, also was from California and had come to Hagerstown in the wave of athletes from Acker’s AAU team. When Scott reconnected with Acker later on, the two ran Los Angeles Clippers camps together and coached together at West Los Angeles College.

Scott is now CEO of Ackright Premier Sports, Inc., which is a 501c nonprofit he and Acker started. He remembered Acker’s leadership on the court at Saint James.

“Playing with (Acker), he was always a leader,” Scott said. “From the start ... he always demanded everybody’s respect, so it’s been amazing playing with (Acker). The kid was a real basketball head.”

Jared Knotts, another former teammate of Acker’s, who scored 1,438 points during his playing days at Saint James, said Acker was the most hilarious person ever off the court, but on the court, Acker was hard-working.

So was his family. Acker’s brother, Alex, also was a basketball player and went on to play in the NBA for a couple seasons.

“When they were young, they always put in extra work. While other kids would be playing video games, they’d be on the beach running sprints and stuff like that or uphill,” Knotts said. “So we knew that they were going to a different level.”

Knotts, who played basketball at the University of Albany, eventually got into the coaching world, where he reconnected with Acker. Knotts now works in sales.

He said Acker was always one of the top players during their high school days.

“(Acker) was like an athletic guard that could really shoot from deep, get to the bucket,” Knotts said.

March Magic

After Saint James, Acker played basketball first at Howard College, then played his final collegiate seasons at Chaminade University. From California to Hagerstown to Texas to Honolulu, Acker had already played all over the country by the time he left college.

It didn’t stop there.  Acker played professionally in Greece, Portugal, China and the U.S. with the ABA and CBA. Then Acker caught the coaching bug, holding assistant coaching positions at West Los Angeles College, the University of Hawaii and Boise State before accepting his current position with San Diego State in 2019.

“Living in Greece, living in China, living in Portugal, living in those places, you know, really teaches you a lot about yourself,” Acker said. “And so again, going back to Saint James, a lot of the things that I learned there about how to adapt and how to adjust to different situations I took with me over into my professional career. It allowed me to really understand how to engage with people that were different than I was.”

At San Diego State, Acker recruits, works with the offense, organizes practices and is regularly on the court.

Despite a 76-59 loss to UConn in the national championship game, Acker said the March Madness run was magical as he got to see all the work put in from the time he started with the program. In just four years, Acker and the Aztecs weathered a pandemic and came out the other side one game short of a national title.

Acker said it was special seeing the San Diego State alumni, administration and campus excited about the team’s Final Four run, which had never been done before in program history.

‘National championship or bust’

Ironically, Acker never thought he would be a coach. He thought he’d be playing forever, he said.

“The moment I got into coaching, it was really just about, ‘I’m gonna just be myself and coach as hard as I can and try to maximize the guys that I’m around and really at the end of the day, give guys what I was never given from a coaching standpoint, just brutal honesty and support,'” Acker said. “And just helping them transition into their next phase of life. That was always the mission.”

As for the mission this upcoming season, Acker said San Diego’s State’s prerogative is to make it back to the national championship game.

“I mean, we started off (last) season saying national championship or bust,” Acker said. “That was what I was saying every time I’d walk into the gym.”

As for Acker’s personal goals, he said he hopes to be a Division I head coach someday.

“I take all of these reps that I’m getting right now as an assistant coach, I take it very seriously and I understand that these moments that I’m having right now pay huge dividends whenever I’m given that opportunity,” Acker said.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Mail: San Diego State assistant coach reflects on NCAA Final Four run