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But, barring a radical strategy change from Akron, the Wildcats could find themselves back in a high-speed chase during their first-round NCAA Tournament game against the 13th-seeded Zips on Friday in Seattle.

Akron (28-6) ranks 16th in adjusted tempo, according to KenPom, and holds on to the ball an average of only 15.8 seconds per possession, the 21st least amount of time in Division I. ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ averages 16.4 seconds per possession, ranking 47th.

While both teams still run relatively fast overall, Akron both relies on 3-pointers and hits them at a high rate, unlike ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥. The Zips hit 36.6% of their 3s (ranking 49th nationally) and get 38.1% of their overall scoring from them (the 40th highest ratio).

ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ makes just 32.4% of its 3s (ranking 247th) and gets only 34.6% of their scoring from them (the 292nd lowest ratio).

The Zips blew away Mid American Conference competition in the regular season and conference tournament. They won the league by three games with a 17-1 record, then beat Bowling Green, Toledo and Miami of Ohio to win the MAC tournament in nearby Cleveland.

“Looks like they had a great year,� Lloyd said, saying shortly after UA’s selection was announced Sunday that he hadn’t yet watched Akron said. “Just looking at their stats, they get up and down, they shoot the 3.�

Not surprisingly, Akron pulled off a near-sweep of major MAC postseason awards: John Groce was named the conference’s Coach of the Year while guard Nate Johnson was named Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year while leading Akron in scoring (14.0) and steals (1.76). Also guard Shammah Scott was named Sixth Man of the Year while both Johnson and teammate Tavari Johnson were named to the MAC’s five-player first team.

The Wildcats may have had some influence on Groce, who has mostly run teams with average or slightly below-average tempos during coaching stops at Ohio (2008-09 through 2011-12), Illinois (2012-13 through 2016-17) and Akron (since 2017-18).

“I’ve actually studied them a little bit in the past because I was fascinated with how fast they play, their pace, and I know (Lloyd) does a good job,” Groce said, according to “I’ll know more once I get a chance to watch some film and prepare, but you don’t have the type of season they’ve had unless you’re really good.”

Wildcats rejoin AP Top 25

While it means little heading into the NCAA Tournament, ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ jumped back into the Associated Press Top 25 on Monday at No. 21.

A day earlier, the NCAA selection committee ranked the Wildcats No. 16 overall on its official seed list, meaning UA received the final No. 4 seed in the NCAA Tournament field.

ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ (22-12) had fallen out of the AP Top 25 last week after losing 83-76 at Kansas on March 8 but then beat Kansas and Texas Tech in Kansas City to reach the championship game of the Big 12 tournament. They lost 72-64 to Houston in the final but the Cougars are a No. 1 tournament seed and ranked No. 2 behind Duke.

ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ also fell out of the Top 25 on Dec. 2 after going 1-2 in the Battle 4 Atlantis over Thanksgiving week. The Wildcats resurfaced in the poll on Feb. 3 and spent five weeks in it before dropping out Monday.

Overall this season, the Wildcats spent 10 weeks out of the poll and 10 weeks in it, counting their No. 10 preseason ranking.

The AP poll will not be conducted again until after the NCAA Tournament.

Computers like UA’s Sweet 16 chances

College basketball analytics gurus Ken Pomeroy and Evan Miyakawa both estimate ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ with a better than 60% chance of making the Sweet 16 by winning two games in Seattle.

After running NCAA tournament simulations a million times, Pomeroy said ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ beat Akron 89.8% of the time and reached the Sweet 16 on 61.5% of iterations.

UA appeared in the Elite Eight on 17.2% of the time in KenPom simulations, the Final Four 8.2% of the time, made the 3.3% of the championship games and won it all 1.2% of the time.

Miyakawa wrote that he ran East Region simulations 10,000 times and saw ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ win its first game 91.2% of the time and make the Sweet 16 on 67.6% of occasions. ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ also appeared in 16.3% of Elite Eights, 7.2% of Final Fours, 2.6% of title games and won it all 1.1% of the time.

Miyakawa also rated the Wildcats the No. 1 “least streaky� team because it has had few 10-0 runs but also given up few.

“Teams in the ‘least streaky’ category are pretty trustworthy when they have a lead since they are not very likely to allow the opposition back into the game quickly,� Miyakawa wrote. “Look to rely more on these teams when they are favored, but be cautious to count on them winning several games as an underdog.�

Mountaineers crushed

While the Big 12 wound up with seven NCAA Tournament bids, tying its all-time high for the eighth time in part because it now has 16 teams, one angry team was left behind.

ESPN projected West Virginia (19-13) receiving one of the last four byes (no “First Four� game) and CBS projected the Mountaineers getting into the First Four. But neither happened and the Mountaineers passed on playing in the NIT or College Basketball Crown afterward.

“We believe we are an NCAA Tournament team and that our overall resume proved we were deserving of being selected,� West Virginia AD Wren Baker said in a statement. “I am very disappointed for the young men in our basketball program.�

The Big 12 produced the No. 1 seed in the Midwest, Houston, as well as No. 3 seeds in Iowa State and Texas Tech, while ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ (4), BYU (6), Kansas (7) and Baylor (9) also received NCAA bids.

Because West Virginia, TCU (16-16) and Kansas State (16-17) will not play in an alternative postseason event, that may have left open a spot in the Fox-backed College Basketball Crown, which took ASU (13-19) and Colorado (14-20) despite the fact that both teams have losing records.

The 16-team Crown also will include Utah (16-16), UCF (17-16) and Cincinnati (18-15) – as well as Pac-12 members Oregon State (20-12) and Washington State (19-14), who are playing an affiliate West Coast Conference schedule until the Pac-12 reboots in 2026-27.